Concerns about bonding time and affection

[Dave and Marty]

 Hello All,

My 3 month old French Lop Marty lives in my room and has free reign of it during the day.  Unfortunately I go to work an hour after I let him out in the morning and put him to bed 2-3 hours after I get home in the evening.  The rest of my family is home during the day and has time to hang out with him and pet him and stuff and I feel that when I get home he’s already sick of people and doesn’t want to be anywhere near me.

Yesterday evening I had my dad “babysit” him in the main room while I cleaned out his cage and filled up his food and water ( took about 45 minutes).  He happily hopped around and then let my dad pet him for about 20 minutes and even purred a little during that time.  After I was all said and done and he was back in my room he only let me pet him a couple of times before hopping away and wouldn’t let me scratch him behind the ears or anything.  He then went and hid under my bed for 2 hours after he had eaten.

I’m concerned that he likes the rest of my family more than me due to seeing them more often (despite living in my room) and am worried that he wont’ bond with me due to my work schedule.

How much time per day is enough to build a relationship with your bunny and how to I get him to like me as much as he likes the other people in my family?

I’m the one that gives him his daily salad and gives him treats and stuff, but he seems to like being petted by my parents more than by me. :s

[Rufus]

I don’t think there is a set amount of time that it takes to bond with your bunny. On week days, I am away from the house for about 11 hours a day and my bunny is very attached to me. I only get to spend about ten minutes with him in the morning before I go to work and then a couple of hours when I get home. He sleeps a lot during the day so when I get home he’s a little bundle of energy for a while and then he calms down a bit and sniggles up to me. I try and spend as much time as possible with him on weekends to make up for it.

I wonder if it’s more to do with the fact that he gets attention from a lot of different people? He might not have identified you as his main carer yet. My housemates rarely have anything to do with my bun unless I am travelling. From my understanding, a lot of rabbits tend to bond more with one person, animal or object (correct me if I’m wrong other forum members, that’s been what I’ve read and experienced). He’s also still quite new to you and he might need a little more time, you might be accidentally putting him off because you’re so keen for him to bond with you, whereas your parents have less high stakes involved with him.

[Troller]

This one is a tough one. Me and the wife spend an equal amount of time with the buns but I’m the primary caretaker. I clean cages, do checks and feed treats the most. However its very apparent they enjoy her company far more then mine. Maybe its the way she talks to them (I don’t naturally, I force myself too) or the fact she picks them up less often. Maybe they sense she’s a sweeter person then I am whereas I’m a bit of a cold fish towards animals. Whatever it is, the difference exists and I’ve learner to accept it.

[BinkyBunny]

Sometimes scent can play a part. So if you get home and eat, maybe using fingers to grab certain foods or have dinner breath, or if you were petting other animals, took a shower and put on a scented lotion could play a part….or it could be that your family smells more like “home” then you do and when you are out an about you pick up scents from being elsewhere naturally so youre not recognized as the part of the bunny clan. Do your parent give treats? If so ask that they stop and you be the treat giver and see if that will help him warm up to you. Also do you have to pick him up to get him back in his cage? As picking up can definitely cause a shying away in some bunnies.

[Treori]

See, I would say my son spends more time around my french lop and rex, but both of them are bonded to me (they merely tolerate him haha).

It’s not the amount of time (that will help them realise that humans they know aren’t scary), it’s the quality.

A great tip for bonding is to give them a couple of fresh herb leaves such as mint, basil or parsley. Most rabbits adore one of those three, and he will start to associate YOU with being given a treat if you give him at leasy one leaf every time you come into the room. Buy one of those living herb pots and just water it with the leavings in your rabbits water bottle each morning and it will live for a very long time (mints great, if you nip the stems off just above a set of leaves, two more stems will prout from it)

Also if you are the one that usually sits on the floor beside him and scratch him in his favourite places, again he will realise that you are the one he adores the most.  What most rabbits love is being loved and adored, not simply ‘kept an eye on’

It might just be because your parents will sit for ages stratching him, ask if they can give him one of two pets, and then leave him. He will begin to come round, especially since he is in your room and surrounded by your smells (and his)

Your frenchie is the same age as mine too, he is pretty aloof right now, but he IS realising that Im the one that will stroke his ears just the way he likes to the point where he is now demanding my attention when Im speaking to either my son or my rex XD A bossy lil teenage he is now hehe.

[Author]

Messages