do bunnies act mad at you if you go away for 2 days

[sunbun]

my daughter and I are sunny bunny’s best friend. she face washes us and cuddles and comes over for love all the time. she roams the house mostly all day long and she has paper and toys to entertain her plus we play with her constantly. my daughter went with her gram for a day and half over the weekend and when she came home and all day yesterday the bunny was cranky with her. nipping and would not kiss her face instead she nipped at her every time she tried. do they retaliate when people they love are away and come back.

[Mikey]

They can. Have your daughter hand feed Sunny her greens or pellets for the day to help Some bunnies get grumpy easily, but food is an easy way back into a bunnys heart

[Jas]

Hi,

So I am having the same problem. I left my bunny Qiviut (almost 3 months old) for a week, and had a friend pet sit her. Qivi was great with my friend all week, very gentle. When I came home and we played and everything seemed fine. This morning though (day after my return), I reached into her cage like I always do, to put her poop in her litter box ( she still poops a lot not in her litter box, but its getting better) and she ran out from her hutch and bit me. It hurt and bruised but didn’t completely break the skin. I was so mad but just ripped my hand away and said no. I then put my hand slowly in a couple seconds later and she nuzzled it.

Since Qivi was good with the pet sitter the whole time, and she is only 3 months I dont think its a territorial thing. I am wondering if I scared her (since I haven’t been there for a week), if shes mad at me, or if that was her morning poop she was planning to eat. 

Either way I don’t want her to think biting is ok. What should I do for the next time? If there is a next time

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By sunbun on 1/24/2017 7:30 AM

my daughter and I are sunny bunny’s best friend. she face washes us and cuddles and comes over for love all the time. she roams the house mostly all day long and she has paper and toys to entertain her plus we play with her constantly. my daughter went with her gram for a day and half over the weekend and when she came home and all day yesterday the bunny was cranky with her. nipping and would not kiss her face instead she nipped at her every time she tried. do they retaliate when people they love are away and come back.

Buns don’t act mad,  they do get mad  She’s probably trying to teach you both a lesson  

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Jas on 1/24/2017 12:34 PM

Hi,

So I am having the same problem. I left my bunny Qiviut (almost 3 months old) for a week, and had a friend pet sit her. Qivi was great with my friend all week, very gentle. When I came home and we played and everything seemed fine. This morning though (day after my return), I reached into her cage like I always do, to put her poop in her litter box ( she still poops a lot not in her litter box, but its getting better) and she ran out from her hutch and bit me. It hurt and bruised but didn’t completely break the skin. I was so mad but just ripped my hand away and said no. I then put my hand slowly in a couple seconds later and she nuzzled it.

Since Qivi was good with the pet sitter the whole time, and she is only 3 months I dont think its a territorial thing. I am wondering if I scared her (since I haven’t been there for a week), if shes mad at me, or if that was her morning poop she was planning to eat. 

Either way I don’t want her to think biting is ok. What should I do for the next time? If there is a next time

You might have (unintentionally) frightened her by reaching into the cage, so she’s responded by biting because that’s all she could do. 

When you say “morning poop she was planning to eat” are you referring to cecotropes? 

[Jas]

Yeah  cecotropes is what I  meant by morning poop.

I am starting to think I did scare her. i am slowly moving my hand in and out now and she seems ok with it. I have a pretty nasty bruise from her bite this morning so i hope it doesn’t become a thing.

Thank you!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Jas on 1/24/2017 9:22 PM

Yeah  cecotropes is what I  meant by morning poop.

I am starting to think I did scare her. i am slowly moving my hand in and out now and she seems ok with it. I have a pretty nasty bruise from her bite this morning so i hope it doesn’t become a thing.

Thank you!

Ah okay

It doesn’t sound like it will become regular behaviour so I wouldn’t worry 

[Jas]

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Bunnies can be quite temperamental: they can even hold grudges. So yes, it’s entirely possible that the rabbit is communicating dismay like this.

Our rabbit just gets mopey when we’ve done something that displeased him: turning his butt towards us all the time and refusing to be petted. Food works well in this case.

My brother in law bullied my boyfriends previous rabbit for a while: trying to scare her or kick her. She developed an enormous grudge, and attacked him fiercely on sight. She bit him and chased him out of the room all the time. It took months of reparations on his side to be able to be in the same room with her again. Way to go bunny ^_^ 

[Author]

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