I have a 2 1/2 month old bunny who I have had since she was a newborn (my sister’s rabbit is the mother). I have been picking her up, petting her, snuggling her, etc. since she was old enough to be taken out of the cage. She seems (most of the time) like she is very comfortable with me, trusts me and her overall temperament seems to be fairly calm as it is. I am new to owning a bunny so I have been doing as much research as I can. If my bunny sees me going in for a pet she allows it no problem and won’t try to get away or stop me (unless she’s running around, exercising or playing in which case she will sometimes hop away after I give her a singular pet almost as if she thinks I’m going to pick her up to put her back in her cage). However, sometimes if I pet her from behind and she doesn’t notice my hand she will run away from me in her cage and hide.
Like with petting, whenever I try to pick her up she is usually quite calm about it and will tolerate it (for a short amount of time, if I try to walk her to another part of the house she will get a little antsy but usually cooperates anyways). Whenever I let her run around, she will still come up to me and sniff me and occasionally give me a slight nudge before scampering off to do more exploring. My dad told me that a good way to bond with a bunny that is already familiar with you is to rub noses with them gently as a way of saying hello or I love you (like they do with other rabbits) and she lets me do this and isn’t aggressive or seemingly uncomfortable at all.
Today, I made the mistake of taking her outside in the backyard for a change of scenery and possibly letting her nibble on some grass. I didn’t realize that my dad was mowing the lawn and I think the noise scared her because she sort of shrunk into a ball on my chest and laid her ears flat against her back. I wasn’t sure what this meant but she seemed rather stiff and wasn’t moving around or trying to explore in my arms like she usually does. When the lawn mower was off, she sort of loosened up and her ears went back to normal and she started exploring but I brought her back in because I was nervous she was stressed out.
Are these all good indications that my bunny likes me and trusts me? I really want to have a strong bond with her and I got nervous that the incident with the lawn mower would lead her to not trust me as much. Although she is tolerant of my handling of her (my parents won’t allow her to be a free roaming bun, so I have to pick her up to get her out of her cage and pick her up to put her back in etc), I always get nervous I will cross the line of too much and I don’t want her to associate me with any discomfort or stress. Are there any obvious signs I should be watching for that might signal she is unhappy?
Thanks
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