HELP!! Bonding with your rabbit??

[BunnyOreo101]

So I’ve had my rabbit for almost a year and a half. I wanted to know if it is too late to bond with my rabbit. I want my rabbit to enjoy living with me but I fear it’s now too late. Can someone help me? Maybe some tips and tricks?

[Bickycake]

Personally I never think it’s too late to bond with your bunny. It took me 6 months to fully win over my rabbits trust. I let her run around in a bunny proof room while I did my work or watched a movie and let her come to me if she felt like. Soon enough she was jumping onto my lap and wanting to cuddle.

[Deleted User]

Can you give a bit more information. Such as what is your current set up like and what sort of interactions you have with your rabbit. I’m curious to know what the reasons are for you feeling like you haven’t bonded when you have had the rabbit for a year and half already. Maybe you do have a normal bond with your rabbit but you are thinking it should be something different. I’m sure people can give more advice if you tell us their current behaviours etc

[sarahthegemini]

Why have you not yet bonded with him? What do you do with him? How do you interact and how often? What’s his housing like?

[Bam]

I moved your thread to the Q & A-section, because the bonding-section is for bonding rabbits with other rabbits.

It’s not too late to bond with your rabbit. Animals live in the present. It can take time for a bun to warm up to you, but with time and patience, head-rubs and a few treats, bunnies respond to social interactions. Like eddy says, what’s your relationship now? How much time do you spend in each other’s presence?

Practically all buns love getting pet, especially on the head and ears, but practically all adult buns absolutely hate being lifted up. They are prey animals, so they’re not very trusting as adults (baby buns can be very trusting until puberty hits). This is normal for rabbits and doesn’t mean your bunny doesn’t like you or isnt bonded to you.

[joea64]

It might help to cite the example of my own buns as ones that will require some work to bond with. I’m just starting the process of properly bonding with Panda and Fernando myself. At this early stage, they’re still wary of me, particularly Panda; Fernando was quite affectionate at our first couple of meetings but has been more reserved since moving in with me, in large part, I think, due to the big change in living circumstances. From what I know about Panda’s life before she was rescued by Friends of Rabbits, she appears to have come to her previous owner(s) from a breeder, and from my conversation with their foster mother on the subject, I guess – though I’ll probably never know for sure – that they gave her up to the shelter when they found out she was pregnant, which indicates the breeder didn’t keep good control over their rabbits. So she probably wasn’t at her first home very long before going to the shelter, where she had her kits. Their foster mom told me that when she was rescued, Panda was, at first, quite frightened of people, and it took several months to get her to the point where she could start trusting them again. The kits have been in a much better environment their whole life, so they’re naturally friendlier.

So my plan is to spend at least some time with them every evening while they’re out playing in their X-pen. I have to strike a balance between being too importunate in offering pets and too distant from them, but the thing to do is basically to sit there, let them come to you on their own terms, talk to them and acknowledge their presence. Essentially, let them warm up to you in their own good time until they start coming up to you and asking to be petted (they usually do this by snuggling next to you and putting their heads down, which is a request for grooming in bunny body language, they may also nudge you with their noses to get your attention).

[BunnyOreo101]

Since I got her, she has always been very skiddish. She hates being out her cage for more time than I let her out. A part of me thinks it’s the loud housing I am currently in, which is why I believe whenever she is running around my room, she is quick to run back into her cage whenever someone is walking up and down the stairs. I let her out every day for about an hour or two, depending on my work hours and I pet her whenever she is near me. I just see everyone else and their bunnies and they’re more bonded with theirs than I am. Maybe I lack time hanging out with her? I just don’t understand what I’m doing wrong especially researching more into it. I just want more tips and tricks. Maybe playing with her more? Getting her more toys?

[BunnyOreo101]

I heard to never rush the bond. I read that you should never force it on a bunny, which is why I let her gradually grow into it. She likes to come near me but never on my lap or anything like that. Whenever she’s out, I sit on the floor while I do homework or watch a movie and she’d usually just run around. I take her out for about an hour or two and she’ll sometimes go back into her cage on her own and I’d leave her cage open for another hour or so but she usually never come back out. Her housing needs a bit of an upgrade since she is bigger now but she isn’t in something big like a rabbit condo. I am upgrading her to something big again since last time I changed it, it was a poor choice since I didn’t think of how much more bigger she’d get.

[BunnyOreo101]

I personally think it might be where my rabbit also came from. She was 6 months when I got her from a friend (who got her from a friend) and I think it frightened Oreo so she is still having a bit of a hard time bonding. Maybe I should give it time. It’s just been about a year or so (I thought it’s been a year and a half but I got her at 6 months so I had her for about a year).

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