I need help – my rabbit never bonds with me

[mystylejj]

Hello,

I previously had 2 rabbits: Luffy and then I got Levi to join. Bonding process seems to go fine, and eventually they play together, roam the house together, and snuggle together.

But Luffy was the active bunny and Levi always avoided me. I have tried putting Levi in a small room with me, but after 2 hours he would not approach me at all.

6 months later Luffy passed away (which i still dont know what the cause is, and she was just about to turn 1yo T^T).

I read a lot that rabbits may get depressed losing their friends or refuse to eat, but i see no sign of that at all. Levi actually started to roam around the house more, eat more as well, and he seems happier than normal. Now that I think about it, it is always Levi who grooms Luffy, Luffy rarely grooms Levi (is this normal?).

Now that Levi is by himself, I am scared to adopt another rabbit after Luffy passes away – especially when I cant even bond with Levi.

Any suggestion on how I can get close to Levi?

[Bam]

I’m very sorry you lost Luffy.

What you describe is, however, normal. If Levi always was the one grooming Luffy, it’s reasonable to think that Luffy was the more dominant rabbit. That could mean that Levi is feeling more free and less controlled now when she is no longer around. I had a similar thing happen when my more dominant bun passed away – the remaining rabbit seemed happier and more relaxed. He was being bullied by my other rabbit even though they didn’t share the same living area.

Some rabbits need a very long time to warm up to their human. There is a genetic component to how prone an animal is to interact with humans. This has been demonstrated in for example the famous Russian silver fox experiment. I do think that all rabbits can be “won over” with time and patience though. They are smart animals and they learn where all good things come from – protection, food, treats, pets, company, because all those things are important for survival.

[Author]

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