is my bunny mad at me?

[sean sullivan]

kind of a weird question but i think she is either A. mad at me or B. just going through her teenage stages i read about. i bought a mini lop from a pet store about 2 months ago. shes a beautiful broken black and white lop. the workers said all their bunnys they get are under 6 months old. so im assuming by now, judging by her size and everythign shes about 6 months or more. when i first got her it was kind of hectic but we finnaly built her a nic cube cage. shes been living in that since then. she ushualy was let out of the cage every day to play and run around and always got attention. now the past 2 weeks, i just recently started a bartending job, so my schedual is kind of messy. i make sure though i spend at least a half an hour to an hour a day petting her and playing with her. possibly letting her out of the cage to run around and do her thing if i have the time. im trying to make sure im not neglecting her in any way. i havent been able to pick her up recently at all though due to me not needing to because she can now let herself in and out of the cage. i used to pick her up a lot and hold her plenty the first few weeks we got her. now when i try to pick her up she just jumps out of my hands. i cant even get her an inch off the ground. but at the same time, when i pet her, she will sit their calmly and let me pet her like crazy(unless she is out of the cage, then she looses intrest in the petting and gains intrest on what she can jump on). now is the whole picking up thing due to me not holding her lately, or is it because shes just being a bit bold and going through a stage? i just hope shes not mad at me or anything. i also noticed when i pet her in the cage, if she is laying down, she will let me pet her, but soon as she smells my hand or her mouth gets near it she jumps back. im just being nervous, but i would like to know a possible explination to this. thakn you and sorry about how long this is.

[BinkyBunny]

Welcome lopdaddy!  (now you’ve been entered in twice for the drawing!)

Okay as for your question – Not weird at all.  Very common actually. Many people think their bunny is mad at them when they see changes that seem anti-social.  Don’t worry she’s not mad at you, and she’s lucky to have you because you are concerned about her and want her to be happy. There are a few things in your question to cover, so let’s take them one by one.

1.)  Teenage time: What I think is happening is exactly what you suspected.     The teenage years are when their urges to explore become strong.   Some bunnies can even become feisty – growl, lunge, bite and scratch as their territorial behaviors dominate with surging hormones.  These will die down in time, but may not completely.  Spaying will really take care of this. (not to mention that unaltered female rabbits have an extremely high risk of cancer in their reproductive organs.)  I am assuming she’s not spayed yet?

2) Not wanting to be held anymore/exploring:
I think there are two reasons for this.  Because she has less time out, she’s anxious to get out and have fun first.  I suggest letting her run around and explore for awhile first (unless she’s not litter trained yet)

Then the other part of not wanting to be held may be due to the fact she’s just growing up.  Unfortunately, most adult bunnies don’t like being held. Most rabbits only “tolerate” being held. I wish they wanted to be held! I’d snuggle those cute faces in my arms all day.   But the truth is that even if a rabbit was used to being held as a baby, doesn’t necessarily mean it will enjoy it as an adult.  Most don’t.

And though getting a bunny to tolerate being held helps with nail clippings etc,  if you force your young adult/adult bunny to be held everyday when it no longer wants it, you may actually be creating a negative reaction.   Out in open space she may only see you as the “freedom squelcher” and she may end up avoiding you.  

I suggest gaining her trust and affection by just grabbing a few pillows and hanging on the floor. Let her run around, get her exercise and need to explore out of her system.  Let her come to you.  Have a few treats with you, so when she comes over, she will associate you with positive things.

I snuggle with mine on the floor and though it’s not the same as holding them, they are happier, and they trust me and they seek me out to get attention.   That’s the best!

3.) Schedule change: Our lives will always change.  We all have to work, and our lives can really get hectic. And sometimes we’re just beat!  I know you want to be able to give her more time out, and because bunnies really need at least three hours of exercise,  what about attaching an x-pen to her cage?   If  you’re worried about her messing up the floor, buy a small square of linoleum, or put a tarp down.  (just be sure to keep the edges outside of the pen so she won’t chew on them. Both are easy enough to roll up and put away if you only want it there during her playtime.

Is she litter trained yet or is that still challenging since she’s not spayed…..or is she?

Oh, I forgot.  We are collecting pictures of great set-ups to put in the cool habitat gallery.  So if you have any pictures, send ’em over and I’ll put them in the gallery.

Those cube types are wonderful aren’t they?   They look better than a regular rabbit cage (especially since they are going to be in our homes) and they offer our bunnies more room.  

Don’t be afraid to post long messages.  The more information you provide, the better I can help you. 

[sean sullivan]

she is not spayed nor litter trained yet. i didnt want to start the litter training until she was spayed. i will though as soon as i spay her. i know she doesnt associate me with being a “freedom hogger” or whatever because i do do what you said everytime shes out. i am still in the process of cleaning my rooms but i have the whole floor cleaned for her to run around in. my rooms is pretty big so she loves it. in turn though, everything else is on my bed so i sleep on the floor right next to her cage(which im begining to like because i give her a few quick pets and talk to her all the time whenever i wake up or am getting ready for bed). so whenever she is let out i am laying down and she loves to jump across my legs like a hurdle and come up and give me nudges on the chest. she especially loves when im not wearing socks(dont see why)she loves to nudge my feet and push them and rub up against them. so she just sees me as a giant jungle gym. from time to time i will sit up when shes at my feet and i will start petting her from head to tail. thats when she gets in her mode and lays down and just lets me pet her. so like i said, i know she doesnt think im a big meanie, i just though she could maybe be mad at me for not gettin AS much attention as she used to. the cage situation though i am not to happy with, she made sucha  mess out of the carpets i had in there and the cardboard underneath them i took them out and replaced them with this wire flooring so it makes kind of a everything falls through it kind of cage(her droppings, urine, excess chewed food, everything else) but not big enough to get her feet caught. i dont like it though because i have the cage propped up on 4 coffee cans and it just looks ghetto. i know she likes it but its not big enough for her. i only used 4 blocks on each side. not the ushual 9 in the front and the 6 on the sides to make a 3 story home, she has a shorter 2 story home. i was looking at a cage in a local pet store for her. its about 5 feet tall by 2 feet wide. its only 130.00 which is not a lot at all for a cage, and has a pull out dropping pan. it has tons of room to run around in and i have recently learned that she loves the tiers(the levels in the cage she has now) and the cage i was looking at has plenty of them and ramps. the only reason i want a regular cage for her is because of her droppings and everything else she does. maybe i might change my mind when shes litter trained because she wont make as much as a mess. i am getting an apartment soon though and i want something thats not going to be as messy and whatnot as these. plus something thats going to be more practical(because at this point the only plus side to this cage vs. a small cage bought in the store is that she has more room, other than that its just a pain to clean everyday, whereas a pull out cage i can just pull out the dropping pan.) i love her to death though and just want whats best for her. she will be caged while i am gone and when i move out everyone else is gone so i want her to be able to have plenty of room to explore in her own cage. who knows maybe i will change my mind. for now though, considering not potty trained im better off with the regular cage. thanks for your help. i know shes a hoppy healthy bun bun, i just dont want her mad or depressed for any reasons caused by me being not around as much.

[BinkyBunny]

Ah ha.  I see. 
It sounds like she’s definitely not shy around you     I love
it when bunnies use us for “jungle gyms”  (perfect term by the
way)

I definitely still don’t think she is mad at you, I think it’s just that since
she has less time out, she wants to explore.   

I know you said that you were going to wait to litter train her, but it might
help the process of learning and help her get it quicker when she does get
spayed.   Bad habits won’t be completely set in this way.  
I know my friend’s  bunny was also such a messy disaster and though 
it took longer for her unaltered bunny to get it, he did get better, and less
messy.  He learned to do big piles and pees in the box,  but the
territorial markings (scattered pills and peees) were still out of hand.
   Then when she neutered  him, he was already litter trained
because he no longer had the urge to do the territorial pees & poos, and
the regular pees & poos (piles), he already did in his box.

Just something to consider and you can check out the litter training section to
get some tips if you decide to go that route.

All and all, I think she will get used to your new schedule, and you will
probably find a way to give her more time out once you settle into your
schedule too.

But in the meantime she sounds like she loves you.  So don’t worry your doing a great job.

BinkyBunny

[Deleted User]

Hi Lopdaddy. 

I know how yo feel about having a messy bunny.  I actually have always had littertrained bunnies, maybe only some minor re-training here and there, but I too have been dealing with a mess with my new bunny.  I don’t know if yours is as bad as mine, but my room looks like a poop storm hit.

Anyway, about five days ago I started training her.  She’s made slow improvement.  But at least she’s STARTING to use her box.  I was told to put her poop and any pee soaked paper towel in her box.  She’d go near it, smell it, get in there and poop right away. I had to just tear off a little tiny bit of the paper towel and put it in the litter because she ripped it to shreds and made mess out of the wet papertowel.  EEEK.  

My bunny is not quite ready to be spayed, but at least she used her litterbox both yesterday and today, (twice today) and that’s a real achievement.

Whew!  Maybe I won’t have to live in stinkdom for too much longer.

Cheers!

[sean sullivan]

oh she is such a brat, especially mess wise. this is why we call her PRINCESS button, i just call her button but her attitude is why we call her princess. she makes a poop storm out of my room. i lay on the floor with her, i make sure my sheet is completly cleared off, and i still wake up with them on me. the best is though when you walk through the room barefoot and get them caught between your toes. yeck, the second best had to be when we first got her. she was running around my fiance’s house and was on the bed(she loves beds, she just jumped right up on hers, at my house she jumps up on mine all the time when i used to be laying in it. the one time she jumped up and landed right in my lap, like she did it on purpose) and we THOUGHT we got all the poop out. till i dropped a crumb from a chip and went to get it, i put it back in my mouth and spit it back out. it was, you guessed it, one of her poopies! eck, it was nasty let me tell you. but i am going to get her spayed, i think its the best choice for her. . thanks for the help again

[BinkyBunny]

OMG!  Lopdaddy.  I am ROTFLOL.    So funny!!!!  I have always been afraid of accidentally doing exactly what you did.   So gross.  But so funny.   Well, it’s just pellets, and greens and stuff, so not like it’s the worst poop in the world.  

Thanks for a great laugh!

[Deleted User]

That’s hilarious!   I also get the whole toe poop jam going on sometimes. I hate that.  I’m like shakin’ out my foot hoping to set those poopers free!

[Author]

Messages