Learning about Pepper

[Firsttimer]

I thought I would invite any suggestions or comments on my little Pepper.  She was born in April and had been a little ill last month so we are only now getting into a routine with her.  She has a lovely character despite hating being handled.  I read on this site that if you rub a rabbits bottom she might lick you as a reflex so I thought I’d try it because she never licks, instead she nipped my hand.  I’m wondering if this nip is her alternative to licking as she’s done it a couple of times and it’s never sore?  She has been very good with litter training, generally dropping pellets in her cage or box only and never peeing outside her box.  Gradually I am introducing her to the rest of the house and supervised she is allowed the run of teh hallway, bathroom and our bedroom.  This week I introduced her to the livingroom keeping her in a pen as a start.  It’s really weird but in this room she just goes mad and drops pellets everywhere, I don’t know how she manages to produce so many.  I thought this was her marking territory but she never did it in the other rooms. Weird.  I’ve also been reading on this site about bunnies getting onto furniture including beds and toilets. But pepper has never tried this, does this happen later with confidence?  Her favourite food a the moment seems to be paper and cardboard which keeps her occupied although I’m sure she is swallowing it all as I can’t find any leftovers.  At the moment my husband is totally left out of the bonding process, Pepper just does not want to know him despite him trying to spend time with her, she just hides and I wonder if the man I got her from has caused her to fear men or maybe my husband is a frightening person? We’ll get there eventually I’m sure.

[MooBunnay]

Hello!

Nipping can often be an alternative to grooming in the sense that sometimes a bunny nips to get attention or pets, and sometimes a bunny nips if they think there is something on your skin that needs to be “nipped” or groomed off (they confuse it with something stuck in your “fur”! My rabbits do not enjoy their bottoms being rubbed very much, but definitely prefer being pet on the forehead or on the cheek, and sometimes enjoy a nice shoulder massage.

As far has her dropping pellets in the living room – is there another animal that lives there, or that did live there at one time? The scent of another animal can cause a bunny to start marking like crazy – even if its a very faint scent or a scent from a long time ago.

My bunnies were extremely afraid of my boyfriend for quite sometime. When he would go over to them they would run and hide. I think it is because he is quite a lot bigger than me. This will gradually reduce as Pepper gets familiar with him. Some good ways for him to bond with her would be for him to hand feed her her daily treats, approach herhunched over or crawling so he doesn’t look so intimidating, and also just sitting or laying on the floor while she runs around, and ignoring her if she comes up to sniff him. The ignoring is important because it will let Pepper know that he doesn’t want to hurt her. By going to pet her right away she may get startled, but if he just sits and lets her “investigate” him she will be able to get more familiar with him.

Good luck with little Pepper – It sounds like you are doing a great job!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Awww…Your pepper sounds like a sweetie! You should post some pictures!!

Ok, you brought up a lot of stuff, so lemmie see if I can help at all here!!

With her pooping all over the living room…My Kokanee is very well litter trained, (Kahlua we are working on still  so we won’t talk about her hehe) but when she gets in my bedroomshe poops all over! -It is her "forbidden room"…shes not allowed in my room as it’s not bunny proofed and I don’t want my clothes and shoes chewed up!   

Anyways, it happens only in my bedroom on  the off chance she has snuck in (I"ve left the door open). I am pretty sure she likes the room because 1)It’s messy so their are things to explore and 2) shes naughty and she knows shes not allowed in there…So I interpret her pooping all over as trying to claim what she knows as "my terrritory" to be ‘her terrirory";

Putting this interpretation on your bunny, I’d say she likes your living room alot and is throwing the poops around to claim it! Alternately, since she is in a playpen, maybe she is feeling a little vulnerable and is trying to be warn off others by being territorial?

Nips, unless they bruise or draw blood (these mean stop whatever you are doing to them ) usually can be interpreted as the same thing as licking. She’s grooming your "fur" as a favour to you, that she is doing becasue she likes you!

My girls were both slow to warm up to my boyfriend. It could be because they know who feeds them and cleans them, and they trust that person sooner! I’m sure with time she’ll come along! It’s been a year that I’ve had her, and now Kokanee loves to hang out in the office when my boyfriend is working….

Here is an excellent site that helped me with interpreting bunny behaviors…it’s also quite humerous

http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk_intro.html

[Firsttimer]

Thanks for the suggestions. Last night I let her come into the living room in her own time without the pen and my husband sat on the floor and used his lap top. She eventually got braver and braver and only one little pellet was dropped which is a huge improvement. My parents visited recently with their Scottie dog and perhaps she smelt that the dog had been in that room. I told my husband to ignore her which he actually found really hard because she is such a cutie and he just wants to make friends with her. The less he tried to talk to her the more she came over to him and started climbing over his legs. So that was good.

[MooBunnay]

Yay! Thats great she climbed on him, that is very good progress! I know – it IS hard to ignore a bunny, but I think if he just does it for a few days things will start to improve for their relationship. When he starts going to pet her she may run away again, but if he persists very slowly, she should start to give in Our newest Netherland Dwarf – Nilla Bean – did not like being pet at all. She was rescued from an outdoors situation and weighs only 1.1 pounds so she is very frightened of most things (because everything is bigger than her!) She still runs away from time to time when I go to pet her, but when I walk in the bedroom door she stands on my feet and grooms my feet. I think this is because for awhile I fed her pellets and treats every time I went in the room – so now she associates me with treats. You husband can try feeding her little pieces of carrot, and also, he can feed her the nightly pellets, and then pet her head while she is eating (if she doesn’t run away, Nilla Bean gets very intent on her pellets and didn’t run away when we pet her then)

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