Not very affectionate

[Peter's Mummy :)]

So, I have had my little Peter for just a little more than two weeks now. I have been browsing this forum and looking at some of your profiles and pictures.(Not in a creeper way!! haha) But just to see how your bunnies are and how they get taken care of and just looking for some cool ideas. But what I have noticed is that almost all of your buns have a better personality than some of us!! Peter doesn’t seem to have a personality at all. Could it be because he is still new to me and is a little shy? Or is he just….boring? Will it take him some time to really, fully open up to me? Am I doing something wrong? Do I not spend enough time with him? I get home from work at about 5:30 and I hang out with him until like 6:30, then make dinner and when my boyfriend comes home, we play with Peter for a bit and for the rest of the night Peter sits on top of the couch. When I take him down to put him on my lap to cuddle he sits there for about five minutes, then he jumps back up. Maybe he’s just not social at all? I don’t mean boring in a bad way, I just mean no personality at all. It’s just weird to read about some of your guys’ stories and how your bunnies jump around all the time and play all these fun games. The only fun we have with Peter is when we give him a toliet paper roll and he grabs it from us and throws it. That’s our little game. Lol. And sometimes he’ll jump off the couch and jump back on and keep doing that for a while….Those two things are the most fun we have with him. Lol…I donno if that is normal. Like I said, Am I doing something wrong? When he gets fixed, should I get him a friend? I was seriously considering that but I want to wait a bit, maybe like 6 months to a year before I get him a friend so I can learn the ropes of being a bun slave. Please help…Lol

Oh, and I’m going to Canada for the weekend to go see my grandparents and help my grandpa at the horse auction and I can’t bring Peter  I’m going to miss him so much!! And since my boyfriend doesn’t have his passport, he is going to take care of him for the weekend. He was getting so made at me this morning because I was giving him all these instructions and wrote them down and taped them up in two places in the house, and wrote another one and put it on Peter’s cage and on the bed(I just want my baby to have a good weekend and have all the care that I give). LOL. He told me that if I was acting like this over a bunny, he’d hate to see me with kids. Haha, oppps.  He loves Peter just as much as I do, he is our kid, but I think Peter will be the one taking care of Steve!! Haha.  Ahhh I miss my little bun so much already!!   And from work, I’m going straight up. I want to get there before the early birds(my grandparents) crash for the night. HAHA 

[Sarita]

He sounds like a typical rabbit to me. I’m sure that what most of us post are just those exceptional moments that happen with our rabbits rather than their everyday behaviors.

He sounds like he’s entertaining to me with the toilet paper roll and jumping up and down on the couch.

Some of the behaviors are more age related as well – I have mostly older rabbits (over 8 years old) and they lounge all day really. I love that they are comfortable and feel secure – I think they are happy in their golden years.

Pepe my younger rabbit (about 6 years old) is a free roamer – he’s a bit more active and entertaining but he can be a pest because he jumps up in bed with me – not a very restful night with a rabbit in the bed.

[AlicePalace]

My Rabbit Was a bit like that when i first got him, i thought it was maybe coz he was lonley so i went back to where i got him and brought one of his sisters. Now they’re both mad jumping around all the time. You would never regret it either, seeing two rabbits together is the cutest. always grooming and snuggling and running after each other. And when you go away you dont have to be to worried about your bunny having no company

[Peter's Mummy :)]

Yeah, I’d love to get him a bunny friend, but he’s not fixed and I don’t want any baby bunnies! Lol. And I don’t know how two males would be together…Are they okay to be together? They would be agressive with eachother or anything?

[Beka27]

Two males can successfully bond, but they also have to be neutered before being bonding. Baby bunnies are typically easier to put together because hormones are not a factor yet (that bond is likely to break before they are spay/neutered tho)…

Since Peter is an adult, that wouldn’t work with him. So first things first is to get him neutered… I do agree that he sounds perfectly normal. As he gets more used to you, he may begin to warm up a little bit too.

[Ahvo]

My bun wouldn’t let me touch him at all for the first few weeks, and for lack of a nicer way of putting it, was rather personality-less.
But when he warmed up to me and our home, he started showing more personality than I thought he ever would, haha.
Buns are prey animals, really (this is what I comforted myself with when I couldn’t play with him at first, heh), and it takes a while to get them comfortable with new things as big as homes and people, but don’t worry, I’m sure once he feels that his space is his own, and you’re his human (hehehe) you’ll be seeing so much personality in your bun! I’ve only had Ponyo for 3.5 months and he’s already acting like he’s been here forever!

So don’t be upset, see it as an opportunity to give your bun the associations of you and your home that you want him to have, show him how nice it is to be stroked and played with, and if you can (I know Ponyo is still funny with this) how unscary it is to be picked up sometimes, haha. You’ll bond wonderfully, and he’ll open up to you, I’m sure. :]

[Minty]

Every bunny is individual. My Sully sounds a lot like your Peter. Sully doesn’t really like being handled and likes to just chill out. I thought he was depressed too but I realized it’s just his personality. I will leave his pen open for hours and he will explore for the first half hour or so and then prefers to flop in his pen. Now Frankie is the complete opposite. He is sometimes a little wacko and jumps, leaps, climbs and is into everything. He is kind of like a dog, nothing really scares him and he is my ‘cuddle bunny.’

Anyways, I think it’s a nice balance. If I only had Sully I might feel ‘bored’ but if I only had Frankie I wouldn’t have my chill bunny to just relax with. I’m also hoping that bonding Sully and Frankie will bring Sully out of his shell a bit more, but we will see.

With bunnies with a more quiet personality I have found it takes more time to bond with them… Sully took me about 2 months for him to be comfortable around me. Frankie made himself at home the first day lol. So just keep at it. You’ve only have him for a month or so now right? I agree with what others have said that he sounds like a normal bun. Definitely get him neutered as well.

[Deleted User]

Maybe you’re just not with him during his most active hours of the day? Edmund, like most buns I believe, is most active really early in the morning and right before bed. For the rest of the day, he’s usually content just lounging around. During his active hours, however, he runs all over the place, is the most curious animal you’ll ever meet, and does a TON of binkies. ;D

Also, I recently got an exercise pen for Edmund, and I have to say, my best times with him thus far have simply been when I reach in to pet him. He loves it and will relax and purr while I rub the area behind his ears. If I let him outside his cage, he’d rather run around for a while than be pet at first. Eventually though, he doesn’t mind being pet outside his cage either once he’s calmed down.

I’ve also noticed that Edmund doesn’t mind being held and actually seems to like it occasionally, assuming I only do it for short periods of time. Finally, he hates it when I touch his toys inside his cage, so I’ve learned to clean his cage when he’s outside his pen.

What I’m trying to say is that I think a big part of bonding with a bunny is just noticing what his unique behaviors and preferences are and then being accommodating of them. When does he like to play? When/where does he like to be pet? Etc… Just be patient and get to know your bun, and the rest will come.

[Elrohwen]

I’ve had Otto since April of last year and he still doesn’t really like affection! All bunnies are different, and in general, only like affection on their time and on their own terms. When we post about moments with our bunnies, they’re either exceptional moments, or they are with a bunny that we have been bonding with for a very long time. Super affectionate bunnies, like Lintini’s Indy, are very rare.

You just need to put in a lot of time with him and learn to appreciate him for his innate personality. Bunnies aren’t for everyone, and this is exactly why – not everyone gets as much out of their quiet personalities, just like some are cat people and some are dog people.

[LoveChaCha]

Some bunnies are quite affectionate, some aren’t.

I understand that you are worried about leaving your bunny. My dad took care of mine for 4 days and I left him with instructions that I typed up on MS word, lol. He followed them quite well, but he fed my bunny too many snacks.

I’ve had my bunny since she was 8 weeks old, and now she is 7 months old. She was scared of me and would run from me and not give any sort of affection. She started to calm down more as she got older/got spayed. Now she can’t stop giving kisses!

[4Lily]

LOL! Each bun, like each person, will have a different personality! Lily sleeps whenever we aren’t home, but is very entertaining in the morning, and later at night, if we aren’t home during the day! If we are home during the day, he fallows me everywere & naps for a few minutes here & there! That night he isn’t that active, it’s like I wore him out all day & he sleeps all night! I like those nights! He loves attention, but I demand it too! LOL! My animals have really strong personalilties because of how we interact with them & talk to them all of the time, that’s how you get bonded with them, but it takes some time! They eventually know every word you say to them & it will be like you can read their minds by their reactions! &&&& Their personalities really come out after they are neutered/spayed!

[Balefulregards]

After a year, Jackson is still fairly stand-offish. He is JUST now tolerating my approaching him to offer nose rubs.

Coco, on the other hand, actively seeks out affection from her humans.

Neither are Snuggle-Buns AT ALL.

I’ve found that if I want to show them affection, I just lay on the floor and let them jump all over me – but as far as picking up and/or holding? No way.

[Peter's Mummy :)]

Thanks everyone! Peter was well behaved over the weekend from what I heard. He has a check up Wednesday. It was supposed to be last week, but I couldn’t make it. So we’lll set up the big snip after his check up.

[Michelle&Lolli]

My female Lollipop is a “no touch” rabbit. She doesn’t like being petted and picked up. She’s 1 1/2 years old and honestly, for the first year, I seriously didn’t think she liked me. lol She wouldn’t have anything to do with me and would run off when I’d let her and Eddie out of their pen. And I felt so bad cause she is a very very sweet bunny and was so timid. I felt like I was making everything worse when I’d have to pick her up to clip her nails and check her over every couple of weeks.

But in the past 6 months or so, she has warmed up to me. She still is all “NO touching” but will let me give her nose pets when she’s relaxed. She’s even started to come up and bump me with her nose. And now when I yell, she looks at me like “ooooo, whadda he do?” cause it’s usually Eddie doing something bad. lol But I am still the scum of the earth for trying to touch her quite frequently. I can always tell from her ears when I’m talking to her. Plus they just have that “scum of the earth” face too. ha I know in her own way, she does like me. She’s just more bonded to Eddie and is not a touchy – feely rabbit. She’s very affectionate to Eddie so I won’t say she isn’t affectionate. She just doesn’t have a huge need for attention. Unlike Attention wh*re Eddie. LOL He drives me batty cause as soon as I start doing something, he has to have attention. I started cleaning the end table and he started pawing at my legs. Sigh. lol

So it just takes time. He may always be a bit stand offish but you will eventually learn his ways and what certain things mean to him. I’d take it as a very good sign that he likes to veg out with you and your boyfriend.

I also made a mistake in that I bonded Eddie and Lollipop before Lolli got bonded to me. I knew Eddie’s bond with me would change but I wasn’t thinking about her. She will never like much attention, but I think if I would have bonded her to me more, she might not be so skittish of me at times.

Plus it may take him some time to warm up to his new home and slaves. Sounds like everything is going good though!

[Peter's Mummy :)]

Haha awww.

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