Play between bunny and child, what’s normal?

[BumbleBunn]

Hey all!

So my eldest child loves playing with Marshmallow by chasing her around the house. Marshmallow runs or does some zoomies (bunny 500s?) away from her, and doesn’t seem upset that my child is playing like this. Mar doesn’t hide, even though she has many safe places to go and I don’t allow chasing Mar out of those safe spaces. Mar sometimes even binkies when chased. And if my child runs away from Mar, Mar will sort of “chase” after my child. 

I always supervise these interactions, just because I want to make sure my child is never too rough with Marshmallow and is allowing her places to escape to if she feels scared. 

Is this okay? Tonight during the play, she started chewing a bit more often on the carpet, so I thought maybe she was stressed with the playing. But she had many places to hide and when my child ran away from her, Mar chased her. 

Mar is 14 wks old and not spayed yet. She is our only pet, although we hope to add another bunn for her to bond with soon.

What behaviors should I look out for if Marshmallow is not enjoying this play? 

[Sirius&Luna]

Most bunnies do not enjoy being chased. As prey animals, their instincts kick in. There’s a theory that rabbits in the wild binky to escape predators, so it’s not always an expression of happiness. My bunny binkies when I’m gently moving her out of a room she’s not meant to be in – it’s not a happiness binky, more of a slight irritation binky I think.

You should teach your child to ‘play’ with the bunny in a calm way. She could sit on the floor with her and let Marshmallow come to her, and feed her bits of veg or pellets. She could try teaching her little tricks, like to spin or stand up on her back legs. You don’t want to end up in a situation where the bunny is terrified of your child.

[Asriel and Bombur]

I agree with S&L, chasing should strongly be discouraged. Chasing in bunnies is a negative behavior, and it is when a child chases a bunny. It’s the same reaction, the bunny is afraid. Not all bunnies will hide when they’re afraid. Some will run (as yours seems to be doing), others will freeze in one spot or thump, and others will hide. Every bunny is different. Either way, it is stressful for her to be chased around, and it will teach her to fear your child. She’s probably chasing after her back because she’s fed up with it. Again, it’s not playing, bunnies will chase each other out of anger and fear.

As has already been said, bunnies are gentle unlike a dog or a cat who probably wouldn’t mind a chase. But bunnies are fragile and they can die from stress and injure easily. Stay on the floor at her level and either feed her or pet her or teach her to do something funny. I’d recommend going slow so your child can really get a feel for what a bunny is really like.

[JLH]

I also agree, bunnies like it calm and quiet, I taught my 8 year old grandaughter this before I even brought our bunny home.

[LittlePuffyTail]

My daughter has been around bunnies all her life and knows how to act around them. Despite this, she’s 4 and sometimes she will get excited and my bun, Elara, thinks she’s chasing her. In these instances, I also see the zooms and binkies and, at first glance, it certainly looks like Elara is having fun but like S&L mentioned, this is a prey animal thing. I can’t really imagine any situation in which a bunny would enjoy being chased by a human. Elara loves my daughter and always asks for pets from her but I know for sure she’s not enjoying the occasional “play chase” because along with the zooms and binkies, she will also growl, lunge and try to bite my daughter.

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