Sad/lonely behaviour?

[Buckley's Mum]

I’m after a bit of advice, I have a beautiful 11-month old Netherlands dwarf who is afraid of his own shadow and very shy.  I have had him for 8 months now, in that time we have come a long way, at first he would not allow me to even touch him and would run away as soon as I went near.  Things are much improved over several months, if I lay on the floor, he will come over immediately to see if I have treats and will allow me to pet him and will even put his chin on the floor to ask for more, that is as far as the interraction will go.  He will not climb on me, if I sit on the floor he doesn’t recognise me and will not come to me.  He lives in the kitchen (with the door open) but he has never ventured further than the door.

However, when I am not in the kitchen he just sits there, doing nothing. He does not flop (ever) and just sits in the meatloaf and can sit there for hours (literally!).  Every time I go to the kitchen, he hasn’t moved, BUT if I go into the kitchen and lay on the floor, he “comes alive”, he will investigate me then go find his toys and chew mat, have a munch, run into his tunnels and come out, run round me and generally play.  BUT he will only do this when I’m on the floor with him, it’s almost like I’m giving him permission to play.  Is this normal? Why is he like this? Is he lonely?

He is not altered but has an appointment next Tuesday to remove his nicky-nacky-noo-nah’s.  To date, as far as I am aware, he has shown no signs of maturity at all.  He doesn’t bite, doesn’t grunt, doesn’t lunge, doesn’t spray, his toilet habbits are good, could be better though, he always goes back into his cage for the toilet but goes pretty much everywhere in his cage, but I can live with this as it’s in his house.  I am having him done as the only conclusion I have come to is that he needs a friend, am I barking up the wrong tree.  Has anyone else come across this complete inactivity?  We were in the vet last night having a pre-op assessment and he is completely healthy.

Any advice would be great – thanks x

[Sarita]

Well it doesn’t sound abnormal. Every rabbit has a different personality so this is probably just the way he behaves. We can only speculate why he is like this…perhaps since you are on the ground you are more at his level so he feels comfortable.

[Beka27]

Have you considered relocating him to the living room or family room area, or wherever you spend the majority of your time at home?

We don’t have an open concept house so the kitchen/dining room is closed off from the rest of the house and we spend very little time in there unless we’re cooking.

He may not realize he’s allowed to go elsewhere, but if you can bunny-proof your main living area and move his habitat there, he may come out of his shell more. I would do that first before considering a mate for him.

I generally prefer buns to be housed where the family spends the most time, because so often, out of sight = out of mind.

[Buckley's Mum]

I understand what you’re saying Beka, but it’s not going to happen, I’m lucky that hubby has agreed to have a rabbit in the house and there is no way he’ll be allowed in the living room, there are so many wires (boys toys and a huge amount of electronics). I wish I could, but I left the hoover unattended in the kitchen for no more than 30 seconds and Buckley had chowed down on the cable by the time I got back, so I’m pretty certain he would cause a lot of destruction in the living room. I do spent quite a lot of my time in the kitchen and I also spend a lot of my time laying on the kitchen floor. The first thing I do when I get in is lay on the kitchen floor, and I also visit during commercial breaks when watching tv in the living room. I’m actually pretty impressed that I have got away with as much as I have, the mess my little bun makes in the kitchen is quite impressive when he drags all the hay out, and also the number of toys on the floor and the tunnels that go across the kitchen. You have to step over everything, so I’m not going to push my luck. But I do acknowledge what you’re saying.

[Beka27]

Oh… that’s sad. I completely understand about the “boys toys” everywhere. We have chargers and controllers and HD cables, etc… etc… everywhere. It takes a lot to bunny proof all of that, and even then, bunny proofing isn’t always 100%.

[Buckley's Mum]

Lol – you are so right about the cables. I have to settle with what I have. About 7 years ago I started my “I want a house rabbit campaign” and for 4 months all I did was talk about getting a rabbit. Having never owned one before I got tons of books out the library and kept bombarding my poor husband with information about their habitats, how to keep them, how they can be toilet trained etc etc and I was met with a “no” pretty much every day and at the end of my 4-month campaign, I kind of had to resign myself that this was never going to happen, so when we were in the pet shop last October and he asked me if I wanted one, I was blown over and so Buckley entered our lives. Whilst hubby wasn’t thrilled, I do think that Buckley has grown on him, so whilst access to the living room is currently a “no”, you never know, in another 7 years it may happen!

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