Rabbit Scared of Bacon?!

Hi all,

My husband and I think we've figured out this weird behavior from our rabbit, Nibbles. He's done this only a few times since we got him at the end of October:

-frozen in position, hunched in corner of cage
-wide eyes (can see the whites)
-ears straight up
-no response when offered toys, special treats, food, etc.
-stays seemingly wary for several hours
-allows petting
-this comes after an afternoon/day/evening of normal behavior

All this happened again just now while my husband was frying some bacon for BLTs. No amount of petting, soft talking, or treats seems to help. He only moved when I tried to pick him up (jumped away quickly, then returned to a frozen position). Could he be scared of the fizzing bacon cooking sounds? He's fine when we cook other things in the kitchen. His cage/xpen area is in our living room which is right next to the kitchen (apartment), so he can hear what's going on easily. It's a loud noise, but not uncomfortably loud (like the vacuum cleaner, and he doesn't seem to mind when that's going). Is anyone else's bunny(ies) afraid of popping/crackling kitchen noises or other noises? What do you do to calm your bunny down? We're thinking we may try to move him to another room next time and see if that helps. Poor little bun

Is he a rescue rabbit? If so, maybe something happened at his previous home that scared him & sounded &/or smelled like cooking bacon. Maybe like a balloon that then popped?

Honey goes into her box when I open the microwave door, but it's certainly not the extreme reaction you're getting.

We got him from a shelter when he was just 1 1/2 months old (end of Oct., he's almost 3 months now). He wasn't born at the shelter--the previous owner dropped off him and his siblings because they couldn't take care of all the bunnies.

Oh, and he also seemed colder than normal. While I was petting him, his body didn't seem as warm as it normally is and his ears were definitely cooler. Usually, his ears are VERY warm, but tonight the tips were cool. Not sure if that means anything. He's back to normal temps now.

Edit: He just hopped out of his cage into his xpen (this is nearly 3 hours after the bacon frying). He was acting like it was the first time he's ever been in that xpen! He had his whole body stretched out, ears straight up, neck out and making the littlest hops possible. He only went about half way into the xpen before turning around and going back into his cage. I feel so bad for him!! :sigh: We didn't mean to traumatize the poor thing!

Oddly enough, I read in Rabbits for Dummies that if you tried to give your rabbit a steak the smell would probably "scare the heck out of him". The book doesn't explain why, other than saying that rabbits are herbivores. So I wonder if it's the smell of the meat? Just thought I'd throw that out there :?

We've cooked other things--ground beef, chicken, etc.--and he doesn't seem to be bothered by the sound of those things cooking.

This morning, he hopped out of his cage when I opened the door for him, but was very cautious as he moved around the xpen. When I accidentally knocked a glass in the kitchen (just knocked it so it sort of slid loudly across a table), he darted back into his cage again! I lured him back out again with a raisin (he needs to run around!), but after about 5 minutes he's back in his cage lying down.

Any other ideas about how to make him feel better or safe again?

One time my friend had a little fuzzy looking rabbit key chain his mom gave him. I kept telling him it was probably made from real rabbit fur and teasing him how terrible! Then... one day he came over to our house, and wanted to see how my bunnies would react. I was inside their play area with my back turned. Then my friend said he just put the key chain down on the floor... when Coco went to see what it was, after she smelled it she JUMP up and hit my butt and then ran into the corner and was FREAKED out and wouldn't move! I just petted her and kept saying "it's okay..." softly. After a few minutes she was ok again, but I gave her a piece of apple... and we don't show her that key chain any more.

My husband and I had a dear bun who was deathly afraid of food smells--especially those of cooking meat. She disliked the smell of food in general, but the scent of cooking/cooked meat scared her the most. She would cower in a corner, the whites of her eyes showing. I started closing the door to the buns' room before we'd begin cooking anything.

Our two remaining buns seem completely unaffected by the cooking odors. Go figure.


Jenk

I really don't think it's the smell. We've cooked many other things in the kitchen since we brought Nibbles home and the only times he's had this extreme reaction was from frying bacon.

He's still acting very skittish and is reluctant to come out of his cage during the times he normally is running around. I got him to come out a bit last night, but only by luring him with raisins. Once he was out, he hopped around and let me pet him (even lay down next to me at one point for a few minutes), but no binkies, no crazy running.

Well, bacon isn't the healthiest food around, so maybe he's trying to tell you to stop eating it. lol Anyway, does cooking Canadian bacon cause the same reaction?

Perhaps he was friends with a pig in his first home? I have no idea, it is a strange reaction.

My rabbit is very afraid of the smell of bacon. My boyfriend held a piece in front of him, since he seemed curious as to what it could be, and once he smelled it he backed up and skittered into his bed.

Bandit is afraid of particular kitchen smells, some raw meats set him off, others don't. Often the sound of cooking will set him off. Simply lighting the stove will send him into his cage to sit in a corner, and if he gets more scared (if the meat sizzles loudly when put on the pan for example) then he'll hide inside one of his boxes and he'll only come out on his time. Usually a short time after the cooking has stopped or the smell of the food has gone away.