Funny questions you get as a bunny owner

[existenziell]

Admittedly, my dad questioned immediately what fun a rabbit could possibly be when I first got Hegel and told me I shouldn't have gotten one because they aren't as fun as dogs. But all that has changed. My dad took care of Hegel for a couple months and he has completely changed his tune. He doesn't see Hegel much anymore as my bun is now back living with me, but every time I talk to my dad he asks how Hegel is and he says he misses him.

Truth be told, I had never been around rabbits really before I got Hegel and hadn't imagined how much fun it would be to have him around. Nor did I imagine that he would be as outgoing, friendly, and playful as he is. I think people's ignorance stems from the fact that they just haven't been around rabbits, which leads to, unfortunately, stupid questions.

 

[inasaga]

But all that has changed. My dad took care of Hegel for a couple months and he has completely changed his tune. He doesn't see Hegel much anymore as my bun is now back living with me, but every time I talk to my dad he asks how Hegel is and he says he misses him.

Ha! Ever since my dad watched my rabbit, he's been waiting for an opportunity to do it again. Everyone loves bunnies once they meet them.

 

[Azerane]

Agreed that people don't get it. On a sort of related topic, I grew up with cats, but a lot of my friends who never owned cats didn't really like my cats or cats in general, and I feel like it's not so much a dislike of cats, but it's a lack of knowledge and experience with the body language of a cat. To a cat owner, a tail flick can be an obvious sign that the cat is unhappy being petted, but people who have never been around cats don't know that. Dogs are more obvious, every kid seems to know that a happy dog wags its tail. It's the same with rabbits, their body language tends to be more subtle (to the untrained eye) so people who've never owned or been around rabbits don't understand them. Plus, there's the whole stigma of if you own a rabbit it's kept in a hutch in the backyard and you just go out and feed it and occasionally pick it up. Fortunately, that seems to be changing somewhat.

At work a couple of days ago I noticed we had seagrass baskets on sale, so after my shift I went to buy one for Bandit. One of the people I work with was there and said "buy them all" but I said I probably only needed one for now. She asked if I was using it for a rubbish bin, but I told her I was going to give it to my rabbit. She then ended up talking to me about her sister's rabbit that she felt bad for because her sister never let it out of it's cage to run around and the cage wasn't big enough and we talked about why I was buying the seagrass basket and that you can give them to buns in addition to the seagrass mats that we sell. She found all that really interesting and said she would probably buy one for her sister's rabbit to give it something to do

 

[MikeScone]

It's the same with rabbits, their body language tends to be more subtle (to the untrained eye) so people who've never owned or been around rabbits don't understand them.

That is so true. It took me quite a while after I started to get to know Scone, my first rabbit, before I could interpret his body language. Once I knew the clues, he was just as expressive as any dog, just different. Natasha is even more expressive than Scone was.

I find it interesting that when I post a picture to this forum, people will comment on Natasha's personality or mood, but when non-rabbit people see the same photo, all they see is a cute rabbit. For example, this picture just says grumpiness and annoyance to me (I was plucking Natasha's shed fur):

My mother looked at the picture, and just saw me petting the rabbit.

 

[Imbrium]

that says a lot more than just "grumpy", lol... one of the top "disapproving rabbit" photos I've seen - she is unmistakably displeased!

 

[Morquinn]

I get a lot of "Im gonna cook your wabbits" and "Hopefully Elmer doesnt come over" and I just reply, go ahead and try to cook my rabbits cuz they'll scratch the *bleep* outta you if you try to pick them up! lol