Liquidtravel
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
So, I have a report and a question. I have a Flemish Giant rabbit named "Franklin".
I have had him for almost a year now and I believe he is about 1.4 years old. He was litterbox trained in about 3 months and uses his litterbox about 95% of the time which has been great. At first, I kept him in a XL dog kennel with an extended play pen attached to the kennel because I was in an apartment. Now I am in a home and I had a spare bedroom so I gave Franklin his own room.
Throughout the last year, Franklin has been a loner. He spends more time by himself than he does with me. Even in his small cage, the cage door was almost always left open and he could come and go as he wanted. Now that he has his own room, unless it is at night when I am sleeping, the door to the room is always open. Still, it seems he prefers to stay in his room. I assume it is like a teenager who would rather not hang out with their parents and prefer their room. Still, I feel bad for him, I go into this room all the time and give him pets which he loves but when he doesn't want them any longer, he just gets up and moves. If I stop giving him pets, and he still wants to be pet, he can get pretty aggressive - meaning he will try and bite to get your attention. I don't mean nibble, I mean bite. In fact, I felt so bad about him being alone, I decided he needed a friend. I found an adoption facility near where I live and they also offered bonding services. They would help you find several rabbits at their facility and over the course of a week, would start the bonding process narrowing it down to the rabbit I would bring home as Franklin's new friend. So, I went to their facility and we selected the top option. I then left and they said they would give me a daily update throughout the week. I didn't hear anything the first night but the second night I received a phone call to come get my rabbit. They said they could not work with him because he is too aggressive. Apparently every time they would stop petting Franklin and start petting the other rabbit, Franklin would charge the handler and bite her. When I went to pick up Franklin, the handler showed me where he had bitten her, yeah, these were not nibbles, they were BITES.
So, Franklin is back at my home in his big room just hanging out. I still go in all the time and pet him and every so often he will come to my office or living room for pets.
Should I be concerned about his behavior or apparently loneliness or am I just humanism him too much and he if fine. I don't like aggressive behavior when you stop petting him and I would love for him to come into a room and just want to hang out but I am not sure that is possible. He may just be being how he is and I have to live with it. He is sweet in his own way but it is his way or the highway it appears.
So, I have a report and a question. I have a Flemish Giant rabbit named "Franklin".
I have had him for almost a year now and I believe he is about 1.4 years old. He was litterbox trained in about 3 months and uses his litterbox about 95% of the time which has been great. At first, I kept him in a XL dog kennel with an extended play pen attached to the kennel because I was in an apartment. Now I am in a home and I had a spare bedroom so I gave Franklin his own room.
Throughout the last year, Franklin has been a loner. He spends more time by himself than he does with me. Even in his small cage, the cage door was almost always left open and he could come and go as he wanted. Now that he has his own room, unless it is at night when I am sleeping, the door to the room is always open. Still, it seems he prefers to stay in his room. I assume it is like a teenager who would rather not hang out with their parents and prefer their room. Still, I feel bad for him, I go into this room all the time and give him pets which he loves but when he doesn't want them any longer, he just gets up and moves. If I stop giving him pets, and he still wants to be pet, he can get pretty aggressive - meaning he will try and bite to get your attention. I don't mean nibble, I mean bite. In fact, I felt so bad about him being alone, I decided he needed a friend. I found an adoption facility near where I live and they also offered bonding services. They would help you find several rabbits at their facility and over the course of a week, would start the bonding process narrowing it down to the rabbit I would bring home as Franklin's new friend. So, I went to their facility and we selected the top option. I then left and they said they would give me a daily update throughout the week. I didn't hear anything the first night but the second night I received a phone call to come get my rabbit. They said they could not work with him because he is too aggressive. Apparently every time they would stop petting Franklin and start petting the other rabbit, Franklin would charge the handler and bite her. When I went to pick up Franklin, the handler showed me where he had bitten her, yeah, these were not nibbles, they were BITES.
So, Franklin is back at my home in his big room just hanging out. I still go in all the time and pet him and every so often he will come to my office or living room for pets.
Should I be concerned about his behavior or apparently loneliness or am I just humanism him too much and he if fine. I don't like aggressive behavior when you stop petting him and I would love for him to come into a room and just want to hang out but I am not sure that is possible. He may just be being how he is and I have to live with it. He is sweet in his own way but it is his way or the highway it appears.