!!!!!OH NO!!!!!
- Thread starter PixieMillyMommy
- Start date
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that site - "The Language of Lagomorphs" - is terrific. At the end of the main site (not sure how to say this), there's some info. available on the buns whose photos are used and on the author. He married a woman who already had buns, and at first, they were either indifferent to him or actively disliked him. He spent a lot of time with them, observing them and getting to know them on their terms.
His whole approach was to take these rabbits on their own terms, not his.... and it works, if you try, though it might take some time.
Your bunny is acting in entirely appropriate ways, given her age, as others have said. It will take spaying - and time for her hormones to settle down afterwards - for some of these things to be resolved; also time for her to grow into full adulthood.
I only have one bun, who was spayed but very much in her "teens" when I adopted her last year. Her behavior was trying for me at times, but you know - I'm sure she got frustrated with that silly human (me), too!
I think Peg is right on the money regarding personality, too - they're all individuals, and, just as with other humans, we need to work on getting to know them for themselves.
His whole approach was to take these rabbits on their own terms, not his.... and it works, if you try, though it might take some time.
Your bunny is acting in entirely appropriate ways, given her age, as others have said. It will take spaying - and time for her hormones to settle down afterwards - for some of these things to be resolved; also time for her to grow into full adulthood.
I only have one bun, who was spayed but very much in her "teens" when I adopted her last year. Her behavior was trying for me at times, but you know - I'm sure she got frustrated with that silly human (me), too!
I think Peg is right on the money regarding personality, too - they're all individuals, and, just as with other humans, we need to work on getting to know them for themselves.
PixieMillyMommy
Well-Known Member
HoneyPot wrote:
Of course. :biggrin2:
Of course. :biggrin2:
TinysMom
Well-Known Member
I've been thinking about this thread and trying to come up with ideas to help you. I thought I'd take a moment to share with you some things I did with Tiny and our nethies (and then Puck (Holland lop) and GingerSpice and SugarBear (lionheads).
One of the first things I did was to not "try" to play with my rabbits so much as sit on the floor with them and let them come to me. There were days when I would sit or lay on the floor for a couple of hours at a time and hope that they would come out to see me. I did have some things that I could use to interact with them...a ball ... a crumped up piece of paper....stuff like that.
Once they started coming to me and checking me out - I started trying to have "treats" for them. I admit it - I'm willing to resort to bribery if need be to win a bun's affection. (Am I horrid or what?).
I would try to have a small container of cheerios or a few craisins or a couple of yogurt drops....stuff like that. I tried to make it so they would associate "treats" with me....to see me as the source of treats. However, that doesn't mean that I'd give them treats the whole time they were there...I'd give them one or two and then pet them for a bit. Frequently they'd back off and maybe I'd rustle the cup a bit later and they'd come over and check out what I had and let me pet them again.
This wasn't easy and it wasn't always fun for me. There were times when it was downright boring. To be honest with you, I was also jealous of people on this board who had flemish who were so outgoing (Dajeti2's Apollo and Carolyn's Cali were two in particular). But I knew if I wanted to have a relationship with them...it was what I had to do.
Of all our pets at the time - if I called Puck...he'd probably come to me. If I called Tiny, he'd tell me to take a number and get back to him later. Gingerspice would run the other way and hide. Tio and Kyou would think about it and check me out to see if I had treats and then run off. Basically, they each had their own reaction and their own personalities.
So here are my suggestions....based upon what I've learned from my rabbits..
a. Play at their normal playtimes (or as close to that as possible). These times are sunup - and sundown. This is when they are most likely to want to play.
b. Try to have her assciate you with something "fun" or "tasty".
c. Give her time to explore you and climb on you. I would lay down on my stomach and be a jungle gym for my bunnies....and once they got more used to me - a couple of them thought it was great fun to come climb on top of mom. After a while, I could even go "oomph": with a couple of themthat weren't so skittish.
d. Understand that as a doe - particularly a doe that is going through puberty....she is going to be posessive about "her" things - particularly in her cage.
We have a doe here (Popcorn) who will chase the cat when the cat tries to come in the house through the open rabbitry door. She sees the rabbitry as 'hers' and it is her job to protect it. Milina (a holland lop) used to chase the dog and nip at her feet when the rabbit lived in our bedroom w/ Puck for a bit. In both cases - these does were protecting what is theirs.
I don't remember how old you are - but many times - human teenagers will want to shut themselves in their room and listen to their music and just be "alone" and away from their parents. That is the way your doe is right now...basically -she's like a human teenager in the fact that she's no longer a "baby" and wants her space.
Anyway, I hope that somehow this has helped. It was tough for me to develop relationships with my rabbits - and I still don't have the relationship I'd like with some of them. It has helped me to learn "rabbit talk" as someone gave the link to the language of rabbits....and it helped me to remember that they are rabbits and as prey animals...they are going to play differently with humans than a cat or dog will.
In some ways, I'm going through that right now. We adopted a young kitten last week and talk about PLAYFUL....loves to play with my hands and toys, etc. So we brought out a baby bunny the same age to play....WOW...totally different method of playing....and the two did not care for each other at all. Kitten wanted to attack the baby bunny and conquer it....whereby the baby bunny wanted to explore and find safe spots. I think part of that is because cats normally prey on other animals - and rabbits are normally preyed upon by other animals....
Peg
One of the first things I did was to not "try" to play with my rabbits so much as sit on the floor with them and let them come to me. There were days when I would sit or lay on the floor for a couple of hours at a time and hope that they would come out to see me. I did have some things that I could use to interact with them...a ball ... a crumped up piece of paper....stuff like that.
Once they started coming to me and checking me out - I started trying to have "treats" for them. I admit it - I'm willing to resort to bribery if need be to win a bun's affection. (Am I horrid or what?).
I would try to have a small container of cheerios or a few craisins or a couple of yogurt drops....stuff like that. I tried to make it so they would associate "treats" with me....to see me as the source of treats. However, that doesn't mean that I'd give them treats the whole time they were there...I'd give them one or two and then pet them for a bit. Frequently they'd back off and maybe I'd rustle the cup a bit later and they'd come over and check out what I had and let me pet them again.
This wasn't easy and it wasn't always fun for me. There were times when it was downright boring. To be honest with you, I was also jealous of people on this board who had flemish who were so outgoing (Dajeti2's Apollo and Carolyn's Cali were two in particular). But I knew if I wanted to have a relationship with them...it was what I had to do.
Of all our pets at the time - if I called Puck...he'd probably come to me. If I called Tiny, he'd tell me to take a number and get back to him later. Gingerspice would run the other way and hide. Tio and Kyou would think about it and check me out to see if I had treats and then run off. Basically, they each had their own reaction and their own personalities.
So here are my suggestions....based upon what I've learned from my rabbits..
a. Play at their normal playtimes (or as close to that as possible). These times are sunup - and sundown. This is when they are most likely to want to play.
b. Try to have her assciate you with something "fun" or "tasty".
c. Give her time to explore you and climb on you. I would lay down on my stomach and be a jungle gym for my bunnies....and once they got more used to me - a couple of them thought it was great fun to come climb on top of mom. After a while, I could even go "oomph": with a couple of themthat weren't so skittish.
d. Understand that as a doe - particularly a doe that is going through puberty....she is going to be posessive about "her" things - particularly in her cage.
We have a doe here (Popcorn) who will chase the cat when the cat tries to come in the house through the open rabbitry door. She sees the rabbitry as 'hers' and it is her job to protect it. Milina (a holland lop) used to chase the dog and nip at her feet when the rabbit lived in our bedroom w/ Puck for a bit. In both cases - these does were protecting what is theirs.
I don't remember how old you are - but many times - human teenagers will want to shut themselves in their room and listen to their music and just be "alone" and away from their parents. That is the way your doe is right now...basically -she's like a human teenager in the fact that she's no longer a "baby" and wants her space.
Anyway, I hope that somehow this has helped. It was tough for me to develop relationships with my rabbits - and I still don't have the relationship I'd like with some of them. It has helped me to learn "rabbit talk" as someone gave the link to the language of rabbits....and it helped me to remember that they are rabbits and as prey animals...they are going to play differently with humans than a cat or dog will.
In some ways, I'm going through that right now. We adopted a young kitten last week and talk about PLAYFUL....loves to play with my hands and toys, etc. So we brought out a baby bunny the same age to play....WOW...totally different method of playing....and the two did not care for each other at all. Kitten wanted to attack the baby bunny and conquer it....whereby the baby bunny wanted to explore and find safe spots. I think part of that is because cats normally prey on other animals - and rabbits are normally preyed upon by other animals....
Peg
