What am I doing wrong?

[Tinto]

Is my bunny bored or lonely?? I cannot find out.

I watched tons of videos on youtube about bonding and therefore I have been trying to sit inside the playing pen every morning and every evening, but sometimes my bunny boy ignores me, sometimes he gets nervous as if I was disturbing him. I don't try at all to touch him when he doesn't like it, I don't chase him, I just it there doing my stuff. How can I know when I am supposed to enter and spend time with him? He has a lot of things to play with or chew on, nevertheless he scratches the window frame, the wall or bites my clothes from the back. Should I give him more freedom and care less about him? I really need some advice...

Does anybody have the experience of being welcome after coming home, I mean that the rabbit is obviously happy when he sees his owner?

 

[VioletRose]

I don't think you are doing anything wrong at all, actually it sounds like everything you are doing is right.
I have had my bunny for 2 years and it took a long time for him to become interested in me beyond being his slave, haha. I believe it can take a long long time in general for bunnies to learn trust with their humans. So don't despair. We are good buddies now and he does look happy when he sees me, shakes his head, half binkies and runs around my feet. This took over a year. Before that, he was totally comfortable and at home, but he kinda ignored me unless I fed him. Patience is the key. And respect. My bun doesn't cuddle or lap sit etc, but loves a good head scratch when he wants it. That is the key, respect is big in bunny land. So keep going with what you are doing, in my opinion and others here with more experience may have other things to say, but respect his boundaries, learn as much as you can about the language of lagomorphs, great sites online, and know you are doing fine. Also, I'm home all the time, like ALL the time, as I work from home, and it still took ages, so you see yours morning and night and that's it, so it may just require that extra time together. Does you bun get to roam around free cage at all? I recommend at least most 3 hours a day if not more, or is his play pen pretty large? If not, think of getting the largest you can accomodate just to make sure the cage biting, window frame scratching isn't frustration. Cheers.

 

[Tinto]

Thank you VioletRose so much!!! I am really so confused very often... I think I am doing the best I can, but still the bunny seems not at ease. He has been with me for 1,5 months now. The playpen is long more than 7-8 feet, with the width of maybe 6 feet. Is that too small? Sometimes I am asking myself if I shouldn't let him move freely around my room when I am at home, but I am afraid that he wouldn't be willing to go back when I will have to go out. Won't he feel frustrated then that he cannot stay where he was until one minute ago??

 

[Hermelin]

You need more time to bond with your rabbit. I’ve just taken a huge step towards bonding with my youngest rabbit and I had him since october.

The pen it’s a good size, You can train your rabbit to jump in to the pen on a command.

All my rabbits get super excited when it’s time to go into their cages after having the whole day running around.
I’ve just say “jump in” and all my rabbits know it’s time to go into the cage, they will get a small treat like one pellets. This makes the rabbit think it’s something good being in the cage/pen.

 

[VioletRose]

Thank you VioletRose so much!!! I am really so confused very often... I think I am doing the best I can, but still the bunny seems not at ease. He has been with me for 1,5 months now. The playpen is long more than 7-8 feet, with the width of maybe 6 feet. Is that too small? Sometimes I am asking myself if I shouldn't let him move freely around my room when I am at home, but I am afraid that he wouldn't be willing to go back when I will have to go out. Won't he feel frustrated then that he cannot stay where he was until one minute ago??

The cage sounds big enough to me. I like the idea of a small treat to encourage him back into it after a good run around. I think if you and he are in the same area with no barriers, ie cage bars, it might help with the bonding. He then can come up to you and have a good sniff, might even jump on you, try lying down on your tum and he may get on your back, mind did that at first, they love to explore. Just remember to follow his lead in regard to touching him and don't if he doesn't want it. Try slowly placing your hand at the side of his head, where he can see best (blind spot in front of their face, and don't pat from above as that can be startling), just hold your hand there and if he puts his head down, ears flat out on ground, he is requesting a pat. If not, just leave him.

It is quite confusing at first having a bunny, so many things to do and not do. Have a good look around online, there is so much info, here is a site I find informative

https://rabbit.org/#

I am quite impressed with your cage set up from the pic, your bunny looks nice and relaxed, plenty of hay and a toy in sight, looks good, so I think you're doing really well. Check the house rabbit site, they are always great, see what they say about free ranging your bunny, also food is important to get right, check their poop, look for any signs of illness (just by observing) etc.

Well done, you obviously care at a lot!
Cheers
VioletRose

 

[Tiffanysbunnygang]

It may just be his personality. I have 4 bunnies currently. They each have their own preferences and how much they like to socialize with me. My bunny Maybell was not very sociable as a baby but now she will sit next to me on my bed for pets for an hour. Just allowing your bunny out in your space when your in is good for bonding even if they don’t seem to be paying much attention to u it will create trust.