Calling all current and former bunny owners

How long did it take you to bond or feel something for the bunny??

I ask cause Mom wants to rehome the bunny we have had for 3 days... I am telling her give it more time... 2 weeks??

I have had several bunnys, I would give it more time, the one we have now Oreo, took about a month, I find it a lot easier to bond with dogs and cats

It was about 3 weeks with ours, with deliberate effort and time invested on our part. She'd come from a reputable farm that bred rabbits so she just wasn't a pet yet. We placed her cage in the garage near the front door where she would get air plus plenty of attention and plenty of people walking by talking to her. It took about three weeks until she was over the fear of handling and started hopping around excitedly when we would approach the cage.

Hmmm how to say this without upsetting anyone! This is My Opinion - and that is I don't find rabbits as 'interactive' (for want of a better word!) as some other animals such as cats, dogs, and parrots. Yes, they are very cute and pretty and soft, and can be entertaining, but (generalisation coming up!) they don't engage with you on a one-to-one basis as much as some other pets.

Don't get me wrong, I've loved all the rabbits I've had very much indeed, but a bond stronger than the basic 'oh what a cute animal' reaction did take longer to form with them than I've experienced with other animals. It does come, that moment when they reach up and put their front paws on your knees and look into your face and you know it's all worth it, but I've found it not to be as quick as with cats. Probably due to the fact that they're a species that was only domesticated to be farmed for food and fur, or in the wild hunted to be eaten, or killed as a pest, they don't have that long history of positive interaction with humans, and don't centre their world around the humans they live with.

I'm not sure how long it took...with me I get attached easily.

If you have only had it for 3 days thats not alot of time for either the rabbit or you to get used to each other. Not fair to the rabbit to be bounced around. They can be scared at first so they need time to warm up to you.

I think it's more rabbits are a prey animal which we don't interact with as well as some more predatory animals and they often don't see us the same as other prey animals. It takes longer for them to adjust to a large human that for all they know may eat them than it does for a dog or cat which are usually certain we won't eat them even if they aren't certain whether we are dangerous. Along with the fact most rabbits are kept caged instead of a cat or dog which is allowed to roam the house and interact with us constantly. I know lots of people with housebroken rabbits that find them as interactive as a cat but these house rabbits are never caged. They run around at least majority of the house and are always around their humans. Even then it takes several months to completely tame a rabbit to that point and the first 2 weeks don't even count. That time is just for the rabbit to settle in and get used to it's new home so it can start learning how to act around you.

http://www.rabbit.org/

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html

thank you,

SAVING GRACE for time... the local rescue is FULL>.. I had called the accupucturist who works with them and she called and talked to mom and said they were overloaded..

Bun Bun seems like a great boy( name needed)... he allows me to pet him very briefly ( alot like my semi feral when she came home)... he is happy with his crate and attached mini run( nic )... he is eating well .. I introduced lettuce last night and again this morning ..

We bonded with our bunny fairly quickly, the more time you spend with the bunny the more he will come around. We let ours out for several hours a day to run and play, at first she was a little scared of us but now she will run up to us, jump up onto our laps, and come when we call her.....

The best thing to do is find a rabbit forum like the ones earlier suggested like the one here for cats, they can help you lots with all you need to know about your bunny.

It took me about a month or maybe 2 months to bond with my newest bunny. Now whenever I go out to her hutch she runs over, but I think it might just be cupboard love!!

well mom is not up for a month ... and unfortunately my hay allergies are still with me... .. anyone have a allergy fix ...

BUT I have contact with rescue and will " foster " till a placement can be found... i think he is a great bunny

It can take a while. Since rabbits are prey animals they are often shy around strangers and in new places.

I bonded with my first bun Mocha in maybe a week, Loki a couple of weeks. Fey and Sprite, who had been abused and neglected, took longer to develop a personal bond with because they were so scared. Maybe a month of trying hard? Oberon was near instant- actually I felt a strong bond to him when I first saw his picture. By the second day here he had me eating out of his paw, LOL!

I've found the majority of rabbits are very interactive when you give them a chance. They prefer you to be on their level. Sit or lay on the floor and pretend to ignore them, try reading a book. Definite bunny magnet! If he needs more encouragement, put a few toys and treats around you to encourage him more.

Also, learn about rabbit body language. When I first got Mocha I didn't understand her at all. I had a lot of her body language backwards. For example, I thought that she lowered her head when I went to pet her because she didn't like it and was shrinking back from my hand. WRONG! She was actually demanding I pet her more! This site is great:
http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk.html

As for hay allergies- keep the bale in the garage, use an air purifier in your room, and vacuum frequently. Take allergy meds too. I hear you, but I love my buns too much so I just deal with the allergies.

Originally Posted by sharky

well mom is not up for a month ... and unfortunately my hay allergies are still with me...

.. anyone have a allergy fix ...

BUT I have contact with rescue and will " foster " till a placement can be found... i think he is a great bunny

Click to expand...

My Dh had to build an outside hutch for ours, I can have hay or pine bedding,

That's horrible - 3 days and your mom doesn't want the rabbit? Who got the rabbit and why?

I fall in love with bunnies in a day My favs are the dutch belted and the rex rabbits. I really don't like lop-eared - I want my bunnies ears to stand up


BTW Sharky - BunBun was the name of my FEMALE dutch rabbit - she was very smart and very interactive (with me - no one else)

we had discussed rabbits ... remeber she lost Kandie in may after nearly 19 yrs...


Well I may fall for him ... ahh garage ... we have three purifiers going...no help ??

Use bluegrass or orchardgrass hay not timothy or alfalfa. The last 2 are the most likely to cause allergies while the first 2 can often be used by even people with severe allergies. Both myself and my ex boyfriend are allergic to hay and never had issues with the bluegrass. Good places for hay in the US are actually online if you don't know of a nearby horse farm with low dust good quality bluegrass. www.oxbowhay.com and www.kmshayloft.com will sell hay in bulk that comes out to be cheaper than the little bags at petstores despite the high shipping. You have to buy alot at once but you end up spending about $1/lb total versus the $3 for a bag that's less than 1lb at most petstores and grocery stores. It's also much better quality than any hay found in a petstore even of the same brand since they store it improperly. Hay will keep for 6months to a year if stored correctly.

For bedding allergies spruce is great if you can find it. It's sold as softwood shavings often at feedstores. It doesn't cause allergies like pine (hardly any phenols and usually low dust) but works exactly the same for the same price. Cheaper and less dusty than most aspen. I can fill my 3'x6' cage 3 times from a $5 bag of softwood shavings. Again I have bedding allergies, I have allergies to most everything, and I have no problem with the spruce. I've got 3 large cages of small pets in my house and no allergy problems despite testing positive for everything at the doctor. You just have to make a few substitutions to what you use for them.

Thank you ... now to convince Mom I can handle another "kid"

Barney took food from my hand tonight and let me touch him on a few occations... I am working mom to let me not rehome ... I think she may cave... I do have a great home if they want him after their vacation( i will have Barney at least 10 more days)

Originally Posted by sharky

Barney took food from my hand tonight and let me touch him on a few occations... I am working mom to let me not rehome ... I think she may cave... I do have a great home if they want him after their vacation( i will have Barney at least 10 more days)

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Hmmmm....now let's see, where have I heard this story before? Oh, yes, I remember! I stepped out on my deck and saw a tiny scruffy kitten mewing down below. We have some pretty serious allergy/sinus problems so I knew we couldn't keep a cat, checked out all the options, found a family that as absolutely delighted to have him once he was weaned, and I set about the business of caring for him. The end result can be seen here if you scroll down a bit:
http://thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146073

Yup, that deck he's lounging on is none other than the one I found him under. Apparently he had no intention of going anywhere else all along.

Have fun with your bunny.

Originally Posted by Naturestee

Also, learn about rabbit body language. When I first got Mocha I didn't understand her at all. I had a lot of her body language backwards. For example, I thought that she lowered her head when I went to pet her because she didn't like it and was shrinking back from my hand. WRONG! She was actually demanding I pet her more! This site is great:
http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk.html

Click to expand...

Wow, that is a great site. I'm going to add it to my daughter's file so we can go through it.

I didn't see the "When I jump onto your back, it means I want to go home!!!" but I got the message all right. When Tinkerbell went to the fair this past summer we wondered how she would do and were happy to see she seemed to really like being around the other bunnies and people for the first few days. Near the end I could see the stress starting but when I went to check her early that last morning I cuddled her like I had been, then put her back in her cage and bent over to get her food. She must have been feeling frantic to get back to me as she wasted no time in hopping onto my back. It was one of those moments in life I'll never forget: in the exhibit hall alone except for a few hundred rabbit and poultry types, bent over at the waist with a bunny in the middle of the back. Thankfully I got her off okay but her distress was apparent even at home the next few days--she won't be doing a full stay next year.