Bonding With Your Bunny

Bonding with a bunny can be tedious or quite easy. It all depends on the temperment of you unique fur baby and how you go about establishing a trusting relationship. Bonding is essential if you are hoping to have a fun and interactive relationship with your rabbit. I am going to list a few tips and tricks in developing this kind of relationship with your rabbit!

First, you are going to want to find a small space. Sitting in a small space like a bathroom with your bun bun is a very easy way to establish trust and familiarity. It's important that you merely sit and not move. Its ok to talk a bit so the bunny gets use to your voice, but you want the bunny to gain trust. If you keep trying to pet the little thing each times it comes up to "explore you" with a head bump or a sniff you might do more harm than good.

Once you have done the small space activity a couple of days in a row, try laying in the room you keep your bunny and opening up their cage. The best thing you can do is lay down and be low to the ground. It's less intimidating to your rabbit and will encourage them to come "explore" you. Again, the first few times you do this activity try not to move too much. You are still gaining your bunnies trust. They are prey animals, so it's in their nature to be causious of all humans. When I first bond with a bunny I usually just read a book on the floor while the bunny explores it's surroundings and me.

You'll know it's going well when your bunny is coming up to you and even jumping up onto your back for a quick sit. Don't be discouraged if it takes your bunny a while to get to this point. Each bunny is completely different! My Rufus took less than two hours to bond with me, but when my Pippa passed away we had been trying to bond to eachother for 6 months.

Once you feel successful with gaining trust, try hand feeding your bunny treats. Nothing says love better than a yummy carrot or bannana treat. If you are new to bunnies make sure you research what is ok and not ok to feed your bunny because you may be surprised.

If you have not purchased a rabbit yet and know you want one as a companion, I would suggest visiting an animal shelter or a breeder with lots of bunnies. It's essential to sit and play with the bunnies to observe their personalities just like you would when considering to buy a puppy. This way you can weed out which bunnies are too meek and shy. These timid rabbits will be the hardest to bond too, but if you are really sold on a rabbit with this personality don't give up! You can do it, it will just take some time.

What are some of your tips and tricks? Do you have any suggestions to add? What worked for you? What didn't work? I'd love to hear from my followers! If you guys have any further questions please feel free to contact me!

Don't forget to follow my bunnies' instagram @Onceupona_Whisker !!!!!

Bunny Personality

We have all had the same dream. You know, the one where you own a pet and the relationship is perfect. You come home and your fur baby is just itching to see you. You get down on the floor and your pet runs over to be cuddled and loved.

I mean, yes it does exsist and it's a wonderful thing. But, here is the problem, we don't consider that our pets (especially bunnies) have distinct personalities. Trust me, I've been there. I've had the aching feeling in my heart as my bunny Pippa rejects my attention and love. "What am I doing wrong?" I ask myself.

Consider this: how would you feel if your in the mood to relax. You just want to kick up your feet, maybe have a snack, and watch some Netflix. You just really need your alone time right now. But your roommate walks in and is polking you and trying to have a conversation with you...you'd be kind of peeved right? RIGHT! This is how your bunny may feel!

Just like the extrovert and introvert variation in humans, bunnies too can have either personality. Before your dreams are crushed because your bunny won't love you in the way you want, just stop yourself. It's about respect. And you know what? Your bunny is teaching you an important life lesson! We need to accept that all people and animals are different.  Especially animals. We are incapable of having a conversation with them like we can have with your boyfriend or girlfriend. You can't lean over to thumper and tell him you need more attention and hugs or your going to break it off. So......

Make a list in your head of the good parts about your (not so perfect personality) bunny.
EXAMPLE: Pippa runs away from me a lot....but she always greets me at the front of the cage when I say hi. She doesn't come up to me for head scratches often....but she loves to put her paws on me when she eats her kale snack.

I love these things! This is what makes my bunny Pippa, Pippa! So before you judge your rabbit because of their actions. Try to remind yourself that different is good. It makes life exciting and beautiful. And I promise you.....just because bun bun hates you picking him/her up doesn't mean bun bun doesn't love you. 😊

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me! I also encourage you to suggest topics that I can talk about. Love you EVERYBUNNY 😍 Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @Onceupona_Whisker !!

How to Talk to Your Bunny!

I lied...we can't ACTUALLY talk to our pet bun buns. However, there is a way to communicate with them. It's not verbal, it's physical; and let me tell you, being able to communicate with your bunny is pretty neat.

Let's Talk Happiness

Hopefully, if you are a responsible bunny owner, you know at least a little bit about bunny behavior cues. If you do,you know what a Binky is. To refresh: Binkying is that funny little dance a bunny does when it kinda kicks its feet to the side and hopes around really fast. It looks a bit like a seizure of some sort. This translates to: HOLY MOLY I'M HAVING A SPLENDID TIME! We would look ridiculous if we (humans) tried to binky so i wouldn't suggest it. You might terrify your rabbit!

However....

There is such a thing as a half binky and it looks like a quick head shank/yank to the side. This translates to: I am happy with my life. It's essentially a compliment the bunny is giving to anyone in the vicinity that the bunny lives with.

HERE IS THE BEST PART: You can do a half binky too! They especially understand it if you have long hair. If your bunny is looking at you do a quick half binky head shake/yank! Your bunny might even return one! Trust me, your bunny will read the compliment loud and clear and be satisfied knowing you are happy too!

Let's Talk Love

If you are familiar with bonded bunny pairs then you'll know they do a lot of sleeping together and probably some grooming of each other. These are both signs of love and comfort.

You can show love and comfort in the same way. If your bunny lays down in the middle of the floor lay down right next to him/her. Yes I snuggle with my bunnies like this every day. They love it as much as I do. Sometimes it makes them so happy they do their little bunny pur!

You can also show love and affection towards your bunny by fake grooming them. I suppose you could go full out licking, but it would probably get a little hairy in your mouth! I fake groom by kissing my bunnies on the top of their heads and behind their ears. A nudge will work just as well! They will read this that you are grooming them and immediately understand how deeply you care for them. I have even had my bunnies return the grooming from time to time and a bunny grooming YOU is the ULTIMATE compliment.


Conclusion

We can't have a full conversation with our bunnies, but we can communicate! Try some of my tips and let me know how it goes! I'd love to hear! Make sure you don't give up if you don't get a reaction the first time. Keep trying, but just know some bunnies are just not very responsive. However, they will read you loud and clear and be VERY HAPPY to know just how much you love them.


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