What are we?

To bunnies? I can never figure it out. Considering they are prey animals, why do they trust us? Why can we clip their nails and break the trust but then the forgive us in an hours time?

Why does Toby think it's safe to jump on my back when im minding my own bussiness and then hang from my dressing gown like the scene in the lion king? Why does he think I'm a safe animal to jump on? Why am I not a big scary carnivore?

What is are relationship? Are we friends? Am I a co-habiting animal that brings food to the warren?

I have always wondered how bunnies view us.

Also do you think they know we do certain things that are in their interest. For example when we take them to the vets when they are unwell?

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Bit of a deep a meaningful post loobers

I think although prey animals they know who don't want to attack them, I.e. in the wild they wouldn't run away from little birds and mice. When introduced to other predators such as cats and dogs, when done correctly they can become trusting of them too and even enjoy their company.

I believe they are more intelligent than we give them credit for. Maybe it has something to do with their long and short term memory too. Maybe they remember you feed them every day and you pose no threat but quickly forget their recent nail trim once their usual routine is re-established. We will never know

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Blimey that is deep! Lol.

I think we are a bit of both. I think we are more predatory to them when (although more handleable buns may be different) we go to do things like catch or pick them up, I feel like an eagle coming at them lol! Only when I need to obviously.

But the rest of the time I think we are part of the “warren” which is why they visit us and groom us etc, plus I think bunnies are always swayed by food hehe!

What I find interesting is our youngest, Luther was terrified of strangers and my parents haven’t been over a whole lot, maybe once every month or two, but he now seems to remember my mum is “safe” and let her give him a small head stroke x


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I need to know am i an eagle or a mouse?

When i pick Dennis up for a nail clip he just freezes and puts his head flat down. He won't run! Makes me feel like horrible bald eagle

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I love questions like this. Trust is a mental emotion. It is something that each and every single one of us must form in the mind, and not a physical state. It's hard to quantify what 'trust' is. To each of us, it is different. Lets turn this around and back at you Loobers - what makes you trust your OH, or an employer, a shop, a friend? And in the same, what do people do to you that breaks that trust? I'm sure everyone here has had trust abused in some way during their lives. There's nothing to indicate that trust is not universally shared as an emotion. Which, in answer to your question, suggests that they are more intelligent than we generally assume. But why not? They have a brain - proportionate to their size and therefore the capacity within that, to develop as we do. Just because they don't vocalise doesn't mean they aren't intelligent. The trust issue us interesting and observed through my two, is not without it's complications. Lillian doesn't trust us and if the history about her is correct, she has every reason not to. Her former keeper deliberately starved her and her behaviour is definately indicitive of her not chosing to be close to us or trusting us. She is tempted to come close with the lure of a dried cranberry but that's it. Henry by comparison, is more confident and will settle for short grooming and nose rubs. I do believe he knew when he wasn't well several months ago and like a small child, preferred to be held and cuddled and maybe knew that we were trying to make him better.
As we provide food, comfort, change and clean their environments and are prepared to spend time with them, then our pets (rabbits) logically form what we call trust. We are bigger then they are and years of domestication has probably removed some of the natural fear of us. But to a rabbit, what we are doing is to their benefit and making their lives easier/better/more fulfilled. To us hoomans, if we were treated like that, we'd trust someone too.
I have a blackbird that comes in the garden first thing. Birds are naturally afraid of hoomans and you only have to stand at a window to scare birds off the lawn. But over the last few months, Mr Blackbird has realised that I'm bringing mealworms out for him. At first, he hoped and flew off into the bushes, then came down once I'd gone. Now he's confident to sit on the lawn watching me as I go past, rattling the bucket with the mealworms in. As I go up the lawn, he jumps behind me hoovering up the free offerings. He knows he is there firts and that I'm providing him with easy pickings. In his world, he has placed trust in me for that moment.
I also believe we adapt our behaviours and routines to some degree, to support our pets. Without them, we'd be doing different things, but with our rabbits in our lives, we are different people. I wouldn't have had my life enriched by the beautiful supportive people on here, for example. So in many ways, we are creating a simbiant existence by our own making and I feel that within that, our pets pick up our emotions from us and realise that they are a part of our lives as much as we are a part of theirs.

What a wonderful thread. I think our bunnies have a sixth sense that knows we are on their side (I think other animals & not necessairily our own or pets feel this too). I am always mindful of my mood in the presence of my bunnies, I try to eminate happy, content or loving feelings. It is a house rule not to argue in front of or within ear shot of the rabbits.

I'm not sure if they appreciate vet visits but I do believe they can show true gratitude for nursing them through an illness, resulting in an even closer bond. Whilst they might accept & generally trust us it makes sense this might not be all encompassing, so medicating or pedicures might lead them to be grumpy or fearful whereas everything else we do makes them safe & comfortable. When I look in to Mouseys eyes & tell her how special she is & that she'll always be with us & kept safe I really think she iunderstands on one level or another.

A few years ago Bob tripped carrying Joey out in to the garden & Joey hit his chin on the floor. We were both amazed Joey let me check him over & he must have trusted me to do that as normally he was off like a shot in the garden. Mouse is so terrified at the vets she will leap in to my arms for support.

For ages I've said how I'd love to be able to shrink myself down to bunny size, wear a hooded onesie & cuddle up with my trio. OH shattered my illusions, Boo would have you in an instant he says. I don't think so . I'd love to know what they call us "the furless ones" "the noisy ones" "the servant ones" ????I'd give anything to spend a day in my bunnies head

What are we? It is an intriguing questions. I sometimes think they believe we are...

- especially stupid and cumbersome furless rabbits
- the food dispenser
- the territory disturber (how dare you clean up my poop! I'd just finished marking my territory with it!)
- the noserub machine
- a toy to play with
- a demon from the darkest reaches of hell
- the best thing ever
- something to ignore until they are at the vets and then you are the best thing in the whole wide world
- a piece of enrichment
- a creature that simultaneously does and doesn't understand their language. Clearly we have language boundary issues.
- a climbing frame
- something so stupid that contempt is required whenever possible
- something so brilliant that they cannot leave us alone
- something to distrust
- something to trust
- something that belongs to them

...and more. I think.

joey&boo said:

What a wonderful thread. I think our bunnies have a sixth sense that knows we are on their side (I think other animals & not necessairily our own or pets feel this too). I am always mindful of my mood in the presence of my bunnies, I try to eminate happy, content or loving feelings. It is a house rule not to argue in front of or within ear shot of the rabbits.

I'm not sure if they appreciate vet visits but I do believe they can show true gratitude for nursing them through an illness, resulting in an even closer bond. Whilst they might accept & generally trust us it makes sense this might not be all encompassing, so medicating or pedicures might lead them to be grumpy or fearful whereas everything else we do makes them safe & comfortable. When I look in to Mouseys eyes & tell her how special she is & that she'll always be with us & kept safe I really think she iunderstands on one level or another.

A few years ago Bob tripped carrying Joey out in to the garden & Joey hit his chin on the floor. We were both amazed Joey let me check him over & he must have trusted me to do that as normally he was off like a shot in the garden. Mouse is so terrified at the vets she will leap in to my arms for support.

For ages I've said how I'd love to be able to shrink myself down to bunny size, wear a hooded onesie & cuddle up with my trio. OH shattered my illusions, Boo would have you in an instant he says. I don't think so . I'd love to know what they call us "the furless ones" "the noisy ones" "the servant ones" ????I'd give anything to spend a day in my bunnies head

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Lovely post J&B! I think they probably tolerate us as we have the food. But maybe there is more in than that. Would like to think so.

Love this thread!

I think familiarity has something to do with it. My girls are so scared of strangers in our house and are immediately on edge and will thump at them. I wonder if they are protectively including me in their "watch out strangers in the house" warning.

At the vets I am the villain for picking them up (my buns HATE being picked up!) and taking them but then they leap onto me for safety. How so they know they want to and can be held for safety? In a bunny group their friends can't hold them if they leap at them, but they know we can.

Or like the time Cookie was in and the vet nurses couldn't get her to eat anything from the buffet they gave her so asked me to take her home to try in her surroundings. On seeing me she immediately ate some kale while on the vets table, like she thought "someone from my tribe is here, it's safe to eat now".

When I was younger I had a bunny Shadow who was not bothered by my presence at all. I nursed her through a minor case of flystrike and she absolutely loved me after for the rest of her life. Realistically I don't think she could have known what was happening to her with the daily bum checks but her personality totally changed afterwards.

I could think about this all day

Hmm, we have been known to chide ours for trusting everyone in sight with something along the lines of "you're too trusting with predators!" and ''both eyes front: predator!" OH is definitely a Provider of Food: anyone going near them wearing gardening gloves, even me, is followed because gloves=food. They follow Matt around like lost sheep hoping for ANYTHING, it's adorable. Everyone else, they're not really interested until you poke food at them. Me, they're usually a bit standoffish, but if I start weeding and feeding (not the lawn, the bunnies!) then they get used to me feeding them and I am The Best Thing until someone better (Matt) turns up. So maybe 3-4hrs :lol: However, once Matt takes a glove off at this time of year, they know it's defluffing time! Lopsy's even caught on that he should stay in an inaccessible area until Matt's left for the morning, then he goes to find food in the run, but Matt's already outsmarted him on that one. We were impressed with that bit of forethought from Lopsy (he's not as moronic as we think, obviously :lol.

Things I have noticed in my buns:
When we are at the vets Toby leaps into OHs arms (not mine grrrr)
Maple stamps warning when she's heard something in the night. She stops when one of us gets up to check on her. Is this because she feels safer now we are on the scene, or that she's alerting the warren and we have acknowledged the warning?
Me and Toby (and OH) have lots of fun together. We have a fun playful "connection" where he climbs all over me. If he could sit on my shoulder whilst I walked round he would. I'm not sure this is because he wants to be me, rather that I am super interesting and he can get a good view from climbing on me.
In the mornings I hear Toby scurry back and forth to the hallway gate. I believe this is him checking to see if we are up yet (waiting for breakfast)

I talk to the bunnies and hope they can hear me. I think all they hear is bla bla food bla bla!

Since this thread OH is referring to himself now as "Papa Hawk". Point proven when we was cleaning the bunny room earlier and Toby had got himself in a black rubbish bag. OH swooped down grabbed him and carried Toby cross the room. Toby didn't even kick off, he just sat upright like he would on the floor - it was bizzare. If I done that I would of ended up scratched to smithereens!

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loobers25 said:

Things I have noticed in my buns:
When we are at the vets Toby leaps into OHs arms (not mine grrrr)
Maple stamps warning when she's heard something in the night. She stops when one of us gets up to check on her. Is this because she feels safer now we are on the scene, or that she's alerting the warren and we have acknowledged the warning?
Me and Toby (and OH) have lots of fun together. We have a fun playful "connection" where he climbs all over me. If he could sit on my shoulder whilst I walked round he would. I'm not sure this is because he wants to be me, rather that I am super interesting and he can get a good view from climbing on me.
In the mornings I hear Toby scurry back and forth to the hallway gate. I believe this is him checking to see if we are up yet (waiting for breakfast)

I talk to the bunnies and hope they can hear me. I think all they hear is bla bla food bla bla!

Since this thread OH is referring to himself now as "Papa Hawk". Point proven when we was cleaning the bunny room earlier and Toby had got himself in a black rubbish bag. OH swooped down grabbed him and carried Toby cross the groom. Toby didn't even kick off, he just sat upright like he would on the floor - it was bizzare. If I done that I would of ended up scratched to smithereens!

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He sounds like my sisters bunny. He was quite vicious, she got him neutered, he still stayed vicious like no bunny she had owned before. She was telling me to be careful when I went to see him as she went out to another room and she came back in to find him on my chest snuggled under my chin :lol: whether he froze in fright as he didn't know me and that's why I could have picked him up so easily or because he sees himself as boss over her and her partner and he's brave enough to fight them I don't know.

Loobers: I never responded to Lopsy's thumping in case he was just after attention :lol: I'm sooooo cruel XD I respond if catch them start now they're outside

I've never taken OH to the vets with me so no idea how either of them would react