Unusual Behaviour Question

[djrikshaw]

Hi guys! New to the forum after recently adopting a five month old male Rex which we recently had neutered.

He’s an indoor bunny, very happy. Binkies and zoomies all the time! Whenever dusk comes around he’s very playful and enjoys being chased up and back down the stairs. He instigates this behaviour all the time and absolutely loves it!

Recently he’s adopted a new behaviour. He’s running up the stairs with the intention of being chased. But on the way back down he decides to park himself on the second to top step on the right hand side. He will not budge. He wants to be stroked and petted for a certain period of time (usually around ten to fifteen minutes). Sits there purring away. With some small encouragement he’ll come back down. Ten minutes later, straight back up again for another session!

Can anyone shed any light on why he does this, and also why he doesn’t do this in any other part of the house? He doesn’t like to be petted for that long anywhere else and doesn’t actively seek it out. But on the top step, he does!

 

[Omi]

Hi guys! New to the forum after recently adopting a five month old male Rex which we recently had neutered.

He’s an indoor bunny, very happy. Binkies and zoomies all the time! Whenever dusk comes around he’s very playful and enjoys being chased up and back down the stairs. He instigates this behaviour all the time and absolutely loves it!

Recently he’s adopted a new behaviour. He’s running up the stairs with the intention of being chased. But on the way back down he decides to park himself on the second to top step on the right hand side. He will not budge. He wants to be stroked and petted for a certain period of time (usually around ten to fifteen minutes). Sits there purring away. With some small encouragement he’ll come back down. Ten minutes later, straight back up again for another session!

Can anyone shed any light on why he does this, and also why he doesn’t do this in any other part of the house? He doesn’t like to be petted for that long anywhere else and doesn’t actively seek it out. But on the top step, he does!

He sounds adorable I'm afraid I have no idea why he does this, except to say that bunnies are sometimes very determined in what they want to do and it's difficult to dissuade them. He's possibly found that when he stopped on that stair, he got strokes and so he now associates strokes with that place.

There is clearly nothing to be concerned about. and I would think that after a while he will stop doing it voluntarily and start doing something else.

I've had Rexes and think they are super bunnies. It sounds as though you are enjoying yours. Now that you've had him neutered are you planning to adopt a female bunny to keep him company? A pair of bonded rabbits are really interesting to watch

 

[djrikshaw]

Thank you! He’s absolutely adorable and cute and despite his occasional wall chewing he’s lovely!

We are looking into getting him a spayed female in the near future for sure.

 

[tonibun]

Rabbits are very mysterious at times but he will like having a friend

 

[Pets mum]

Hi welcome to the forum :wave: your bunny sounds adorable, and seems to have settled in very well. I agree, he seems to associate this area with being petted, I'm sure he'll decide that somewhere else is even better in his own time, bunnies are a law unto themselves :lol: Feel free to add photos any time, we love to see buns on here