Beating the Bunny Blues: Ways To Interact With Your Rabbit

Chances are if you're a bunny owner, you're going to notice that your rabbit most likely displays signs of boredom and frustration. Rabbits can demand a lot of attention and it is important that you give it to them. Your frustrated bored bunny will soon start acting like a naughty bunny. Rabbits need to chew constantly, but a misbehaving rabbit will chew objects he/she knows he/she is not supposed to chew. I have received many emails regarding this issue and decided to address it in this post. I've heard people telling me that they've tried everything from scolding their bunny, spraying their bunny with water, rubbing or spraying vinegar on objects, and giving chew toys to their bun. They know that their rabbit is not sick, so what's going on? Firstly, Many of those methods will only prove to be temporary solutions and secondly, your rabbit is trying to communicate to you that he/she wants YOU!

It is a fact that rabbits are more active during the dawn and dusk hours but that doesn't mean you have to wait for those times to come around to start engaging with your rabbit. As a rule of thumb, I don't recommend having your rabbit out at night. I believe your bun needs a lot of supervision if he/she isn't fully trained. Free reign at night means that more of your belongings will be damaged. Instead, play with your rabbit as much as possible during the day. When it comes time for everyone to go to sleep, make sure your rabbit goes back to his/her cage. This way your rabbit isn't upset that you're not playing with him/her and that it is time for you to go to sleep.

My other suggestion to you is to get down on your hands and knees and start acting like a rabbit. This is not a joke! If you haven't already, read up on the "Rabbit Talk 101" page. Once you know how to listen to your bunny, you can talk back to your bunny imitating the same postures he displays to you. If my bunny is doing something I don't want him to do, I simply "tell" him that I'm offended. He then runs up to me and nuzzles me, which pretty much means "I'm sorry."

There are other ways to really give your bunny a good exercise, besides just letting him hang outside of his cage. This is an exercise I initiate with my rabbit: we play a game of chase. I start crawling around the floor very fast, my bun then gets the idea to run. We go around in circles for awhile and if he gets too scared, he stomps his foot and the game has ended for awhile, ( I can tell if he wants to play again, when he runs a little away from me and looks behind to see if I'm going to chase him). Be sure to pet him on the head once the game is over, just to settle him down.

So remember, if your bunny is bored, frustrated, misbehaving, and you know for a fact that he/she is not sick, then your rabbit most likely wants your attention. Address to your rabbit that you are offended by what he/she did immediately after they misbehaved. Supervise and play with your rabbit during the day and make sure he/she is in his/her cage at night.

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