What to Expect When You Bring Home an Older Bun to Love

You've opened your heart to adopting an older pet rabbit. What expectations should you have in forming a bond with him/her?

Your new-to-you pet could be one of our retired breeding Buns, a Bun in need or re-homing by its original family, or a special rabbit you decided to adopt from an animal shelter. All of them have had different, unbeknownst to you experiences in their lives and it's important to know they all carry a certain amount of "bunny baggage" that needs to be understood when you decide to open your life to a pre-loved bunny. Being uprooted from the life they had been living, for whatever length of time, is not easy for them and they need your patience and understanding as they adjust.

Our best advice is to move slowly and adjust your expectations initially. Your new rabbit needs time to settle in to his new home and feel safe before being able to focus upon forming relationships with the new people in his life. As a prey animal, this little ball of fur is going to be a bundle of fearful nerves until he realizes he is safe. This can take several days or even a few weeks to achieve. It's best to care for your rabbit's physical needs (food, water, hay, litter box, and general tidying of cage/pen space) quietly and gently, without expecting him to accept your attention and efforts to get to know him. Trying to pick up or otherwise handle him during this stage is strongly discouraged, unless your rabbit is in physical danger. There is the occasional rabbit who will actively seek your attention right off the bat, but please realize this is the exception, rather than the rule.

This is the shy, awkward stage of your relationship when your bunny is still quite shell-shocked by the many sudden changes in her life. Think about it from the rabbit's perspective. She was in a safe place, where she knew she would receive regular meals, attention, playtime, and treats from the same people each day (in the best case scenario) or, if your bunny was from a shelter or unknown family, she could have received irregular meals, sporadic attention, and little interaction beyond food pellets being thrown into her bowl (worst case scenario). She was introduced to you briefly, put into a dark carrier, carried away from the place she knew and put into a loud vehicle that tilts her from side-to-side, with strange scents, voices, and sounds penetrating the ventilation holes in the carrier, and arrived at a new place that is to be called, "HOME." This little bundle of bunny is confused, frightened, possibly angry about being uprooted, and has no idea if you are friend or foe.

You need to earn your rabbit's trust but, before you can do that, he needs to know that he is completely safe. He needs to have quiet time to explore his new cage/pen space, find the litter box, water bowl, hay, and food bowl, and otherwise learn the layout of his new space. Absolutely everything is foreign to him. Nothing smells right, sounds right, looks right, or feels right. He needs time to process the changes and to grieve the loss of his former home, life, and people. Until he has done so, he cannot be expected to suddenly be able to love and trust the people around him. He has no clue what's going on and needs some time, space, and your patience while he puts all the pieces together. Your job is to provide for his physical needs while he realizes that he is safe, that his new home is wonderful, and that his new people are reliable and can be trusted.

You needn't completely ignore her during this time. Talk quietly to her while sitting on the floor outside of her pen. Read a book or play (quietly) on a device while giving her the ability to sniff at you from the safety of the pen. This will allow your bun to get to know your scent, your voice, and your intentions towards her. If you are calm and gentle, your rabbit will realize that she is not going to become your next meal and will begin to relax and feel safe.

Ideally, he will give you indications when he is ready to take things to the next level of your relationship. A very relaxed rabbit will flop on his side and doze even when he knows you are in the room. A tense one will not. He will begin to play in his space and do binkies, zoomies, and throw toys around. He may sit up on his hind legs or push his nose through the bars of the pen, as though seeking your attention and interaction with you or interest in you. He may try to boop you with his nose while you sit next to the pen. These are all wonderful signs that progress is being made.

When you observe her looking relaxed, safe, and content, you can know that she feels secure in her immediate living environment and can proceed to work on slowly forming a loving, trusting bond with her. It's time to enter her space and sit with her in the pen, sitting quietly and ignoring her while you read, rest, or do something quiet that doesn't involve sudden movements. You have already gained a certain amount of trust from your rabbit, so be careful not to rush things at this point. The main rule is: Let your bun come to you. She should work up her courage and curiosity to the point that she wants sniff, boop, and gently explore you. Stretching out face-down in the pen and pretending to sleep is a wonderful way to encourage your bunny to explore you in a non-threatening position. Her whiskers may tickle your hands or face (try not to laugh too loudly!) and she may become brave enough to climb on you like a jungle gym. You may only feel her paws patting you as she looks more closely at you, or she may not approach you at all if she isn't quite ready, but the important thing is to stay as still and quiet as possible as you gain more of her trust. The less demanding or intrusive you are in her living environment, the more quickly she will typically take over. Try not to watch her or make direct eye contact with her the first few times. Pretend your bunny is invisible and don't react to anything she does (as much as possible.) When you need to move or get up, do so gently and slowly while talking quietly to the bunny and telling her what you are going to do so you don't startle her with your sudden movements. Over time and with repeated interactions, your bunny will become accustomed to your presence and will approach you without hesitation. (Please note that more observant or timid bunnies may never become quite this confident, but should still be able to relax in your presence.)

As trust is gained, the more natural you can become in your actions and responses. Stretch out a finger or two to touch your bunny and pet his head or back. You will gradually be able to build up to petting him with your whole hand or rubbing his little cheeks gently. If you feel your Bun is on the verge of making a breakthrough in trusting you, you may want to offer a small piece of banana or other bunny safe treat such as parsley or basil, to push him over the edge towards trusting you. Bribery can work wonderfully for food-motivated rabbits, but be careful to not over-use this trick as it can lead to weight gain and upset tummies.

More active Buns would love to get to know you by playing interactive games with you. This could be as simple as playing a variation of the shell game, using bunny-safe stacking cups with a few raw old-fashioned oats under one cup, and a blueberry under the other. Whichever stacking cup she chooses, she wins and has fun with you at the same time. This game can be expanded to include more cups and only one treat under one cup as you challenge her to find the treat.

Use your imagination. As you get to know your Bun's personality and what he likes or dislikes, you can find dozens of rewarding ways to spend time getting to know your new friend. It takes time, patience, and self-restraint to let your rabbit indicate how quickly or slowly he is ready to move forward.

Self-restraint can be a huge challenge for the humans involved, especially if, upon the initial introduction, your chosen bunny was very open to interaction. This is what happened when our doe Genevieve was introduced to Olivia, her new Bun-Mom. Olivia had the pleasure of meeting a very outgoing, opinionated, in-your-face and in-your-lap girl at Hot Cross Buns, took her home, and was expecting close to the same level of interaction shortly after Genevieve arrived home. We had been expecting this to be the case, too, and didn't prepare Olivia for the possibility that Genevieve (who was soon re-named Maple) needed time and space to settle in and adjust to the the changes in her life before she would be comfortable interacting with Olivia. We did a great disservice to Maple and Olivia by not thinking through the sudden and drastic lifestyle change Maple would face and how that would affect her. Since we didn't look beyond the surface of how well Maple interacted with Olivia in our home, we did not prepare Olivia for how different she could be when arriving at her new home. For this we sincerely apologize to them both.

We hope the writing of this post will allow all families adopting older rabbits to be fully prepared for the initial reservations, nervousness, fear, disdain, and anger the buns may show them as they settle in and process the changes, losses, and new opportunities open to them as they accept their new families and homes. It isn't the easiest path to having a pet rabbit, but it is incredibly rewarding to patiently work to gain a rabbit's trust and, eventually, his/her love.

We still have a great deal of hope that Olivia and Maple will achieve their happy ending, despite the mistakes we made along the way in failing to consider that even an outgoing doe needs to adjust to a completely new life more slowly than may be desired. We had forgotten that Genevieve (Maple) refused to "speak" to us for 3-4 weeks following her spay, but she forgave us and became her outgoing self after we groveled and bribed our way back into her affections by plying her with healthy bunny treats and the occasional coveted banana chunk. She may ignore and snub Olivia for another week or two, but we have faith that Maple's busy-bunny personality will win out and she will soon be her demanding little pampered-princess self once again before we know it.