Whoever Said Rabbits Are Boring With No Personality Is a Doggone Lie!
From binkies to saving our life one night, I’m convinced Bun Bun is a rabbit with a human soul
Why would you get a rabbit , Erica! A dog has more spirit. More personality!
Rabbits are too quiet, too paranoid!
Ever since I was 10 years old, I’ve had a rabbit. My mother won a rabbit as a prize at her job and that Cottontail bunny, which I named Bonnie became me and my sister’s furry sibling.
I knew nothing of caring for a pet back then, but I remember dad building a large wooden cage for her, buying leaves and carrots and feeding her those pebbles of grains and then the late nights, when my own bunny would diss me, just to lay on dad’s chest. It became a running joke that she loved dad more than us!
Having a bunny as a pet is the first time I understood that they were more than fuzzy prey. They have personality! They have spunk! Routines!
Ever see a bunny do a binky? This is when a bunny does quick little hops or high jumps, which indicate they are happy and playful.
A YouTuber with the channel Lennon the Bunny, is a true bunny lover. All the tips and advice I need about rabbits comes from her. You should check it out if you are considering getting rabbit, or just love watching cute videos.
Meet Bun Bun
Many years later, I now have another bunny.
Bonnie passed away in the 90s.
Last year on my birthday, my husband bought me a fluffy white bunny. It was my first time receiving one that was a “teen” age and not a baby. So, we brought home a bunny with her own personality.
A personality that I did not readily see until after several months have passed.
On day 1, while we were finishing up getting the spare room ready for her, she laid down on our bathroom floor, shaking and shy. I hate to put human characteristics on an animal, but it serves the purpose of this article. She was so SHY.
Bun Bun likes things HER way
I developed a routine.
In the mornings, I would typically pray/meditate and workout. Now that I have Bun Bun, I make sure to refresh her water and serve her grains and sweet grass before I do anything. Bun Bun comes first before my own needs and wants now.
It wasn’t a until a few months after my birthday, that I realized Bun Bun did something very interesting daily:
After eating her grains, she would next eat the grass. In that exact order. After wolfing down her food though, she’d stand on her hindlegs, look around as if predators were watching her, then she’d do a couple of binkies. Just a couple. Afterwards, she’d glance at me, lick her paw and go to her water to drink her fill.
I work from home, so I can’t have Bun Bun running around while PC cords are hanging out and such, so to make sure she has more freedom, I let her run around for a while or 15 minutes in the morning, and after work she has freedom to run around the house.
If she does anything unpleasing, she goes to the spare room where her condo of a cage awaits her. No punishment really since she has her toys and extra sweet grass in there anyway.
Bun Bun saved our life one night
You may not believe this; I suspect that Bun Bun was trying to save us one night.
We burn candles towards the end of the day usually. So one day after work, I burned one of those large jar candles, and before bed I usually put them out. In fact, I always blow out the candle before bed.
This particular night, my husband and I both were in a deep sleep. Like, a real deep sleep. It was a long day.
I heard what sounded like banging in the next room. Like someone taking a literal bat and hitting the wall.
We both snapped up and I said, “You hear that?”
My husband said, “Yeah, but where is it coming from?”
The sound stopped immediately, and none of us wanted to investigate because one again, it could have been the neighbors upstairs who were always so loud all day long.
My husband couldn’t go back to sleep so he went into the living room and I heard him say, “Erica! You know the candle is nearly down to the wax? Still burning?”
I could hear more “hitting” sounds and this time I knew for sure it was coming from Bun Bun’s room.
When I saw her using her hind legs to kick the back of the cage, I scooped her up and cuddled her. “What’s wrong Bun Bun?”
She looked up at me and was expressionless, but I let her lay with me on the bed a short while and the next day I realized something.
Was she warning us? Of a potential fire hazard burning in the main room?
I hate to use correlation as causation, but she never kicked like that before. She hadn’t done it since then either.
My Bun Bun is a mini me
One day I sat my water bottle by the bed and took a very much needed nap. I think I was laying on my side.
If you don’t realize by now, sleeping is my favorite thing to do
I don’t know how I slept, but I opened my blurry eyes a little and saw my husband enter the room; he gave me this weird look that was comical.
“No way. How are both of you doing the same thing at the same time? You have your water by your head, sleeping midday. Bun Bun is on her side too, laying under the water bottle. Get up both of you.” My husband ended the sentence on a soft chuckle and false anger.
I was laughing. I picked my tired butt up and went into Bun Bun’s room. There she was eyes shut, head lolling to the side under her water bottle. It was the cutest thing ever.
In fact, she has specific times during the day when she goes into a deep sleep. After breakfast, she’ll still run around a bit, but by 8:30 ish she is in her little potato ball shape with paws tucked under and sleeping.
There are times when Bun Bun seems to have an attitude too. When I am late feeding her or she finds that I myself is boring, she’ll turn her back to me and stare at the wall or give me a tired, bored look that says, “Whatever”
I hope you enjoyed reading about Bun Bun. Not all rabbits are like her. In fact, each rabbit may have similar habits about them, but they are ALL different. Rabbits can be taken on walks/hops, they have things like/don’t like. they like being cuddled and enjoy some independence, but not are not just large rodents, they can be our friend.
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