The Rabbit House» Behaviour Archives – The Rabbit House

Scamp Napping in the Sunshine

Tamsin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:29:15 +0000

After a week of wind and rain its suddenly toasty hot again. Here’s a picture and a couple of videos from the last lot of sunny weather I didn’t get around to posting. I know I give the impression Scamp is a little terror but that’s only 98% of the time. He does occasionally slow down and a sunny window was enough to tempt him into a nap. One hand for a pillow and one for cheek rubs is his favourite way to relax.

I almost caught him flopping over and there is a lot of wriggling involved in getting comfy.

This is out of focus and kind of repetitive but its a good example of our quality bonding time (rub my ears slave) on the occasions he does stay in one place for more than two seconds at a time.

Mini Bunny Pictures

Tamsin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:57:59 +0000

I’ve been drawing lots of little bunny pictures to illustrate different rabbit behaviours. Just little sketches. They are for a a mini guide to rabbit behaviour I’ve been working on. I don’t know if I’ll ever finish working on it but I’m enjoying drawing the pictures. It really makes you think about the subtle ways bunnies communicate.

Coincidentally, The Bunny Boys picked today to post an excellent photographic guide to the most important bunny behaviours, in memory of their Skittles. It gave me a good giggle! Check it out here: http://bunnyboys.blogspot.com/2010/07/homage.html

Stick around, I’m just waiting for some videos of Scamp to finish uploading in which he demonstrates cute sleepy bunny behaviour.

Trashing the Place: Bunny Boredom

Tamsin — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:55:30 +0000

This is the mess that greeted me this morning when I went to investigate the odd banging sounds coming from the kitchen:

Can you spot Scamp? No, me neither, that would be because he’s sitting under the work top in the veg rack practising his “Who me?” face. The onions are safe (removed after the previous invasion) but we may need new potatoes.

He was a bit miffed at having fun spoilt:

I think most naughty bunny behaviour is just bored bunny behaviour. Wild rabbits would usually be to busy eating to make trouble, so the obvious solution for Scamp’s boredom is food too. I cut him some grass and scattered it around the floor so he could ‘graze’. It kept him quiet for a little while at least.

Look what I found whilst cutting grass…

Do be careful this time of year if you’re mowing grass, as there are frogs and soon baby froglets crawling in it looking for bugs and shade. I was using scissors so this chap hoped off safe… maybe he’ll eat some of the slugs.

Scamp Herding Weebles

Tamsin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:41:00 +0000

More random rabbit toys. Here is Scamp herding some weeble like children’s toys. He spent ages rearranging them and throwing them around.

Scamp in the Snow

Tamsin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:38:03 +0000

Snow is a great enrichment opportunity for rabbits to dig and forage; but, my garden is not Scamp proof. So, if the bunny can’t go to the snow, the snow has to come to the bunny. Cue one washing up bowl full of snow, laced with rabbit food…

Random Rabbit Toys

Tamsin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:03:16 +0000

The endless task of entertaining Scamp involves a lot of toys. It can be a bit expensive to keep buying new toys though, particularly when 90% seem to be either be ignored or eaten in 10 minutes flat. So today’s post is a tribute to the random household object. Here is a collection of Scamp’s random objects:

Left to right: Cotton reel, puzzel ball, blocks.

I think the cotton reel is self explanatory. The ball is a puzzle toy, unfortunately Scamp doesn’t seem any better than me at lining up the colours, but it’s made of hard plastic so bite-proof and easy to nudge around. The blocks are some version of giant lego. Again, hard plastic so fairly chew resistant and they have nice edges to pick up and throw (see outtakes below).

What random household objects does your bunny have to play with?

Outtakes

Scamp has a little bit of a hang up about toys on his rug, namely the only toy allowed on it is his treatball (which is generally not allowed off it). There is possibily some very logical scientific/food related reason for this related to the extra friction making the treat ball move at optimum volocity for treat removal, or he could just be a fuss pot. Anyway, he was not impressed by my attempts to line up his toys for a photo.

Scamp Antics

Tamsin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:59:26 +0000

Do you ever wonder if they wait until your back is turned then play in all the places you thought were totally inaccessible before sneaking back to look innocent? The answer is yes.

I was going through the hundreds of snaps I have and here is Scamp caught in the act…

That’s the kitchen window sill, above the work top, excuse the mess.

Understanding Your Rabbit

Tamsin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:44:25 +0000

Sometimes it can be hard to understand what your rabbit wants; don’t you wish they could just spell it out…