Bad tempered Bunny

He looks like such a sweet bunny.  So cuddly.  And also so quiet.  In fact, bunnies have this reputation for being quiet and calm--at least among people who have never kept rabbits.  And when you see rabbits at the fair, all in small cages, all sitting very quietly, that stereotype holds true.

But rabbits kept in cages aren't behaving normally.  That quiet pose is somewhat deceiving and might make you think that rabbits don't have much personality.  That would be a misguided perception.

Our current bunny, Parsley, is almost two years old, and he doesn't live in a cage.  He has a rabbit hutch with a very small rabbit sized door--designed to keep curious goats out.  He gets to roam freely around the fenced-in yard and go into his hutch when he feels like it.  So he leads a pretty good rabbit life.  And he communicates with us and the goats very well.

We feed him some rabbit chow and one yogurt treat in the morning and the evening.  But it is the yogurt treat that most interests him.  When we go into the animal yard at feeding time, we practically trip over the crazy rabbit because he hops so close to our feet!  It's his way of telling us that he is hungry and please not to forget him even though he is smaller and quieter than the goats.

Last week we ran out of yogurt treats.  And our bunny went without treats for a few days because honestly, buying rabbit treats fell down to the bottom of my "to-do" list.  Parsley was angry about this development and we all knew it.  Every time we went into the yard, he would hop around our feet and make growling sounds.  He was harassing the goats too, hopping around their feet and maybe even nipping their ankles.

Because of his behavior, buying rabbit treats moved up on my "to-do" list, and now he is back to being a somewhat sweet rabbit--as long as he gets his yogurt treat.  But he is not above being a bad-tempered bunny when he needs to tell us something.