Mr. Bunya was our first bunny (and a surprise from our daughter, who left for college a few months later). As we learned about bunnies and bunny care, we wanted to adopt some companions for this sociable animal.
However, before we learned that, Mr. Bunya was a solo bun and got all of our attention. He became familiar with humans and is not as stand off-ish as the adoptees.
Ethel will not come for head rubs by herself. If you try, she'll jet away after a second.
However, she has come to realize that if she snuggles up real close to Bunya, she can PRETEND it's Bunya grooming her.
At first, she would only self-delude for less than a minute, maybe 10-30 seconds. Then she'd look up all surprised-like: "Who is this!? You're not Bunya!" - and run off. Bunya always stays and melts like a puddle into the floor to suck up the love.
In this video, Bunya settles next to my recliner for some head rubs (but never too close, so I have to extend my arm way over to reach him). Ethel hung around for more than 30 seconds. This is only an excerpt from a longer video, but Ethel actually hung out and accepted some pets!
This is a huge development with her. On the bunny pages, people often ask how long did it take for your bunny to trust you?
So Ethel may be mellowing... just a little - and after only NINE YEARS.
Bunnies require patience.
Awww... Lola took about half a year to get really comfy, with us. I have tons of pics of her, all cuddled up, with John, her tucked snugly into the crook of his arm, or even under his head - only on the floor. Picking up was only under life threatening circumstances... Usually her threatening our lives, is how it ended up, and with forgiveness sometimes taking as much as a week! But, she'd become a poodle of goo, melted to the floor, for offerings, and even often just magically appear under or hands, with us not even noticing that we'd been peeing her. I so miss that sweet little booger.
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