Anecdotal story
Once upon a time there was a human who cared for a bunny. That human made that bunny feel special; they would feed it, give it water, pat it, give it treats, and most of all, love it.
To that bunny, that human was it’s world. The only thing that mattered. That human shared it’s home with the bunny, making sure the rabbit was comfortable. The human’s family was that rabbit’s colony and that one human was the rabbit’s only one true friend. There was nothing that human could do to destroy that companionship. Except, of course, when it came to cutting nails, but that is another story.
Every morning the rabbit would wait to be patted and be given something to fill its rumbling belly. After all, the way into a bunny’s heart is through it’s stomach… but only with treats, of course.
The rabbit loved it’s life, loved it’s family, loved its… everything. But the human didn’t realise. Although, the human loved their bunny, but they just didn’t realise how important they were to that bunny. They didn’t realise that that bunny had given that human it’s soul.
The rabbit tried its hardest to show it’s appreciation to the human, it made sure to eat its food, to groom the human, to play with the human, to honk at the human. But the human never understood. The human growled at the bunny and pushed the bunny away. The bunny tried again and again to let the human know how much it loved it. The human kept pushing it away and laughing at the rabbits silly antics.
The rabbit would only get attention when the human wanted it. When the human was ready for it. When the human wasn’t busy. When the human loved the bunny.
This confused the rabbit. It made the rabbit sad. After all, the human was the rabbit’s best friend. The human was the rabbit’s life force.
The rabbit felt dejected. If only the human understood how the rabbit felt. The rabbit tried to tell the human how it felt, but the human either ignored the rabbit when it came close, or the human only patted the rabbit when they wanted to pat it.
After a while, the rabbit started fighting back, it would slap the humans hand away when the human tried to clean it’s pen. The rabbit started to grunt at the human as a warning. The rabbit would turn its back on the human and wait for the human to leave.
The human understood this to mean “bad rabbit behaviour”, and they asked questions online like: “Why does my bunny hate me?” and “Why does my bunny get angry when I clean it’s pen?”, they never stopped to realise that it was their behaviour, their body language, that made the rabbit act like that.
All that human needed to do was realise that and start doing things in bunny time, not human time. Spend time with the bunny, play bunny games, pat, love and care for it, in a bunny way not a human way.
One day, the human changed their ways, they realised that they needed to communicate with their bunny in a completely new way. They realised that their body language was important to the bunny and that they needed to reward the rabbit rather than punish it.
Once they recognised that, the human realised that they were also re-training their brain in the way they saw their bunny’s behaviour. They started to see that the rabbit always did positive things, tried to please them and was trying to help. They saw that when the bunny became sad, and moved away, it would still watch them over its shoulder and wait. What was it waiting for?
The human realised that it hurt the rabbit’s feelings, and they needed to apologise. But how?
Apologising
Once an indiscretion between rabbit-rabbit, or rabbit-human has been officially recognised, it is important to apologise.
Rabbit-rabbit apologies take the form of touching their heads together. They want apologies, but can be stubborn doing so. They can hold grudges anywhere between a few minutes to a few days. Once they touch heads, the apology has been officially accepted and both bunnies drop the grudge.
As for human-rabbit apologies, we also need to apologise in the same way. We need to try to allow our rabbit to rest it’s head against ours. If they move away, they have not accepted the apology. If they don’t move away, they have accepted. They may also want to touch their nose against yours, or they may bow their head and push it under your chin. All of these behaviours are normal, but we have to be aware that is what is meant by them.
Some websites say something like this:
Usually, it’s comparatively easy to earn a rabbit’s forgiveness. Do not attempt to place your forehead against its forehead. You are significantly bigger than your rabbit and this will likely frighten it. Offer a treat. – BunnyCareTips
I do agree that our heads are bigger than theirs and if done incorrectly it can scare them, but if you’ve got your rabbits respect, trust and love, head size doesn’t matter.
I know that with Lunar. He will always want to apologise by touching his head against mine. After an apology, he has even fallen asleep with his head so tightly pressed up against my cheek that I was only breathing in bunny hair. He stayed like that for an hour. That was his choice. After he woke up, he was back to normal.
Indiscretions
Rabbit behaviour is unique in the way that they communicate. They wear their heart on their sleeve and get dejected if you misinterpret what they are saying. Rabbits have a long list of things that they class as indiscretions, and if you are lucky enough to find one (or more) on that list, they will let you know.
The reason why they get sad is because they are gentle, caring creatures and to them, both of you are part of the human-rabbit family. They treat you the same as how they would treat other rabbits in a colony. And of course, after a stack of selective breeding and the rules being half-forgotten and misinterpreted, the understanding of the rules are unclear. Rabbits are just as confused as we are with their behaviour.
When there aren’t any clear colony rules, any obvious “do’s” and “don’ts” the rabbit will be in a state of constant confusion, and that is when the cloudy-rules-of-the-mythical-past kick in and neither you or the rabbit will understand them. That’s when your actions can hurt your rabbit’s feelings, and you have inadvertently made an indiscretion on the long list.
Luckily, rabbits don’t hold grudges like most rabbit-carers believe they do. Again, if you believe your rabbit is ignoring you or upset with you for a long time, that is you anthropomorphising its behaviour. It is actually waiting for you to apologise so you both can move on.
You can apologise like mentioned above, with putting your forehead against the rabbits, or you can start playing with the rabbit by adding toys, patting it or if it will accept it, give it a treat.
By changing the subject like that, the rabbit will move on and be your friend again.
When I make an indiscretion with Buttons, he will turn his back on me and hop two steps away. He will stare at me over his shoulder with one eye and watch every move I make. I make an effort to stop what I amd doing, go up to him and pat him. After a while he will let me pick him up, and that’s when I take him for a walk around the interior of the house, or even outside for a “walk” to “boop” flowers and plants. He just needs that extra little bit of attention, and everything is alright again.
In Love
Domesticated, selectively bred for generations rabbits are made to be friendly. Some, of course will get the raw end of the deal and have a screw loose, but that’s what happens when humans interfere and want to make the “perfect specimen”. And it’s worse when humans grab a stack of “perfect specimens” and breed them together for aesthetics, not genetic stability. Only a bag of loose screws will result.
Anyway, rabbits love love, and the more they receive love, the more they will give love (even those screwed up bunnies will still show love in their own way). According to the Bunny Lady, in the article called Ways to Know Your Rabbit Loves You, she says:
- They groom you
- They circle your feet
- Constantly wanting pats
- Lay next to you
- Binky when they see you
- Sit on your lap
- Purr when patted
So according to that list, Buttons is not in love with me. He doesn’t binky, he doesn’t groom me, he doesn’t lay next to me, he squirms when he is sitting on my lap, and he only purrs when I give him a full head scruffy-pat.
But if you’ve been reading this website for a while, you’d know that I only find lists like that to pull them apart. Lists like this are simply a guide to those pet owners who don’t really want to understand their pets, and are willing to anthropomorphise them. They don’t want to get into their pet’s mind and figure out how they tick. They are a glossy list of check-boxes that people can vaguely gauge their progress. You have to understand your pet is different to everyone else’s, and like kids in a classroom, most won’t fit on lists.
I was a secondary school teacher for 12 years, so I think about it like this:
Back in 2010 when I started teaching, there were prescribed things you should do in class to keep kids learning. You had to treat all kids the same. Kids with learning difficulties were treated the same as kids who would later become rocket scientists. We were taught as teachers to teach down the middle, target the kids who are doing well but could do better and push them. The kids lower on the scale will either pull their socks up and do better (or not, then you fail them), and the smart ones get a stack of dumb-kid work to do, which pulls them down, making them feel like they weren’t learning anything.
Then it changed in 2015. A study came out saying that there are kids in the classroom with autism, family issues, stresses, depression, bi-polar, hidden physical problems, eye-sight problems etc and each kid in your class must be taught in a way that they can learn as an individual. By 2018, the catch phrase was Individual Learning Plans where each kid in your class was accepted to learn different to each other and it was recommended that you have a separate plan for each kid and prepared work for each individual kid. That meant we had to rank the kids in order from low to high. And, of course the way to do that was through tests. Test the kids, rank the kids, teach the kids, test them again at the end… did they perform better than they did in the first test? Yes, then you have good teaching skill. No, well then it’s all your fault and you are a crap teacher, because all kids should show progress.
Then in 2019, parents started getting more involved with teaching. As if they could possibly understand what it is like teaching their kid along with the rest of the 25 other kids with different mental and physical issues in the class. To them, their kid is primary and should be given all the opportunities in the world. But what about all the other kids? Their parents believe the same. Then parents realised they could read the curriculum, and start telling teachers what they should be teaching. When the lockdowns happened in 2020 and 2021, parents became more involved on a completely different level – they had to teach their kids. Some parents realised their kids aren’t as smart as what they thought, and other parents went over the top. Some parents wanted teachers to send them the work for their kid and they will teach it to them. Some parents even did the work for their kid.
This is a little anecdote to compare kids to rabbits. At the moment, lists like the one above are equivalent to teaching in 2010. All rabbits are the same, all rabbits behave the same. All bunny-parents must treat all rabbits the same. Here’s a list of things that you can do to make sure your rabbit fits the norm. Believe me when I say, no rabbit will fit any list, just like no kid fits any list. It will take someone to force people to wake up and realise that each rabbit is completely different to one another and lists should be outlawed. You should get to know your rabbit and write your own lists for your rabbit.
So, how do you know if the bunny loves you?
The simple way to be certain, is to watch your rabbit’s behaviour when it is around you compared to when it is around someone else.
Does it have different behaviours around you?
It may be hard to tell, because the rabbit may have accepted all family members into the colony, so you may have to introduce a new person.
What you’re looking out for is the rabbits body language. If they are constantly watching you, not in a creepy way, but they are always checking where you are, they love you. If they respond in any positive way, they love you. If they are happy to see you, they love you.
You just have to remember that bunny-love is not human-love. Never expect your rabbit to show human behaviours.
I found another website called Rabbit Care Tips that lists the breeds of rabbits that are most affectionate:
- Jersey Wooly Rabbits
- Holland Lop Rabbits
- Rex Rabbits
- Harlequin Rabbits
- Lionhead Rabbits
- Chinchilla Rabbits
I don’t know how accurate it is, but for this discussion it doesn’t really matter.
Now, Buttons is none of those rabbit breeds. So, clearly he won’t be showing affection the same as those breeds. What a load of crock. Maybe those breeds are bred to show humans the affection that the humans understand, like the things in the list above (licking, binkying, demanding head rubs etc), but rabbits like Buttons wouldn’t show humanised affection in that way. He simply wasn’t bred for humanised affection he was bread as meat, and treated as such.
Buttons’ upbringing was less than affectionate, and it took him until he was 11 months old to realise we loved him and we wanted him to be part of the family. Now, at 18 months old, he is loving, caring, loves pats and cherishes the time I spend carrying him around the garden during our “walks”. He learned to enjoy those moments, and he clearly does. I spent a lot of time with him to get him to that stage, a lot of time to get him to discover that we weren’t going to harm him.
When I had Chester (a mini lop), he was humanised affectionate. He would run around my feet and honk, he would lick me, snuggle me, do all of those things in those lists. But he was bred to do that. His affectionate tendencies were chosen through selective breeding. That is not true rabbit behaviour, and those changes in the genetics are good for humans, but in no way beneficial for the rabbit.
Humanised affection is created, selected and promoted in rabbits. Never allow yourself to think that those behaviours are real rabbit behaviours.
They are selectively bred for showing. Rabbits bred for showing need specific attitudes and behaviours, and all others that are natural are bred out. So when you buy a show-quality animal, you are getting a genetically altered animal.
These animals cannot be compared to rabbits like Buttons who are not bred for show, so of course Buttons will not fit on any lists.
We have to stop selective breeding. It is not good for the species.
Hierarchy, or family?
I have to laugh, according to Bunnny Hugga: Hierarchy amongst rabbits, in the section called Hierarchy and humans, they say:
How the humans of the house fit into this hierarchy is less clear. On one level, we may be seen as subordinates to the top bunny, but on another level we are, of course, the overall boss – dictating when meal times, nail clipping, litter tray cleaning etc takes place. In other words, there are certain elements of her life that top bunny cannot control and is happy to leave to us. However, when it comes to simple interaction with our rabbits, we are included in the hierarchy. Most top bunnies see themselves as superior to us and request grooming from us in the same way they would from another rabbit. Others may groom their humans by licking their hands, feet and face but this is more likely to be a sign of affection rather than an acknowledgement of inferiority. Subordinate rabbits are usually very happy to accept grooming from us but do not demand it in the way a top bunny would.
When interacting with your rabbits, it is important to be aware of this hierarchy and not do anything to upset it. For example, if top bunny feels her subordinate(s) are getting too much attention or grooming from us, she may become jealous and this may adversely affect their relationship. On the other hand, you don’t want the subordinate(s) to feel neglected so the safest thing is to treat each rabbit equally but when in doubt groom top bunny first – this is what she and her subordinate(s) expect.
There is no dominance and subordination with any animal community so, by removing that out of the quote above, and changing the word hierarchy to family what have we got?
How the humans of the house fit into this family is less clear. On one level, we may be seen as subordinates to the top bunny, but on another level we are, of course, the overall boss – dictating when meal times, nail clipping, litter tray cleaning etc takes place. In other words, there are certain elements of her life that top bunny cannot control and is happy to leave to us. However, when it comes to simple interaction with our rabbits, we are included in the family. Most top bunnies see themselves as superior to us and request grooming from us in the same way they would from another rabbit. Others may groom their humans by licking their hands, feet and face but this is more likely to be a sign of affection rather than an acknowledgement of inferiority. Subordinate rabbits are usually very happy to accept grooming from us but do not demand it in the way a top bunny would.
When interacting with your rabbits, it is important to be aware of this hierarchy and not do anything to upset it. For example, if top bunny feels her subordinate(s) are getting too much attention or grooming from us, she may become jealous and this may adversely affect their relationship. On the other hand, you don’t want the subordinate(s) to feel neglected so the safest thing is to treat each rabbit equally but when in doubt groom top bunny first – this is what she and her subordinate(s) expect.
There, that’s better.
Lets cover some topics in the quote that have been disputed:
| From the quote | Dispute and discussion |
|---|---|
| On one level, we may be seen as subordinates to the top bunny, but on another level we are, of course, the overall boss | Individual rabbits are only concerned about themselves, they are at peace knowing they are safe, not hungry and have a routine. |
| Dictating when meal times, nail clipping, litter tray cleaning etc takes place | Rabbits are only concerned about available resources, if you take one away, like the litter tray, you must bring it back, or replace it with something of equal value. |
| However, when it comes to simple interaction with our rabbits, we are included in the family. | Individual rabbits see themselves as part of the human family, we are not part of their family. Rabbits will not do anything to upset the equilibrium of the family structure. The family structure is the largest resource in their lives. |
| Most bunnies request grooming from us in the same way they would from another rabbit. Others may groom their humans by licking their hands, feet and face but this is more likely to be a sign of affection. Rabbits are usually very happy to accept grooming from us. | Humans patting the rabbit’s head and body is just like we are licking them with a great big tongue. The rabbit licking us is not affection, it is them feeling a rise in the dopamine levels and needing to express it. |
| When interacting with your rabbits, it is important to be aware [when another rabbit is] getting too much attention or grooming from us, [the other rabbits] may become jealous. | Rabbits do get jealous easily, but it is only because patting is a resource and rabbits like sharing human resources. Jealousy is easily fixed by giving each bunny equal time, food and pats. |
What does it all mean? Basically, a rabbit is a rabbit. A human has expectations that they place on a rabbit. If the rabbit gets frustrated or jealous, humans think it is “dominance”. Humans like dominating things, that’s why there are so many arguments, conflicts and wars.
There is no boss-bunny, only a boss-human who governs the lifestyle of the rabbit.
Give your rabbit space; don’t dominate it and definitely don’t anthropomorphise it.
Rabbit behaviour
Each rabbit is different with different personality traits, different lifestyle, different upbringing and they all have a different circadian cycle. The experiences they have had when the were young will influence their behaviour when they are adults.
But they all would have similar traits, too. For example, girl bunnies are happy, fast, full of joy and bounce. While, boy bunnies are lazy, loving, watchful and defiant.
I have found that if Buttons does something against the rules – like rip Nova’s hair out – I get mad and I make it known. I used to thump the floor with my foot and stare at him. He stares back at me, watching every move I make. Don’t get me wrong, he is not scared, he is understanding that I am grumpy and I am aiming the grump at him. This, my friends, is communication on rabbit level. Now, when he annoys me, I just have to make a movement towards him and he stares at me. Stopping dead in his tracks, eyes and ears pointing towards me. I have never harmed him in any way, and that’s why this works.
A movement could be a step towards him, not so much that I thump my foot, just so the movement is done with purpose. It could also be a poke on the rump with a single finger, or the fact I push his head away from its trajectory. He knows what I mean, and all of these are rabbit behaviours that I have adjusted to suit communicating with Buttons. He gets it because he is a rabbit. Once he stops the behaviour, I make sure to pat him and reinforce the good behaviour with speech, which he returns with a honk. We understand each other. We communicate with rabbit behaviours.
When I am near him, he actually stares at me, direct in the eyes, all the time. If I’m further away, it’s just one eye that watches me. He waits for my instructions. If I don’t give him any, he does his own thing. But as soon as I make a movement, he stops the behaviour. An example of that is, if I am away from the pen and he goes to pounce on Nova, and I make a movement, he stops immediately. If I say “No” or “Uh” with the movement, which is like a honk, he stops and knows I mean what I say. He then stares at me waiting for instructions. I pat him, and he goes back to being happy and jolly.
Why does Buttons stare?
The Rabbit Care Tips website has a section called Why Does My Rabbit Stare at Me?, it says:
Bonded rabbits stare at each other for hours. It’s one of the ways they display affection for each other.
That’s what Buttons does to me, he stares at me all the time, straight in the eyes.
According to Animal Club‘s article called Why does my rabbit stare at me?, they say:
Your rabbit could be staring at you out of love. If they are feeling fully relaxed, with no perceived threats, a rabbit will pass the time just gazing at you, fully content. You can tell this by their body language – if they are lying down with their legs tucked under their body.
That’s Buttons. He lays down, staring at me. It can get creepy.
Then in an article called Why Does My Rabbit Stare at Me? on Rabbit Care Tips, there’s a section called Understanding a Rabbit’s Body Language While They’re Staring it says:
If your rabbit lies down and stares at you, they’re feeling relaxed. If your rabbit stands on their hind legs and stares at you, they want your attention. This position is also linked to begging for food. If your rabbit stares at you with ears erect and nose twitching, something has their attention. They’re waiting to see you react too. If your rabbit stamps their foot while staring at you, they’re unhappy with something you’re doing. You’re likely to elicit this response if you move their belongings.
On the other hand, BunnAsAPet‘s article 19 Reasons Why Your Rabbit Stares At You (The True Meaning) says:
Your rabbit might be staring at you to assert their dominance. They’re looking at you while thinking… “This is my territory. If you’re going to be here… you better groom me”. They can also be wondering what you’re doing in “their territory”.
That’s a huge no. Rabbits don’t class humans as a rabbit, so they won’t be thinking that.
The article also suggests:
They want to keep an eye on you to make sure you’re safe. Being prey animals close to the bottom of the food chain… Rabbits need to protect each other. Staring at you would be their way of letting you know, “I’m watching your back, so watch mine too.” It’s part of their natural instinct.
And:
They’re trying to communicate with you. [T]hey’ll communicate with you in silent ways. “You’re here! I’m very happy to see you, so I’ll keep looking at you until you realise it.” Rabbits may not even be aware that they’re staring at you. They tend to space out while admiring something they like or someone they love.
They’re excited and trying to calm down. Your presence alone is enough to make them very happy.
They want your attention. Rabbits might stare at you to ask for attention. Being social animals, they always crave interactions… That’s why your bunny wants you to notice them. They’d be looking at you like they’re saying… “When are you going to pet me? Pay attention to me. Let’s play”. They might get confused wondering if you’re ignoring them or not.
And finally, number 19 is:
They love you. Sometimes… rabbits will stare at you for no reason other than they love you. Rabbits can develop a strong, deep bond with their owners. This is thanks to their natural social personality. As social animals… Rabbits can be full of love and affection. Most of the time… Rabbits in the wild will have a partner for life. They will bond so close that they become inseparable. Bonded pairs of bunnies can spend their whole day staring at each other… After all, they have nothing else to do when they’re resting in the wild. Staring at each other is their way of bonding and relaxing together. The same thing can happen to bunnies and their owners. Rabbits can watch you all day when they love you a lot.
Why does Buttons honk at me?
Rabbit Haven suggests that:
Honking is often a sign of pleasure. Some bunnies honk when they are eating, getting treats, getting attention, or snuggling.
Buttons honks all the time at me. I touch him and he binkies and honks. He also pronks (jumps on the spot), honks and does a 180° turn. When I play games with him, he honks. When I talk to him he honks in response, just like he is talking to me. He is a honker.
I call him my honky-tonk.
Some websites say it’s because bunnies are happy, others say it’s because they are wanting to mate (I suspect it’s more of a grunt rather than a honk if they want to mate). For example, Squeaks and Nibbles article called Rabbit Honking has a section named Why Do Rabbits Honk?, and it says:
Not all rabbit honking will mean the same thing. So, it’s important to look at the context around this vocalization. Here are some of the most common reasons why rabbits will honk: to preempt mating, when enjoying something, when very excited or to get your attention.
and in the section called Why is My Rabbit Honking at Me?, it says:
Since honking is generally a positive vocalisation, your rabbit will likely be in a good mood when honking at you. If this noise if paired with stomping or nipping, it’s likely that the noise you’re hearing is actually grunting.
There’s really not much more information other than that. Every website basically says the same thing. That says to me that it’s a copy-paste job. No real study has been done about rabbit honking, so no body knows for sure.
Some of Buttons’ honks are used to express “Do it again!”. When I play Boop with him, he honks each time I place my finger down on the floor. He then honks and shakes when I Boop his nose. Sometimes he gets so excited that he jumps around and honks, then comes back for more Boop.
What is Boop?
Boop is a game Buttons and I made up. He lays on the floor (splooted), and I press my finger on the floor near his nose. I pick my finger up and change its placement. Sometimes it’s far away, other times it’s close to his nose. He watches it intently, and he honks every time my finger moves. Then randomly I move my finger and boop him on the nose. I say “boop” and he honks, every time. Sometimes when my finger is hovering in the air, and I’m taking too long to either boop his nose or put it on the floor, he reaches forward and boops my finger for me.
We play that game a lot. Sometimes he gets so excited that he leaps up and jumps around honking. I then poke his rump or side a bit and he honks louder. He comes back for more and lays down again. Usually, one game is enough for him, but there has been a few times that we have played it 3 or more times in a row.
Boop makes him so happy, that he eats or frolics after it by flicking his ears around and pronking. He also does croissant jumps, where he is curved in a semi-circle and pronks.
Pick Me Up!
When Buttons was younger, he didn’t like being picked up. He tolerated it, but it wasn’t his favourite thing. This suits information online.
Small Pet Select says:
Even the feeling of being picked up signals danger in their rabbity brains, since this is only something that happens when they are in the grasp of a predator. Yes, they may know that you won’t harm them, but that knowledge is overridden. There is genuine fear in this situation. Your rabbit may learn to accept being picked up, but down deep inside, in the most ancient recesses of the rabbit brain, chemicals are being released that cause physical responses to danger. Your rabbit will learn to “ignore” these, but even the calmest bun is indeed having a physiological response to being picked up.
Fair enough. Nearly every website says that. But…
Due to Buttons’ upbringing, he wasn’t happy about being picked up. I had to make sure he learned to be reasonably comfortable with it. I didn’t force him to like it, it had to be his decision. Again, it took over a year to get him to the stage he is now.
Buttons now asks to be picked up, when he wants it. It’s not an obvious thing, he taught me that if he is in a particular body shape, he wants to be picked up. I have never heard or read anything online about a rabbit asking to be picked up.
From the top view, Buttons goes into a flat round egg shape and his ears fop forward on a 90° angle. This is the pick me up, I need a hug pose.
It is easy to miss.
If he is not in this pose, he won’t want to be picked up. It’s that simple.
He goes all floppy and flat.
His ears can drop even more than shown in the photo. I have learned that his ears show his level of how desperate he is to be picked up.
If his ears are like the photo, he is just waiting, patiently. If his ears are dropped more, he is very desperate.
I am the only person on this planet that he asks to pick him up. When I tell him that he is “going outside in a minute”, and I leave to organise his outdoor pen, then come back, he is in that pose. When I tell him that “I’m going to pick you up”, he gets into that pose. It is unmistakable.
Other people in my family don’t really interact with him on that level. They usually just pat him as they pass by.
They also can’t see “the pose”, it’s a Buttons and me thing.
Tail Flicks of Happiness… and Defiance
Buttons flicks his tail. Many websites like Bunny As A Pet say there are 9 reasons why bunnies wag their tail:
… to show disapproval. Depending on the circumstance, your rabbit might be feeling agitated, rebellious, or unimpressed. The moment the tail flickers, evaluate the situation to get a better understanding of why your rabbit did that.
- Defiance – Once the tail wags, your furry friend is being cheeky.
- To protest – Their tail is enough to send a message. Your rabbit friend can be unreasonable at times. They sure do find their tail useful in getting their thoughts across.
- Act of unhappiness – Your rabbit’s unhappiness boils down to a lack of attention from you. Try to make it up with them.
- Disobedience -These furry babies are wired to get naughty.
- To interact – When their tail wags, it’s not a sign of greeting, they are full of mischief, your furry friend is up to annoy the others. Tail wagging is a form of mockery, like a silly kid who’s sticking his tongue out.
- Show contempt – It’s an understatement to say that rabbits are emotionally complex. Your sulking romantic partner is no match for a rabbit who has shown contempt towards you. Rabbits will take things personally and can hold a grudge for hours, days, and longer.
- Excitement – Rabbits also wag their tails when they’re excited and happy.
- Overflowing energy – Open the door and let them sprint out. You’ll see how their tail uncontrollably wags in pure delight. Even if you catch your bunny who is on the run, the tail will keep wagging.
- To keep you off – If it happens that they’re not feeling you, they’ll be temporarily allergic to your touch. Don’t force them to be affectionate with you. Or else, you’ll see a little war freak-ish tail behind them, wagging cattily.
According to Burgess Pet Care, says:
If you notice your rabbit wagging her little tail, she’s not showing you she’s happy, she’s doing this as a sign of defiance. If you’re putting her back inside her run after a fun garden roaming session and she wags her tail, she’s back-talking you: “I don’t want to go in yet!”.
Then in Why Rabbits article Why Do Rabbits Wiggle Their Tails?, it says:
Generally, rabbits don’t wag their tail to show how happy or excited they are to have your attention on them. In reality, as surprising as it is, tail-wagging is usually a rabbit’s way of back-talking to their human… Your bunny is quite literally being a baby in front of you!
On the topic of acting like a child, rabbits are very playful and love playing tricks on their fellow rabbits. Known for being quite the pranksters, a rabbit wagging their tail in front of another rabbit is usually a way to mock them lightly. The goal isn’t to start an argument or fight with other rabbits but to slightly annoy or irritate them. Think of it like when a child sticks its tongue out in a playful manner when boasting about winning a game. This interaction is quite healthy and shows how sociable the rabbit is when it comes to interacting with their rabbit friends.
I do agree with this mostly. Buttons flicks his tail when he is excited, and also when he is being sarcastic or comical. Even though most websites say that
[m]ore often than not, tail-wagging is not an indicator of how happy or excited your bunny is
(same link as the article above), I think otherwise, especially with Buttons.
Buttons has a weird sense of humour. Yes, he does. Albeit, it’s a rabbit sense of humour, but he is quite comical when he starts up. According to Rabbit.org, Marinell Harriman’s foster bunny Samantha has a very comical side.
When Samantha came into our foster home, she was distrustful of humans. She had endured an untreated broken leg, which had to be surgically repaired. Because of her shyness, we thought it best not to let an 8-month-old human guest touch her. With his small fingers gripping the cage, the toddler thrust his face tight against the wire and laughed at the mere sight of the bunny. Samantha did a sideways kick. The youngster laughed harder. Samantha did two side kicks and spun around. Still more excited shrieks of laughter followed. Then even sillier antics followed after that. Fortunately the cage was large enough for the spirals and 180 degree flips. We finally had to intercede for the safety of both the performer and the spectator. The child was breathless with laughter, and the bunny was overdoing her mended leg. We had never seen Samantha behave in such a way. She was transformed from a shy bunny into a slapstick comedian. Whatever triggered her performance must have been an intuitive cue she received from the child.
Buttons loves to play Catch Me If You Can. He pounces on the spot and then watches if I want to play. If I step closer to him the game begins. He darts away, stops, turns to look at me. If I step closer to him, he runs away, stops, and turns to look at me. If I bend down and tap the floor, he comes closer. If I stay still, he boops my hand, then runs away. But if I’m quick, I can reach out and touch his head gently. That makes him stop and he has lost the game. He waits until I move away and the game starts up again.
He gets so happy that his tail flicks with excitement, he runs away just out of reach. It’s not defiance, because he is not being petty or selfish, he is doing it out of the love of the game.
In an article called How to Make a Rabbit Laugh, by Rabbits Care, it mentions that binkying and blinking are ways to see that your bunny is laughing. Bunnies don’t actually break out into fits of loud laughter, that would be hilarious if they did.
Buttons on the other hand dances when he is happy. He pronks and flicks his tail, shakes his ears and honks. That is pure happiness for him.