It was that time to move the bunny’s pen around the yard. This time I put it in a completely different place… a place Nova had only been when she was being bonded to Buttons, about a year ago. Buttons had been there before, many times over the time. What that means is, their behaviour will be unsettled and cautious for aa while until they realise they are safe. Here’s how it went…
Both bunnies ran around the new pen, checking out each millimetre of it. Buttons had to chin rub every blade of grass, every toy and the fence.
Nova ran around smelling the ground like a dog. Her tail was up, and her behaviour was short and sharp. Her movements were jerky and uncomfortable.
This behaviour with the tail is a breeding behaviour. Bunnies display this when they are scenting a viable mate.
The jerky movements were also displays of hormonal behaviours.
Both Buttons and Nova acted like there was an on-heat unknown rabbit in the pen that they had to locate and destroy. Their inner radar systems were working over time.
Buttons set out to locate the new rabbit. He searched high and low but couldn’t find it anywhere.
As I stood in the pen and watched them, they would come up to me every so often to boop me. This let me know that they were displaced but OK with the change. But this new rabbit, that was too much.
Once they booped me, the bunnies would go and look for each other. They had to know that each other was still there and there weren’t any interlopers.
They would touch noses and then head off looking for the new rabbit, sniffing everything and chin marking.
This is Nova coming over to boop my ankle.
She was on a mission to let me know that everything was alright and she will sort out this new rabbit, whomever it was.
Then, of course, at the exact time that the bunnies started to feel comfortable a low-flying joy-flight plane flew over. It’s loud engine and weird whooshy sounds made Buttons become alert and nervous.
And, because the plane wasn’t enough, the neighbour’s started making sounds. Nova realised she could see them, and couldn’t take her eyes off them. She stood like a meerkat for minutes at a time, figuring out their behaviour and whether they would scare her on purpose.
Nova would keep her eye on the neighbours no matter what she did. Here, she is about to jump over the pink pipe, but she is watching them closely.
Slowly the bunnies settled down and started eating and grooming.
Finally, after about 30 minutes the bunnies started settling down and enjoying their new pen.
Nova zoomed around the pen at high speed and binkied, which I caught on camera.
It was the following day that I realised that the wild bunnies must have been in that area, spraying, and that’s what Buttons and Nova could sense.