Rabbits are so human... or is it the other way round?

"The Private Life of the Rabbit" by R.M. Lockley is a fascinating read for anyone wanting to truly understand rabbits.  This is the book which provided Richard Adams with background material for Watership Down.  From 1954 to 1959 Mr Lockley carried out a life-history study of the rabbit on his estate in Pembrokeshire, watching colonies of rabbits and keeping a diary of their activities.  The book is no longer in print but is usually available secondhand on Amazon. 

It's a bit of a heavy read in places, but what I learned from this book has stuck with me over the years, particularly the last two paragraphs which I'll share with you now; this bit always makes me smile.

"Rabbits have no marriage laws as such, but in their sexual relations buck and doe are tied to each other by a code of behaviour closely resembling that of man.  Young rabbits play together innocently, like children, at first; then comes an adolescent period, with indiscriminate sexual pursuits without fertile mating – closely resembling those of young men and women.  The young couple eventually settle in a burrow, often a poor one, but they will improve it, or move to a better one as their social standing in the community rises.  The young woman is ‘married’ now, the young doe is a ‘queen’.  Under fair conditions, without severe pressures due to predators, over-population, or food shortage, the couple – human or rabbit – may remain united for the rest of their lives by their territorial allegiance to a home.

Bailey paying homage to his 'queen', Flicka

If there is a surplus female or two around, the queen doe will not actively prevent the king having sexual relations with her or them, provided these secondary females do not enter her home, and she will only attack them if they obstruct her path when grazing near by; married man has a similar relationship, albeit more furtive and clandestine, if he takes a ‘mistress’.  But neither man nor buck will usually allow another male to approach his female sexually, if he can prevent it.  He will fight for the sanctity of home, where the female provides main bonds tying the male to a husbandly existence – warm, dry quarters and sexual satisfaction.  In man, family ‘togetherness’ is also important, and it is tolerated by the father rabbit in much the same degree.  Provided the young ones are docile they are welcome to stay at home and be treated affectionately as subordinate beings.

Rabbits are so human.  Or is it the other way round – humans are so rabbit?" 

Excerpt from "The Private Life of the Rabbit" by R.M. Lockley

Don't try this at home!  Domestic rabbits should of course always be neutered or spayed at the earliest opportunity and bonding groups of rabbits is much more difficult than bonding a pair.  But if solitary confinement is considered torture for humans, it is undoubtedly torture for rabbits also.  Rabbits should always have companionship or be brought into the home as part of the family.

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The Taming of 'The Flicknife'

While I was working on Flicka's RAW poster for this year, it made me think how different she is now to a year ago.  Think you know me?  Yeah, I think I'm kind of beginning to, Flicka...

'The Flicknife' nickname initially stemmed from her driving need to know what we were doing at all times of the day.  She literally stalked us, watching, considering, trying to figure out her place in this little family group.  She terrorised us... in a good way.  It is only in the last month or so that we've felt comfortable enough about her to shut the bedroom door at night and restore our sleep patterns to normal; she's finally found her place and is happy in it.

From the start she was a friendly, playful rabbit but with a considerable amount of skittishness.  This is completely understandable, her previous life consisting of 6 months at the SSPCA rehoming centre, preceeded by an unknown amount of time as a stray, preceeded by... who knows?  But most likely the usual - bought as a child's pet, given up on.  I can think of few rabbits less suitable for a child's pet than Flicka; even these days it takes two of us to restrain her at the vet.  When threatened, she reacts with a ferocious strength that is all the more surprising given her sweet, friendly nature.

So how was 'The Flicknife' tamed?  Free access to everywhere (which she took full advantage of, no corner left unexplored) lots of love, lots of attention, lots of toys, lots of talking nonsense to her in a quiet voice.  The usual things, really.  The reward for this?  More and more aspects of her personality being revealed.  For example, she's recently started 'singing' (chirping) to herself, usually while devouring a treat but sometimes just when she's snoozing or cuddling with Bailey.

Her relationship with Bailey is interesting.  Unusually for a girl, she is a very generous lover and one of my greatest joys of the past year has been seeing Bailey tuck himself in to her chest in the sure expectation of a good ear licking.  He adored his previous partner, Daisy, and was a willing slave to her demands but, in true 'diva doe' style, she rarely returned the favour.  I believe the loss of Daisy affected him more than he let on and he was also dealing with the glaucoma which eventually led to removal of his left eye last June.  Since then, he and Flicka have settled into a mutually loving and generous relationship which is really beautiful to see.

So, no more Flicknife... perhaps her new nickname should be 'Mother Hen'..?

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A day in the life of two house rabbits

My husband and I both work from home and therefore spend a lot of time with our two house rabbits, Bailey and Flicka.  The rabbits are free to go wherever they want but have litter trays and a 'den', under a small table between the sofas, in the sitting room.  Here is a typical day in our lives...

Flicka on the bookshelf, Bailey encouraging her

We are woken sometime around dawn, usually by Flicka binkying around the bedroom or chewing on their wooden tunnel under the bed.  Whoever gets up to feed them gets raced down the hallway by Flicka (more binkies) and followed at a more sedate pace by Bailey (who is partially sighted).  Both rabbits circle our feet manically until their eggcup of dry food is measured out and wrestled to the ground between their frantic noses.  Then it's a furious speed eating, nose bumping contest until the bowl is licked clean.

The rest of the early morning is dedicated to foraging - eating hay, scrounging a bowlful of dried herbs or a dried banana slice - and playing - ripping up some magazines, chewing on a hay roll, racing up and down the hallway.  I give them fresh handfuls of hay two or three times during the 'morning forage'.  Around 10am, Flicka usually disappears to our bedroom for a solitary nap under the bed.  Bailey continues to forage a little but mostly lazes around on the sitting room rug, accepting some cuddles and nose rubs. 

Around lunchtime, Flicka returns from the bedroom (sometimes Bailey goes to fetch her) and they settle down either in the den or next to the coffee table for their 'proper' sleep.  They tuck their paws in and 'loaf', or Flicka may roll on her back, and they sleep deeply for several hours, sometimes twitching and nodding their heads.

At dusk, Flicka wakes up and moves to her preferred position in front of the TV.  Bailey soon follows her and they visit the litter trays for a good hay munch, have a long drink from the bowl and generally prepare themselves for the evening.  Again, I give them several hay tops up in the early evening.  Flicka begins to hassle for their dinner at around 7.30/8pm, following us into the kitchen and honking around our ankles.  They get a few leaves of spring greens, cabbage or kale at around 8.30pm followed by another eggcup of dry food at 10.30pm, which is eagerly anticipated.  When they're not begging at our feet, they are stretched out on the rug, grooming themselves and each other and snuggling up together.

The last thing we see every night... Flicka's face!

Before bed, I top up their hay again and give them a carefully divided carrot which is an object of much 'carrot jealousy' and sideways glances at each other.  They wolf this down while we're brushing teeth etc and then Flicka races through to do some more bed binkies and scrounge a raisin or two off my husband.  I give Bailey a treat too and then go through to get 'tucked in' by Flicka.  She might stay with us on or under the bed, or rejoin Bailey in the sitting room - either way, they will both always be ready and waiting in our bedroom the next morning to do it all over again.

In between all this, we sometimes manage to get some work done!  So that's a day in our lives and hope you enjoyed my first blog post.  Stay tuned for more random ponderings on house rabbits and the fun they bring into our lives.

Bunnyhugga.com is a complete rabbit information resource and non-profit site raising the profile of rabbits as pets.  Join us on Facebook