Bunny Behaviour - Is she hopeless?

Question
I got a baby Dwarf bunny from a pet shop about a month and a half ago, but she doesn't act like I was expecting. I suppose I was expecting a cuddling ball of loving fluff, but I've done some research and learned thats *not* what bunnies are all about.

Anyways, I'm not sure if mine is normal or particularly aggressive. Whenever I pick up up out of her cage (which is about 4x as long as she is, and 3x as wide)she seems happy and calm for about 5 minutes, then she begins to flail and tries to jump away. I usually put her down on the floor or my bed as soon as she starts this, because I don't want to injure her; not to mention the scratches arn't too comfortable either. She looks happy whenever she's just hopping around on the bed, floor - what have you, but she doesn't seem to want to come near me as much as a cat or a dog would. I'm not sure if a bunny was the pet for me when I was looking for affection, and I'm not sure how to tell if she loves me or not.

Also - about feeding her? I fill her bowl up once a day, which is about one cup of food. I read on the package that I should feed her about 1/2-1/3 cups a day, but she always looks so eager to eat and hungry when she hears me crumple the bag. I'd hate to be starving her on accident!

And one more thing- I've draped a towel over half of her cage so that when she hops about, the shavings don't get into where I keep my computer equipment.. it seems she always tries to throw the towel off from the inside of her cage, is she agitated or playing with it?

Answer
Hi Mandy

Rabbits don't generally like to be held.  They are usually social and they like attention but they want it on their terms.  I am sure that she loves you and she is very lucky that she found a good home.  Rabbits that are sold in pet stores often end up in horrible living conditions.  She was probably not handled as a baby either.  Rabbits that aren't handled when they are very tiny usually don't like to be handled when they are older.  

The best thing you can do for her is to get down on the floor and play with her.  Sit on the floor and let her come to you.  Let her investigate you.  Keep her in one room so that she can't escape but can get away from you.  Just sit there and eventually she will come to you.  If you lay on the floor to just read a book or do your studies she will eventually get curious as to what you are doing.

You could be over feeding her and no matter how much she begs you can't do this or she will get fat and it will cause horrible health problems.  Instead of feeding her an all pellet diet you can consider giving her a mixed diet of pellets and fresh greens.  The HRS gives an excellent recommendation of how to do this.  

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-4/pellets.html
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

You can read through these articles and decide which diet is best for you.  I personally do not use a vegetable diet because I have show rabbits but I strongly encourage all house rabbits to be given a diet rich with rabbit safe vegetables along with unlimited fresh hay and only small amounts of pellets.  It is very important to maintain their overall well-being.  My rabbits are fed a very healthy homemade diet and basically all it is is certain vegetables mixed in with the alfalfa based pellets and unlimited fresh timothy and oat grass hay.  It is far easier to go to the grocery store and just buy the greens.  My show rabbits are allowed about 1 or 2 treat foods per month, this would be a raisin or a very small carrot, or a small piece of apple without seeds or skin.  My house rabbits (I have 3) are allowed a little more generous diet as they do have free roam and have more exercise than the others and are retired from both breeding and showing.

I don't know what breed your rabbit is but you said it is a dwarf.  The biggest dwarf rabbit breed that I am aware of is a polish dwarf, providing it is purebred.  There max weight should not be over 3 1/2 pounds.  When they are still babies you can free feed them as much as they want.  I give mine about 2/3 a cup of feed a day until they are about 4 months old and then I cut it back to 1/2 a cup a day.  They also have unlimited hay at all times throughout their lives.  Although you can essentially give babies alfalfa hay I never do because after they are about 5 months old you want to wean them off of it.  I have noticed that the rabbits that were given alfalfa hay as youngsters don't really like the grass hays when they are older and don't eat as much as they should.  By the time your rabbit is 6 months old it should be at 1 oz of feed per pound of body weight a day.  Since smaller breeds (less than 2 pounds) need higher calorie intake because they tend to be more active we never suggest less than 1/4 cup (4 oz).  This should be sufficient for your rabbit if it is truly a dwarf rabbit.

As for the towel, she is probably trying to play with it.  She may very well be trying to see you or see what is behind it.  I have found that a flattened cardboard box placed a few inches away from the cage but inbetween the area I don't want to get covered in chips and the cage works better.  If she chews the cardboard it won't hurt her.  If she gets ahold of a loose string from the towel she could possibly choke or get a blockage in her stomach.

I hope you learn to love your bunny as much as you would a cat or a dog.  Although they aren't all cuddly they are still loveable animals.  They each have their own unique personalities and with time you will learn her little personality traits and what each one means.  

When she turns 5 - 6 months old you are going to want to consider getting her spayed.  It will keep her from becoming overly aggressive and it will help keep any hormonal issues from arising.  It will also prevent any uterine type cancers which can happen at an alarming rate of about 80% in unspayed female rabbits.

Good luck

Pam