The Guide To Rabbit Speak - Intro

We all know how frustrating it is when we're unable to understand and be understood by others. It's especially important to be able to communicate with those who share our living space, and for many of us that means being able to fluently speak and understand Rabbit. Unfortunately, too few who share their lives with a rabbit know what their rabbit is trying to tell them, or how to express themselves in terms their rabbit will understand. This guide was written to help remedy this situation by explaining some of the signals rabbits use to communicate, and answer the common question, "What did my rabbit mean by that?"


Being able to speak and understand Rabbit requires that you learn to think at least a little like a rabbit. Your rabbit will never learn to understand many of the mysterious things you do ("Why the heck did she just change into three different outfits before leaving for work?"), but you can certainly understand why rabbits do what they do. You'll be pretty close to the truth if you think of rabbits as being from a society very different from your own, with different priorities, goals, important lessons, and gestures. Learning Rabbit is in some ways like human cultural studies, but of course the subject individuals have much longer ears.


People who expect rabbits to be like dogs often find the most important difference in the relationships they form with humans is that dogs may give unconditional love and trust, but rabbits don't. Please repeat after me... rabbits are not like dogs, rabbits are not like cats, rabbits are like rabbits. This is why it's so important to know how they think and what they want! As it turns out, what all rabbits want more than anything is respect and affection, and when you learn to give these properly (i.e. like a rabbit) you'll freely get them in return.


A great deal of the signaling described here involves the use of uppy ears, which not all domestic rabbit breeds have. Lop-eared rabbits will move their ears in a manner consistent with what uppy eared rabbits will do, but the results are usually much less obvious. Different lops will vary in how they are capable of moving their ears, and may therefore be able to use only certain of the ear signals described here. Still, with close attention you may be able to draw almost as much information from the behavior of a lop as an uppy eared rabbit. You can consider Lop as the language Rabbit, but spoken with an accent.


Some signals' descriptions might be superficially similar and yet have very different meanings. For instance, an angry rabbit, one that's scared, and one asking to be groomed will all have their ears back. Accompanying signals will almost always indicate the real meaning, but the situation's context (i.e. recent events) will also help to make things clear.


Rabbits use a lot of special postures to signal others, but just because some particular action or pose is a signal in one context doesn't mean that every time a rabbit does it a meaningful signal is intentionally being given. As Sigmund Freud once said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Don't worry if some of the material here seems a bit complicated or hard to master. Humans are excellent at recognizing nonverbal communication, including context and accompanying signals. We do it all the time with each other, and it comes quite naturally.


Most of the language given in this guide is targetted at neutered rabbits as unneutered rabbits are often significantly more aggressive, and may be less interested in conversing with you about anything but hierarchy and territoriality. They also give different sounds and signals of which i will go into briefly.

The Real Rabbit Whisperer - A little background

Some people are dog people, others are cat people. Me? I'm a rabbit person. I guess you could say i always have been. I got my first rabbit when i was 6 years old. It was initially my big brother that wanted one and i can definitely thank him for that. We went to the pet shop to get our rabbits. My brother lost interest, but from that moment on my interest grew. Soon though, i wasn't satisfied with just feeding and cuddling them, i wanted more. I wanted to truly bond with them and understand them. That is why I'm here. I want to help others come to have the same bond with their rabbits just as i have with mine. There is plenty of info on the Internet and in books on how much hay to give your rabbit or what size of hutch to get but not any good incite into their brain. I have seen other people claim to be the rabbit whisperer but the truth is there can only be one. They are the rabbit whisperer yet there biggest articles are on "what it means if your rabbit eats it's own poop?" This is important to know but psychology is so much more.

It is truly knowing and connecting with your rabbit and knowing what goes on in their brain and their true natural instincts. I have studied and researched rabbit psychology for a number of years and i am here to help people who are truly interested in rabbits. Every summer i also hold rabbit training classes, for which i am qualified and i am here to help with any rabbit problems. I also do nail clippings, teeth rasping and help with other medical problems.






Floppsy and Dusty my French Lops

Some of the rabbit language i will discuss applies only to neutered rabbits as it is sometimes different for uneutered rabbits and some of the talking rabbits do with their ears does not apply with lops as they mostly do not move their ears. Soon though, you should hopefully find talking to your rabbit really easy although warn your family as they may drag you to the psychiatrist. WARNING: they may do so anyway! You should be able to call them and they will come running - and not just for food! Feel free to ask me any questions or if you need help with anything.