The Player — Hickory Ridge Hollands

We debated a lot on this one. It's a special case, and frankly, I've only seen it in bucks. What finally convinced us to cover it, was the fact that treating our players as other identities just would not have worked. We describe it this way:

The Player is most likely a buck. He comes into the world doted upon by an attentive mother and has no lack of self-confidence. He is outgoing and loves attention. On his best days he is sweet and amiable, on his worst, he is a tyrant. If you have a player, he might try to escape or manipulate you like a Machivellian, or he might be cuddly and adorable like a Sweet bunny -- but the common thread is narcissism. The Player puts himself first, and he expects you to do it too.

Our first experience with a Player was Tonto. Yes, we still have him, so to those who are currently struggling with a player, breathe a sigh of relief, it can all work out great. Anyway, when we first brought Tonto home, he was well-behaved and affectionate. He loved to be pet, he enjoyed running around in the pen, and he seemed pretty amiable. (He did go through an adjustment period, which we will cover in a later article about adopting an older bunny). All in all, things were great.

Then as Tonto became comfortable in his new surroundings, he started misbehaving. If you picked him up, and he wanted to stay in his cage, he would scramble like crazy. Because we refused to drop him, we ended up with scratches all over our arms. When we attempted to pet other bucks in the rabbitry, Tonto would immediately spray urine outside his cage to show his displeasure. He actually had a real talent for distance and aim and hit us more than once. If we made noise, or disrupted his sleep, Tonto would stomp his feet, repeatedly, and stare at us. I'm pretty sure he was demanding things. It wouldn't be just once, it would be over and over for 10 minutes.

If you want, you can get a more detailed account of how we handled Tonto's behavior in my post called "Dealing with the Bossy Bunny". I can follow-up that post by saying that today, Tonto is a Sweet bunny for the most part. He scrambles a little, but it's just to let us know that the Player is still in there.

The first player we produced was an adorable little REW buck. Here is the tricky part. It's very difficult to perceive the nuances of The Player in a kit. They often present as a more controlled Ecstatic bunny, or a sweet Machivellian, or a mischievious Sweet bunny. Notice that none of those other identities quite fit. Additionally, a lot of bad behaviors are curbed by an experienced breeder, who can anticipate the actions of a bunny, and is less likely to be caught off guard. This unfortunately can result in The Player making his first debut only AFTER he moves into his new home.

This little guy turned out to be a real handful when he got to his new home. He had a hard time adjusting to life without siblings to boss around, so he became possessive with his territory. Bossy bunny protocol had to be enlisted to curb his behaviors and get him straightened around.

The same could be said about this little stinker. He was known to stomp his feet if he heard his family having fun in another room. And like Tonto, he would continue stomping until someone noticed him. Yes, he was highly personable, but things could go south if he didn't go his way.

Do you notice a pattern? I think it's a little uncanny that these three bucks are all exceptionally cute. And they certainly acted like they thought they were. Ha ha. But seriously, these handsome little guys can be tough to handle. The good news is that they can be rehabilitated with success - and then end result is usually a Sweet bunny. Check back for our Living with the Player to find out how.