Behavioral Problems

Hello everyone!

Biscuit has been with me for about 5 months now, I adopted him from a local bunny shelter. Unfortunately they did not know anything about his past as he was just dropped off with no explanation

He has been doing very well in our house, he has warmed up to me and my roommate and begs for cuddles and pets (such a loveable boy).
We think he is about 2 years old and he has definitely been neutered. He has free roam of the living room when we are home and is put in his cage when we are gone, and is litter box trained.

Recently he has started some bad behavioral actions.
When we walk through the living room (or anywhere in our apartment really) he will chase us and jump up and bite our legs. If we are sitting on the ground he will charge us and bite our hands. He does not grunt or make any noises, but once he bites he runs away. I firmly tell him no and either spray him with his spray bottle if it is within reach or put him back in his cage for a "bunny time-out."

He is neutered, his environment has not changed, his diet has not changed, and we have not changed any of our behavior with him. I did take him to the vet to see if he was perhaps sick or in pain, but they found nothing wrong with him.

I am tired of getting eaten up by my bunny!! Please help!

Some rabbits are just like that. He may be territorial of where he lives. You can try to help him build up confidence with treats but not too many!

So a few things I would try. First, I'm assuming that you know he's neutered because you've looked under there and there are no 'plums'. If you haven't also checked for his little weewee, I would do that, as if there isn't one, you have a doe on your hands and if you don't have verification of spay from the vet, she could thus be unspayed and hormonal. So spaying could calm down this aggression, but not always.

Once hormones are ruled out, I would now be looking at behavioral causes. Ones I can think of are territorial insecurity and dominance behavior.

So with territorial insecurity, some things that may help are providing lots of tunnels and hiding holes to simulate natural rabbit behavior, which is having a warren to bolt to when a rabbit is scared/frightened. This way if your bun is getting upset or nervous about something, he will have easy access to places where he can hide.

The other possibility is that he now thinks he is the dominant rabbit protecting his warren(your home). One thing you could try is establishing your place in the hierarchy as the 'Boss Bun'. Squealing or a loud yelp can sometimes let a rabbit know that they are hurting you and to stop. But if not then I would try clapping my hands loudly and shooing bun to his cage for a time out. The other thing I would try is what dominant/mother rabbits do to let a subordinate know they are in charge, by gently but firmly putting a hand on the rabbits head/neck/shoulder area and pressing down for a few seconds. This has to be done gently as to not injure the rabbit, but also firmly enough that they get the point.

Understanding how rabbits communicate can be helpful.
http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

And if all else fails, try looking up rabbit behavior by Anne McBride. She's supposed to be pretty knowledgeable about it. I found this link.
https://www.petcha.com/how-to-establish-boundaries-to-improve-rabbit-behavior/

This video may also have some helpful tips, and you may be able to find other youtube videos with helpful info.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxV0j7SwBbk[/ame]