New to rabbits and fostering a pain in the rear!

I went to my local feed store to buy shavingsand found a rabbit in a tiny pet store cagewith no food and water. There were flies covering the nasty shavingsthat hadn't been changed in a long long time. She told me she wouldgive him to anyone who would take care of him. Of course I took himwith the intent of finding him a loving home as I have no room or extraresources.

The problem is he is not the nicest rabbit in the world. He likes tobite and chew on things and needs some training. I dont think I canfind him a good home with a bad personality. He was abused by childrenwhile living in his first home. They carried him around by his ears.Which has probably made him mean.

I would appreciate any help given to me.

The only advice I can give you is time andpatience. Is he neutered? If not, you may want todo that. I would just pet him for a while and start to pickhim up and hold him gradually. Don't try to do everything allat once. He may still be scared. PoorGuy. At least know he is in a safe and caring environment!

Good luck with him. As starlight said, nuetering would be a good idea.

~.:*Kisses*:.~

Welcome to the forum!

He could be going through his teenage years;they can get grumpy and nippy then.

Try and get him neutered around 6 months.

Also what kind of shavings are you using? Hopefully not pine or cedar- there not good for rabbits.

I'm glad you took him in

where are you located? If you dont have therescorces and room tokeep hi, I would suggest maybea rescue or the humane society, tell them both what happenedand how you came to be with therabbit ,

Many people use pine shavingsfor their rabbits I use it here ,and I also use itfor my rats and micewith no ill effects , granted somerabbits and rodents are allergicbiut not all . it is basicallysafe to use pine , butI wont and wouldnt use Cedar .

I am located in Southwest Virginia. I have noidea of his age, he is around 2 lbs. His cage is on towels and there isa pine litter box that he uses. I have conctacted two rescues, but theycant take him and have listed him on their petfinder websites. I ambasically just fostering him for them both.

i found this article on the effects of pine shavings on rabbits.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/rabbits/41936

Hey well if youcould ever make it up to MA I would take em, work on theirpersonalities and thenfind them new homes But Iknow MA is a LONG drive

You can also try thepetfinder.org classifieds, craigslist.org, andhoobly.com, butthere is no guarantee you will find good homes

~Amy

Actually aygnlu13 he is on petfinder under twodifferent rescues. There is someone who my husband works with that isinterested. He is going to talk to her tonight. But I am sure once shefinds out he bites (a lot), she wont be interested anymore.

Well good luck finding him an awesome home

~Amy

found this article on the effects of pine shavings on rabbits.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/rabbits/41936
KEY words are MAY < CANthere is no definate proof that it isactually harmfull , IF an animal isallergic then yes , if it issensative then yes , but not all animalsare like that .

Pam wrote in a thread aboutPine shavings but for the lifeof me I cant find it right this minute.

What does he do when he bites? Andwhat are you doing? Does he give a painful, sharp bite or asofter, non-skin-breaking nip? We might be able to help withthat if you describe it in detail. Some rabbits bite becauseof fear or previous bad handling, which can be workedthrough. It's harder if he is just plain mean. It'salso possible you are doing something when you handle him that is okayfor cats and dogs but wrong for rabbits, as you are new to them.

One thing that helps is to say "ouch" or "eek" or something when theybite you. Sometimes they don't realize that they are causingpain and don't really mean it.

This article may help some.

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/aggression.html

And another one on biting:

http://www.wisconsinhrs.org/Articles/The Biting Rabbit.htm

This is on age related behavior:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/age-related-behavior.html

I know I posted a lot of articles. I hope you read them- noteveryone does but I find it easier than rehashing something thatsomeone else has phrased better than me.

Wow! Where do I start to reply to that one. He seems so complicated.

He has a territory issue about my couch. If you sit on "his couch" you will be growled at and immediately bitten.

I can pick him up and hold him and love on him while standing up, as soon as I sit down Yikes! He has bitten me again.

He likes to be petted and will stretch up to get a pet. He likes to run around the living room and will play ball with you.

When he bites, he always breaks the skin. Painful! I always blow air inhis face to get him to let go of me. He was probably handled badlyseeing that he came from a bad environment with 4 small childrencarrying him by his ears day and night. Today I got him out to show mysister and he bit the living ---- out of her.

We always support his legs and cradle him while holding him. Like Isaid, he enjoys the loving but the furniture is off limits to thehumans. I have numerous bite marks on my arms from trying to hold himand sit at the same time, even in the floor.

Ooh, naughty bunny! Do you have anyidea how old he is? Neutering will probably help with hisaggressive territoriality. If you can, you might want to keephim off of the furniture until then. Block it off, push himoff with a pillow, whatever. I'm doing that with my bed formy rabbits. It is MY bed, not for them to pee on!

My rabbits don't like the feeling of being moved vertically.They'll be fine when I'm standing up, but they scramble around andsometimes panic when I am standing up or crouching down. Oneof them feels better if I cover her face, and sometimes she hides herface in my elbow. I often have to flip the other bun on hisback and cradle him. When your bun is biting during this, itmay be out of fear or discomfort. I do think they get a bitof motion sickness.:?

Hopefully someone else will have more ideas. I really haven'thad rabbits for very long, so I haven't had much experience withaggressive rabbits.

There is hope if he was indeed abused.time and patience are the key.bluebird

Thank you Naturestee, but he does the bitingafter we are sitting, not during the trip down. His age, I have noclue. I suspect that he isnt too old, maybe close to the "teenage" age.

I am glad to hear there is hope for him yet.

Can someone please give me a detailed list ofwhat I need to be feeding The Devil? I also read on one of the abovelinks that I can bribe him with treats to keep him from biting me. Whatis considered a treat for a rabbit?

my buns love papaya which helps them digest fur balls or water cress

i know what its like to be bitten for no reason poor you but u do get used to it i promise lol xx

It took a long while for my rescued cat, Perryto trust me. He had been in a home with 2 small children thatwere allowed to carry him about by the neck. He was beingfeed dry dog food and lived in utter filth.

Orignally, he would not even eat cat food, would only eat it in acabinet, scared of all noises, didn't like being held, cringed whenbeing picked up, was very nervous and distrustful among othersthings. Lots of love, patience, and time have produceda sweet, loveable cat that simply melts into your arms whe being heldand who loves being picked up and loved on.

Is he getting a good pelleted feed? You can do a search onthis forum for a list of recommended brands - I feed Purina in thegreen bag. As for the biting, try saying Ouch! or Owee!whenever he bites, so that he knows he is causing you pain.

HTH

Well, the Devil is having a good day. He hasbitten me only once and I made an ouch in a high pitch and he jumpedback like he was saying "what?". He is having floor timeright now and enjoying it. I am laying in the floor and he iswalking up to me and licking me. He must be hot from all thebinkies. He is sitting on the air vent now.