overexcited for food

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Jamie714

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Lately my bunny has become extremely overexcited for food to the point he's given us a couple accidental hard nips trying to get it before we even have a chance to get it in his bowl or put the bowl down.
He has a constant supply of hay available and we give him pellets in the morning and salad at night. But he likes to act like he's starving when we come with the good stuff. He is about 7 months old and unneutered(I don't trust the vets in Saudi Arabia for it. The education level tends to be lacking).
I feel like the nips are accidental because his body language doesn't appear aggressive wheb he does it. He's usually just hopping in circles demanding his food. Anyone have some ideas on calming him a bit so we can keep our fingers?
 
How much do you feed him? He's still young so if he isn't overweight you could possibly increase the amount some, or you could break up his meals into smaller, more frequent feedings.
 
I give him a large handful of pellets and about a cup of veggies. He weighs about 4.5 lbs. If I give him much more than that he tends to skip eating his hay.
 
I have one girl who is the same way. It's not from too little food. It is just the way she happens to be. She's a food hog. When I put lettuce down, she has to take the piece that her bondmate is eating. She'll take hay from him too. Fortunately, he doesn't mind and just gets another piece. She's just the snobby princess.

I found a method to feed her pellets that doesn't allow her to get aggressive, or bat at me with her paws like she used to try to do in an attempt to get the food as I set it down. I divert her when I pick up the empty bowl. Then I fill it while I'm standing. She knows that sound and can barely contain her excitement. Then I set the bowl down in a somewhat quick and deliberate manner (figured out with practice) from above. I do it the same way every time. She knows the routine and she does not have the opportunity to nip or bat.

It might just be a matter of finding a method that works with your bunny.
 
Bagels Bunny occasionally nips (he can be aggressive in his pen) at feeding time, so Roomie taught him to jump up onto his tub and get pets before he can get his pellets in his dish on the floor. This seems to be working quite well for him.
 
My rabbit Bambi does the exact same. However now that he has moved into a huge run he is less excited about pellets. He may be bored. Now that my rabbit Bambi has lots of things to do and lots more space he is less interested in pellets. He may however just love them!
 
Bandit is exactly the same. I feed him in pellets in the morning. It involves me opening the door of his cage, picking up his bowl, pouring in the already measured amount of pellets, and putting his bowl down. As soon as I go to the cupboard with his food he starts jumping around in an excited manner and often bites the cage bars or digs at them. When I open the door, he pushes on it with his nose, fortunately, he usually pushes out of my left, so I'll take the bowl from over the top of him. I hold it in the air while I fill it which draws Bandit towards me, and then I'll quickly reach in over him to put it down behind him. It's really the only way that works for us. I've tried holding his head down to tell him off for biting at the bars and being pushy, but he's just too excited. One time when I tried to block him he bit me. Since that time I haven't bothered with it, I just work around him as quickly as I can.
 
Trix used to be so lady-like about her food. I can still pick her up and snuggle before I give her morning treats, but she prefers her treats quickly after a snuggle, hug, and kiss fest. But given a choice, she wants her treats almost straight away.
 
Peter is exactly the same, you would think he never gets fed! He doesn't nip, but he does a lot of running around and hopping on and over both me and the food, he's such a chancer!
 
All my bunnies do it I have some un fixed rabbits and some fixed rabbits I feed them 1/2 a cup of pellets morning and afternoon and they get hay during the day around 12:00 they have water all the time :) and they have half a carrot, half a cucumber and a small salad at night, they also have grass every second day
 
Our old girl, Thumper acted like that, to the point that she'd knock over the dish before we could set it in front of her. She was anything but starved, LOL! She just loved meal times!

The other rabbits get excited but not quite that excited.
 

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