Figured out why AJ was digging and biting me

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Kinai

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Ok been avoiding taking AJ out to play much lately since AJ has taken to Biting after digging at my clothing first.

I took AJ out tonight in the living room (main room) with his litter box for a "home base" and placed his tunnel and other things also treats around. He had about 5 feet by 5 feet as he's little and my sight is limited.

He would come over and dig at my clothes and then bite them and me. But won't do it on bare skin. After about 10 times I picked him up because I was going to put him in his cage but my dog distracted me. Being cradled in my arm he was fine. He was insecure and needed to be reassured and told me the only way he could. But man that was a painful way to learn.

Now he and I have a new understanding and I have learned to watch the whole situation as to why he's doing something
 
My doe has done this, but she has never meant to bite my body -- she was just digging & biting at the pants, which is a natural behavior. I try to let out an audible "OW!!" whenever it happens to show that her action caused my reaction.

I also use "NEI" ("no" is too phonetically close to her name, so I avoid using that particular word) in an effort to reinforce a word or sound they recognize that means "bad" (or "stop", or "HEY YOU", or what have you). They're smart little critters that can recognize words or sounds and respond accordingly with reinforcement & training, though it takes time.
 
Samoth
I don't think the initial bite or two were intentional but when I coreected him it seemed to egg him on. When I found he wanted the reassurance from then on and from now on when he digs at me I'll correct him to keep it from going to a bite but if I keep an eye on him he comes over gets a couple of pets and goes on his way. It will be a matter of him and I learning to communicate better with each other
 
My rabbit does this to tell me she is done with the situation and wants to leave. So I suspect your issue is that you are carrying him to his free roam area rather than letting him leave his cage on his own and explore as he feels comfortable. Rabbits like to come and go as they please.
 
It can be tricky trying to figure out what our little buns are trying to communicate with us humans. They can't really vocalize so they have to use what they have. Their paws, teeth, and nose. I have to say I much prefer them nose bonking me to get my attention over nipping and pulling at my clothes, but if I'm not paying attention when the nose bonk happens, it's pretty certain I'll then get a nip and pull at my clothes to let me know that I should stop what I'm doing and see what it is they want. Then I have to sit there trying to figure out what it possibly could be. Am I in their way and they want me to move my big butt out of the way, do I need to hurry up with dinner, do they want a treat, put me down, pay attention to me. leave me alone right now, do they want nose rubs? I'm sure mine must think I'm a bit daft as it usually takes me a minute as I go through the list of common requests to finally hit upon the right one.

If you haven't ever checked out this site on how rabbits communicate, you might want to take a look. It's pretty interesting and gives a lot of insight into how they communicate. A lot of their body language is pretty subtle, and I'm sure I miss a lot of those backward glances and offended looks when they are trying to show me just how displeased they are with me. And I'm sure that just makes them even more disgusted with how ignorant I am :p
http://language.rabbitspeak.com/
 
Jbun
If you think you are missing body language cues. I KNOW I am. Being legally blind has its disadvantages in that department lol.
Stevesmum I understand totally what you are saying but until I can build his custom home I have to do it this way or let him out on my bed as his cage is at the end of my bed on a table. I make a ramp for most of the day by placing a yoga block under the cage door and placing an old shirt over the cage door since its wire.

I put him on the floor last night for a larger area for him to explore.

Maybe being a smaller bun (2 lbs 1oz) he doesn't need such a big space to roam right now? Plus he's never had a space other than his cage before I got him.
 
Jbun
I checked out part of the site and its really interesting. And AJ and I are SO miscommunicating. Lol. Told you I miss visual cues! The ears are all good cause they contrast dark on white. The rest of him except his nose feet and tail is white.

AJ language update As far as food vs petting: I offer him greens or pellets that he doesn't want or he wants to be petted instead.. He puts His nose towards the ground and his head on the food.

I loved the explanation of the bunny "flip off" (f u) and have been on the receiving end only when I tried to pet him when he didn't want to be or I moved to fast toward him.

Its a nice site
 

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