Territorial Rabbit

[Gumby]

A friend of mine has a rabbit at her place that has developped what looks to be like territorial behaviour. If you reach in and take the food bowl out of his cage, he will attackher. As per the extent of the attacking, I'm not quite sure, I'm going over there after I post this to check out the situation. Apparently, the rabbit attacked her young son. Scratching him up pretty good. From the description I got, he does the foot stomping, and will attack with his front claws. I've never heard of this, which is part of the reason why I'm going over to check it out.

Any advice I can give her? How can we make it so that her rabbit doesn't feel the need to protect his home and his food bowl?

 

[Yield]

If the bun fixed?
Fixing usually stops that- but some buns stay territorial I guess... It's probably best to let the bun outta the cage then clean it/etc?

My bun Solara got real cage aggressive for a while and I just kept putting my hand in there and touching her and stuff until she got over it. She only grunts slightly at me when I go in her cage now. =P

But the way that bun seems, I'd suggest using gloves if they decide to do that =O

 

[maxysmummy]

high pitched screaming noise when he does attack OR a spray bottle of water on his head when he does it. and if he's not fixed, get him fixed asap.

 

[Flash Gordon]

u really shouldnt do anything offensive to a bun when their cage aggressive..the key is to make them realize that ur hand always brings something postive...a scratch on the head,a treat,..yes when they are out of their cage and they claw or bite id be a more dominant with the bun..but when its his territory if u get aggressive back he will only get worse and he will never trust ..hell end up being a bun u dont want...
my cage aggressive buns i quickly used one hand to scratch their head( dont give them too much time to think about the attack) just go in and give him love while ur other hand does what it needs to do in the cage..(which is tricky) but everyday i did this and after a couple of months i dont have to do that anymore...they still dont like me in their cage but they dont lunge or bite me anymore...when ur doing alot of cleaning of the cage u prob shouldnt have him in there anyways..but i understand to change water u have to deal with him... i agree with the fixing him idea but i really wouldnt use a squirt bottle on him..its his home..ur invading it..its like a big huge giant coming into ur home and grabbing ur toilet while ur on it...id bite too.

cage aggressive buns are not a quick fix ..it will take time and patience..hes not a bad bun he just needs extra tlc...i hope ur friend is willing to give it to him

 

[Momto3boys]

My Snickers is extremly CAGE aggressive, if you check out my blog you will see the damage he just done to my hand.

I can't do ANYTHING in his cage without removing him first and I don't let the kids do ANYTHING with him when he is in his cage, I take him out, I feed him, I do that but once he is out he is fine.

It's his space, I respect that...I know what i can do and how far I can go until he loses it. Baby steps, 1 step forward 2 steps back. He was doing good, I let my guard down and he bite me HARD. I honestly doubts that it will ever go away 100%.

 

[elrohwen]

I agree with the others re: neutering. This will help more than probably anything else.

As far as behavioral things she could try, the most effective is to put her hand in and not move it if he attacks. He needs to understand that all of his blustery behavior is not going to get him what he wants. She'll probably have to wear gloves at first, but he'll learn that her hand stays put and only brings positive things. Using a high pitched noise or spray bottle isn't really effective for this type of behavior since it will make the rabbit more fearful and protective of his space.

 

[donaldsl]

With the leaving the hand thing, I would suggest that you either wear a thick glove or something strong to cover your hand. Picasso bit me quite bad and that was through my towel, wrapped around my hand like 5 times and through my fingernail.

Picasso was also extremely cage aggressive, he was 2 and not neutered, there was no way that he was going to change with neutering (well a very small likelyhood). The only way that I could do anything in his cage was to ensure he was out first.

 

[Acacia-Berry]

I'm a member of the leave-his-space-alone club. Bunnies are made to defend what's theirs. Acacia was quite the demon when she was in a cage before she was spayed. Fixing them really goes a long way! It's well worth the money! Harsh actions like squirting him will only make it worse, as top bunny you should be able to take his water bowl out without a fuss. When he lunges snap your fingers then immediately reward him as he freezes.