Behaviour Question: My Rabbit Has Suddenly Become Aggressive!

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DutchBunny19

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I hope this is the right forum to post in, as I'm looking for a bit of advice :) Back in February I adopted a male Dutch rabbit called Fane, and up until June Fane was the perfect bunny. He was really social, really happy, loved human contact etc. I'm not sure what happened in June, but his behaviour just completely changed almost overnight. He started to growl at me if I stopped petting him, then that progressed to growling and lunging, then this went from if you stopped petting him to just growling and lunging at anyone near him. Today his behaviour got so aggressive that I can't even step into my own living room (he's a house bunny) without him growling, lunging and trying to bite my legs. He's roughly 8/9 months old, neutered and has been bonded with a spayed female since March. Nothing in the home has recently changed, and he appears to be in great health too. Likewise, his bonded mate isn't showing any of these behaviours, and is her usual happy self. I've been trying to work with Fane on his behaviour since he first started to show signs of aggression, but nothing is really helping. Any advice? :)
 
Have you rule out that he’s in pain, some bunnies that feel pain can become really defensive and attack people.

Just asking because he’s neutered and have a major behavior change.
 
Have you rule out that he’s in pain, some bunnies that feel pain can become really defensive and attack people.

Just asking because he’s neutered and have a major behavior change.

Hey, thanks for the reply ❤️ He doesn’t appear to be in any pain or discomfort, he’s not grinding his teeth, lethargic or doing anything out of the ordinary (minus trying to attack people). He runs around fine, eats and drinks fine, he’s even been binkying and playing with his friend as he normally would :) He likewise went to the vets only a few days ago (he has a genetic GI issue and I liked to get him checked up now and then), and the vet said his GI tract was as fine as can be for him, so I don’t think it’s that either
 
What a mystery especially as he's neutered! Sounds like your bond is broken or something. There must be a reason why he changed so dramatically I'd try to rebond with him like taking a nap on his floor or something. My Smokey was very defensive and bit me every time I gave her food or just without any reason I was all covered with scars and first positive changes I noticed after I took a nap next to her cage so she had a chance to study me while I was sleeping. But she is still not fixed I know it's a different case just saying what helped me to gain her trust.

I think they are getting aggressive when they are scared of something so just trying to protect themselves. Smokey never lunged at me she just bit quickly and ran away leaving me all bleeding. My other girl Bernie lunged at me when I re-homed her she was 7 months, it was territorial she did every time if I put my hand into her cage to add more hay or something, but otherwise she was never aggressive. Now she lets me in anytime it was just first month or so.

Hopefully you'll find out why he changed so greatly and please keep us updated :)
 
In these instances, is it clear that he's actually enjoying the petting? Perhaps he did in the past, but now something has changed, and he doesn't? I ask because the behavior you describe is similar to how my rabbit acts during grooming time... which he hates.

I pet him during to comfort him, which he does show the usual "I like this" signs, like teeth chattering which he does in our regular cuddle sessions, but the moment I'm done grooming and stop petting, he goes to give me a warning nip.
 
This is a wild shot in the dark... but could he be defensive of his new girl? Could he be defending what he sees as threats to his position with his female bondmate. So someone walks in the room (territory) and he feels the need to fend them off?
 
Hi! Sorry I haven’t replied before now, I’ve had an insanely busy week. On a positive note, I can now walk through my living room without him running to come bite me, but I’ve found that’s only if I walk deliberately slowly so he can eye up my every move. Okay, so I did try napping by his area, so he could study me while I was asleep, but unfortunately that hasn’t made much of a difference in his behaviour :( I won’t give up on that though, as I really want to keep working with him :) As for John Wick’s suggestion to whether it was clear he liked the petting, he used to literally go out of his way to shove his head under your hand, or he’d follow you around doing little happy honks to get your attention for pets, then chitter his teeth when you started petting him. Fane used to be 100% a people person kinda bunny, if he saw you around he would go out of his way to either come sit on you or he’d just lick you until you pet him. So I’m not really sure what changed in that matter, because his whole personality seems to have done a 180 :( Finally, as for Blue Eyes suggestion, Fane did originally get really territorial over his new girlie, including some nipping, growling and constant checking on myself or my partner whenever we went near her, but that calmed down massively after a week or so and up until recently he hadn’t shown any aggressive behaviour since :/ This is such a weird one!
 

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