Aggressive Bunny

[OhTisLove]

Hi everyone,

I'm very new to bunnies...as in, I've had my first bun for exactly two days now! I've been doing lots of research, but am still going to have lots of questions, so bear with me.

I have an eight week old Checkered Giant female. She was the friendliest of the bunch when I picked her out, and likes to interact with people. Hops right out of her cage to visit and run around the room.

Anyway, last night she was out hopping around while I was cleaning her cage. (Big NIC cage, three panels by four, three levels...she has lots of room!) She was across the room but must have been keeping an eye on me, because while she didn't mind me messing with the rest of the cage, when I reached for her food dish (which is RIGHT near the door, since I read that you shouldn't reach into the cage much if the rabbit is in there, so I wanted easy access) she sprinted over and....boxed? my hand. Lots of clawing and growling. I don't think she bit me. I immediately snatched my hand away (with the food dish) and shut her into the cage. I didn't give the food dish back right away...I went to brush my teeth first so that she didn't associate receiving more food with her naughty behavior. She had no issue with me putting the dish back in, of course!

Is there something that I can do about this? Should I make sure she's out of the room when I touch her food dish? (Although this is not really an ideal situation, as I rush around in the morning and don't have time to let her bounce around in other rooms just so I can fill her food dish.) She hasn't displayed any other aggressive behavior so far, and she hasn't seemed to mind me touching the dish while she's in the cage. Did she just get panicky about me moving stuff while she wasn't there?

I walked in to check on her this morning and she's her usually friendly self, climbing the door panel and begging to be let out.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

Hi and welcome!!!


I am not a NB Mod. But I have been told not to leave. They in a sense want you to leave and when you do they get their way. I was told this when I asked about my bunny biting me. So next time I would stay and say no. I do this personally with my girl Jessi. She is 7 months old and going through that teenager stage.

Someone more experience will come along very soon with a better explanation of what to do next time she or he does this.

The forum is very slow this early in the morning.

Kat:bunnydance:

 

[Runestonez]

Hey!

Some bunns, while they lack the opposable thumbs to actually feed themselves get a little possessive about hoomins touching their "stuff'!

She is actually telling you who is boss when it should be the other way around...a loud "NO" will sometimes help...or you can try gently pushing her head down...this is a submissive position and tells her you are boss...but she shouldn't be left to "get away" with this behavior...soon she will be a much larger bunny and it is MUCH easier to deal with now rather than later!

We have an angry lionhead girl...she LOVES to box, lunge and grunt at people for being in her space...the key to dealing with her was not backing down or leaving...this learned behavior is because when she lunges or boxes people were yanking their hands out of the cage and she was"winning"...so we stopped flinching when she did this and when she displayed this behavior we would say "NO" and push her head down.

Our one nethie has a stuffed bunny he likes to groom...one day hubby was reaching into the cage to take out Olivers greens bowl and his stuffy was inside...well hubby got bitten on the forearm! So now when he has to reach in Ollie's cage he will take an extra minute and pet Oliver and talk to him instead of just reaching in and grabbing the dish! This seems to have helped and we haven't had anymore issues with biting!

Hope some of this helps!
Danielle

 

[OhTisLove]

Thank you both! I will definitely be more assertive with her if she tries it again, although hopefully she won't!


Otherwise, she is a complete doll. This morning when I opened up her cage she stopped for some cuddles before sprinting around the room, which she did for a good 45 minutes! She's an active little baby! As I type this, however, she's currently taking a snooze at the foot of my bed. I could not be more pleased with my bunny, can't believe it's taken me this long to get one! She's already litter boxed trained too, after two days. She even stopped her playtime to go back to her cage to use the box, and then came running back out!

 

[Runestonez]

LOL:biggrin2:

That is the same thing hubby and I said when we got our first bunn!
We couldn't believe it had taken us so long to get a rabbit...it was a bit sickening...we oo'd and coo'd over every little thing she did! LOL

OK...well we have 10 bunns now...and we still oo and coo over everything they do! :biggrin2:

Bunny love is grand ain't it!

Danielle

 

[luvthempigs]

I don't have anything to add to the behavior thing but I wanna know where are pictures of your bunny? She sounds like a doll

 

[elrohwen]

I agree with everything Runestonez said. I've also found that most buns will let you touch their stuff if you're petting them first. When difficult bunnies, I'll reach in and pet them on the head, then quietly start moving things around in their cage while petting.

She's probably too young to develop hormonal behaviors, but often cage aggression can go along with female hormones. She'll hopefully improve once you get her spayed in a few months.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Runestonez wrote:

We have an angry lionhead girl...she LOVES to box, lunge and grunt at people for being in her space...the key to dealing with her was not backing down or leaving...this learned behavior is because when she lunges or boxes people were yanking their hands out of the cage and she was"winning"...so we stopped flinching when she did this and when she displayed this behavior we would say "NO" and push her head down.

Exactly. I show no fear, and her boxing, growling,and scratching doesn't hurt anyways, so I leave my hand in there for her to realize I am the boss,and that her behavior has no effect on me. However the first thing I do with my bunnies is I give them head pets to let them know I am in their cage.

My wife has to wear gloves when she takes the food out or to clean the cages. She thinks it's a power struggle because she is a female.

 

[ZoeyGirl]

Welcome! I'm pretty new to buns as well. We've had Buddy for 3 wks as of today. I think he's about 6-9mons old. He's displayed the same behaviors you're describing. I was alittle scared at first but I've been doing lots of reading and learned that it can be normal. He actually bit me the other night when I was putting lettuce in his dish. He didn't break the skin. I did a firm No and put my hands over his eyes. I'm hoping w/ him getting neutered tomorrow that he'll be less aggressive in his cage. We shall see.
When I need to clean his cage, I will have my oldest daughter hold him. This way I can do it quickly and get in & out of his space. He still seems alittle skittish of us but I think he's coming around.
Good luck and hope to see pics soon!