biting?

[jlofluteplayer]

So, my rabbit is 6 months old. Healthy, happy, the whole nine yards.

I'm confused and my feelings are a bit hurt when i take him out to play, he'll bite me. I don't know if he's bored with me? He doesn't do this to my boyfriend.

Is it common for them to bite when they are younger? I'm not doing anything mean to him. I swear! He just likes to nip me and I don't know why. Is there a way to prevent this?

 

[tamsin]

Is he neutered? It's common for bunnies to get territorial when their hormones kick in (usually somewhere between 4-8 months) and neutering can help with that.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Nipping is usually a play thing at this stage. If he meant to chomp down, guaranteed you'd have blood drawn :shock:

I get nipped if I'm not moving fast enough/not offering a treat/outta the way/ he wants attention, etc.

Here is one of my favourite threads on Nipping: Why Is He Nipping?

I'm sure folks will chime in with some more answers

In the mean time, feed da bunny, why dont'cha? :biggrin2:

:bunnydance:

 

[hartleybun]

NorthernAutumn wrote:

I'm sure folks will chime in with some more answers


:bunnydance:

Chiming in!! Roxy can be a nipper - probably no connection but she uses her teeth a lot. if her husbun has to move anything he uses his head. Roxy picks everything up in her teeth. it's even worse if she smells carrot or mint on my hands......

 

[elrohwen]

It sounds like a play thing - it's common for young buns to nip you and think it's fun ;-)

You can try a high pitched "yip" sound - that will tell him that he's biting too hard. If that doesn't work, just walk away from him. If he really is trying to play, he'll realize that every time he nips, you walk away and won't play with him anymore (you only have to walk away for 30 seconds or a minute). He should learn pretty fast that his playmate leaves whenever he gets nippy.

Neutering will also help. He may be hormonal.

It doesn't sound like aggressive nipping, so I'm pretty sure you'll be able to deal with it and get him to stop with some simple training. He's like a puppy who doesn't know how much it hurts when he nips you.

 

[jlofluteplayer]

Let me try this again (my internet canceled me out before my reply was posted)

Thank you for all the replies and advice!
I figured he was playing, but it kind of hurts my feelings. lol specially since he wont do it to my boyfriend, yet i'm the one that feeds and cleans his stuff out.

He is not neutered yet (im in college and fixing an animal isn't high on my grocery list right now if you get what i mean), but I'm hoping to get that done when i have the extra money. But, what i have been doing is putting him in his cage after he bites, but i'll try the "yip"ing thing and see if that has more of an effect.

Thank you again for the help! I'm learning a lot from this site.

 

[pherber12]

Before she was spayed Roxy would nip me if I dared stop petting her before she was done with me.

What are you doing when your bunny nips you? What's the situation?

 

[Pet_Bunny]

elrohwen wrote:

He's like a puppy who doesn't know how much it hurts when he nips you.

I handle alot of bunnies at the shelter. I haven't been biten yet. Many staff label some bunnies as biters or aggressive bunnies because they are afraid of the rabbit. Many rabbits will chomp down on your hand if you show fear and jerking your hand back quickly (fast and sudden movements).

Rabbits nip my hand like they would tug at my clothes. No big deal, as I leave my hand there and they will start to chin and lick my hand.

 

[tonyshuman]

Some places (rescues, humane societies, aspca) have reduced price neuters.

He's probably nipping as part of play, or to tell you to leave his place alone. Many bunnies nip when picked up because, simply, they don't like to be picked up! To them, it's like being taken into the air by a predator. One of our bunnies bites every time you pick her up if you let her--she's very well known for biting on the neck (did it to the vet tech on the way to her spay). I hold her so that her mouth is pointed away from my body if I have to pick her up.

Another good technique to stop it, other than the "Yip!" noise you can make, is to only pick them up if it's absolutely necessary--putting them in the carrier to go somewhere, cutting nails, etc. If they can come and go from their cage as they please (during playtime at least), it helps a lot. I've dealt with some bad attitude bunnies (abandoned etc) at the Humane Society, and they always do better if we keep them in a cage close to the floor and let them come out of it by themselves when it's time to exercise, and we shoo them back in when playtime's over. This way they get comfortable and don't have to be picked up as often.

 

[jlofluteplayer]

I'll take him out of his cage. (more like i'll let him come out on his own, so i'm not forcing him) and i'll place him on my lap. I'll just pet and rub him and he'll sniff my hand (which are clean majority of the time) and chomp, he nips me. Today he actually nipped the inside of my thigh (which hurts...BAD!) He doesn't bring blood, he just nips.
And whenever he nips, I'll squeal out of pain and say "okay, time to go back into your room" and gently put him in his cage. Then he'll go lay down.

 

[jlofluteplayer]

Thank you for the replies! hopefully its just a playing stage.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

jlofluteplayer wrote:

lol specially since he wont do it to my boyfriend, yet i'm the one that feeds and cleans his stuff out.

All the bunnies including my foster bites my wife but never me. There was a time my wife had to wear leather gloves to reach into Bebe's cage. My wife says that I am a male, and she is jealous.

 

[jlofluteplayer]

Pet_Bunny wrote:

jlofluteplayer wrote:

lol specially since he wont do it to my boyfriend, yet i'm the one that feeds and cleans his stuff out.

All the bunnies including my foster bites my wife but never me.     There was a time my wife had to wear leather gloves to reach into Bebe's  cage.  My wife says that I am a male, and she is jealous.

lol. i think they realize whose the man of the house. its totally not fair.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

tonyshuman wrote:

I've dealt with some bad attitude bunnies (abandoned etc) at the Humane Society,

The shelter supervisor couldn't get a rabbit out of a cage yesterday, and asked me to do it. I gave Fifi (the rabbit) a Craisen, pushed and held her head down with my hand and then picked her up and out of the cage. I spent an hour with her in the cuddle room and she was chinning my hand.

 

[bengal77]

If your bunny is nipping as a way to say "don't handle me, I don't like it" then putting him back in his cage is probably going to reinforce it. I would suggest letting him come out of his cage at his own pace. Don't pick him up if you don't have to. Let him sit on the floor next to you or let him crawl into your lap. If he still nips then it might just be playing. Make a loud noise, scold him gently, and leave the play area for a minute or two. And don't forget to reward him for good behavior. If he's been sitting on your lap for a few minutes without nipping then give him a treat and a pat and tell him he's such a good boy. Positive reinforcement usually works better than negative punishment.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

jlofluteplayer wrote:

I'll take him out of his cage. (more like i'll let him come out on his own, so i'm not forcing him) and i'll place him on my lap. I'll just pet and rub him and he'll sniff my hand (which are clean majority of the time) and chomp, he nips me. Today he actually nipped the inside of my thigh (which hurts...BAD!) He doesn't bring blood, he just nips.
And whenever he nips, I'll squeal out of pain and say "okay, time to go back into your room" and gently put him in his cage. Then he'll go lay down.

Yup, that would be the reaction of my bunnies if I ever attempted to put them on my lap.
I would suggest to you that you probably don't have a lap bunny... no biggie, as few rabbits are lap bunnies. Try sitting next to him, rather than placing him on top of your body.
My guys will sit beside me for a long while, but they do not want to sit on my body whatsoever.
Right now, you are (a) lifting him up to your lap and (b) putting him on your lap. The lifting part and the sitting part would be cause for outrage for many buns , so try this:
Sit on the floor.
If he gets onto your lap of his own free will, great!
If he prefers to lie beside you, he's making a choice of position in relation to you.
If he becomes agitated (ie. nips) when you pick him up (from his position near you on the floor) and place him on your lap, then he's not into sitting on laps.

If we can break down the process into steps, you've got a better chance of isolating the cause of the nips.

Any other times when he nips?

 

[jlofluteplayer]

I sit on the ground when i place him in my lap, so i'm at his level. He has crawled into my lap, but then he'll crawl over my lap and i don't want him running around my living room yet (he's still new to the place...maybe thats causing the nips?) so i'll place him back onto my lap. So i don't have him up at my height (i'm 5'9"). Thats the only reason he's in my lap so I dont have him running every where yet. My boyfriend has a game system and doesn't always like to put the chords away soooooooo thats another reason I don't want him running around yet. My boyfriend will bend down, pick him up from his cage and stand up (hes 6'4) and walk around with him and sit on the couch and pet and rub him and he wont nip him at all.

He'll sit there on my lap still and let me pet him for maybe 5 minutes, then he'll turn around, sniff my hand and "nip". Or like today, he'll sniff my pants and nipped thru those and pinched my thigh.

 

[BethM]

It kind of sounds like he's telling you to move out of his way. One of my bunnies will do that, if my leg is blocking her, she'll nip. She will also "dig" on my arm or nip my hand. She's just telling me to move. I don't let my feelings get hurt by it, she's just communicating with me in the way she knows how to. I have another bunny that is bonded with my husband, and she will box at me and growl. I don't mind this, either. That's just who she is.

If you're not ready to let him run around the whole room yet, I would recommend getting something like an exercise pen, that you can put up in a "safe" area during his play time, and stored away other times. It should be big enough that you can sit in it with him. That way, you won't be constantly trying to confine him, and he won't be trying to get away and explore.

I also agree with everything Autumn has suggested. All very good advice on building a relationship with your bunny, and finding out why he is nipping.

 

[Runestonez]

Unneutered males will also nip and hum when they are telling you they love you!

If he is doing it to you and not your boyfriend and you are the one cleaning and feeding him...there is a good chance they are love nips...which for bunns is probably very expressive...but to hairless humans...hurts like the very devil! :biggrin2:

We used to have a male who did this...my arms, legs, hands would be red from the constant nipping! Neutering fixed the problem...and funny enough I was so sad to see it end! lol After all that...I was sad because our boy wouldn't nip or hum anymore!

Easiest way to tell...at least for us..."get out of my space" nips are usually accompanied by many nose bumps and pushes...the love nips just are...sort of like a sneak attack of love! lol

Good luck!

Danielle

 

[jlofluteplayer]

Thank you for all the help yall! He's actually has stopped nipping (for now. my luck, as soon as i post this he'll start to nip again haha) but he certainly hums and 'purs' alot! He'll crawl into my arms to be picked up and i'll carry him to the couch and he'll just lay on me. (i believe i posted a picture in "Lops Laughter".) I guess it was partially a love nip but at the same time i think he was trying to get use to me? [I like to blieve they were love nips haha] I dont know. I just know he's happy now (more than before) and I don't get nipped anymore. lol. Thank you again for y'alls brain power!