Biting!

[hazelnutbunny]

I've got a bunny girl named Hazelnut. She's my first rabbit (and I only got her) and neutered for 2 months and a half already.
The thing is, I had a health problem and had to spend 2 weeks at the hospital in march, which meant she was most of the time alone at home. When I came back, she was loving to me, no biting (as usual) and sweet for at least two weeks
I work, so she's with me in the morning and at night, and, on weekends, the whole day
After the two weeks, she started biting first others, everyone except me! She bited okay, it didn't bleed at first, but after some time, she started to bite harder and harder. Last week she started biting me and just like she bites other people: really hard. It bleeds, it hurts, it's no good!
We're trying to say no (of course, nothing physical), make some eeeep! sounds really loud so she see it's hurting, but everyday it passes, the bites are stronger!
I notice she bites when people walk on the room (especially near her), when we stop petting (that when she bites most) or when we say no for something she is doing.
I'm afraid maybe she is in pain, stressed or something related to the time she spent without me, considering we were always loving to each other. Sometimes she stills licks my nose, purr and comes to my lap, but afterwards, she bites.

Any help is welcome! Thanks <3

 

[Aki]

I don't think the eeep sound works on rabbits - they're not dogs : they don't care if they're hurting you XD
So, you talk about 'others'. Your rabbit has access to the whole house or just a room? From what you say, she runs up to people to bite them? Because I can understand her biting people petting her - most rabbits don't like to be in contact with too many humans and some of them don't take kindly to be petted when they didn't ask for it - but it is most unusual to have a neutered rabbit attack out of nowhere.
Something might make her feel threatened, she might not like a smell, a sound or the look of some clothes... It's true too that agression can indicate a health problem, but if everything else seems fine... From what you say, she might just have an awful temper. That happens even with rabbits. Aki calmed down a lot, but she was kind of a bitch as a younger rabbit. Pandora was a lot nicer and only bit when you were annoying (like touching The Tail which was just not done) and growled beforehand so you couldn't say you hadn't been warned.

 

[hazelnutbunny]

My bun has acess to only one room, my room. People usually come here often! She tries to attack legs when people enter, leave the room or walk around her. About the petting, she comes and asks for it! But if you stop, she bites. I guess she doesn't want you to stop, but it's not a nice way of asking, is it? lol. Yesterday she bited me 3 times. Once, when she tried to eat my hair and I only said no. She acted like "hey, i can do what I want to!". Afterwards she bited my leg because it was on her way, and then when I stopped petting her to turn the page of my book.
I hope she will calm down soon, she didn't use to bite before I go to the hospital :/

 

[JBun]

It could just be a behavioral issue she developed due to your time away from her. Rabbits can get upset about these kind of things, especially if you have a close bond with them.

Other possibilities could be she has an underlying health problem and is uncomfortable/in pain, and so is acting out with the biting. It could also be something has changed in her environment that is stressing her and causing the aggression. Has anything else changed in her environment, besides you being gone for that time, such as things moved around, new people in the house, new pets in the house, new smells, new sounds, etc? Or have you noticed anything else that has changed with her that could point to a potential health problem such as changes in her poop (shape, size, color), difficulty chewing, selective eating, drooling, noisy breathing, increased respiratory rate, dribbling urine, increased thirst/urination, acting more subdued, etc? Mouth pain from dental problems is one common trigger for behavioral changes in rabbits. It might be worth taking her to your vet to have a check up, especially having a thorough dental exam.

If you don't think, or if you find that it's not environmental or medically related, but is a learned behavioral trait, this link has some tips on things you can do to try to correct the behavior. Also reading up on how rabbits communicate with each other is helpful so you aren't giving off the wrong cues.
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Aggressive_rabbits
http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

If your bun has just decided she is the boss and that's why she is biting now, then you will have to do a bit of retraining. Not every technique works for every rabbit, so you may have to try different things til you hit on the right one. There's the 'eek' thing, that sometimes startles them enough to curb the behavior, or the dominant/mother rabbit technique of gently pressing the head down for a few seconds, or treat/clicker training, or redirecting the behavior to something positive such as giving a treat/veggies right after petting but before she decides to bite. Just make sure you are not rewarding the bad behavior(eg. petting, giving treats, putting her down if she wants down, after she bites) and that you are using positive reinforcement for the good behavior.

eta: If my rabbit bit me after I was petting them, I would give a loud clap and tell them 'no' and usher them somewhere for a 'timeout' if needed. Nicely of course, but firm enough that they know that behavior is not appreciated and that I'm the 'boss bun' and there will be no biting.

 

[hazelnutbunny]

That was useful, thank you!
After I got back at the end of march, I got a nurse and had to change the furniture on my room so she could sleep here. When you said it, I noticed that she gets more (more, but not only) agressive when the nurse is around. She comes everyday since march. My routine changed too, and people are visiting me much more often, so maybe it's about more people, furniture on different places and my routine, that changed. Anyway, I might take her to the vet just in case!
Thanks!