Flemish Giant biter

[lioneyes2320]

Hello,
I have had my flemish Giant bunny for 6 months now. She is currently about 7-8 months. Ever since I got her she has bitten everyone I live with. She bites for no reason, as far as I can see. She is very well taken care of and given attention but she still bites. I want to correct the behavior but even saying, no! Loudly or booping her nose right after has not been successful. Any advice on how to curb this behavior??

 

[Blue eyes]

Hormones can cause aggression. Once she's spayed, it should go away. In the meantime, bear in mind that nose bopping does nothing but make her distrust you. Two things you can try instead are 1., yelp a high-pitched yelp whenever she does bite, and 2., immediately press her head down to the ground firmly but gently and hold for several seconds. This pressing of the head is believed to mimic the behavior a momma bun may do to "discipline" a kit.

Also, are these actual bites or just nips? Nips are pinches intended to communicate. Bites are vicious and will draw blood.

 

[JBun]

If it's nipping and not biting, is she coming up and nipping, or is she nipping while she tries to lick or groom you? Is she showing any other territorial or aggressive behaviors like boxing, grunting, lunging, etc? Is she showing any hormonal behaviors like circling, humping, or spraying urine?

 

[lioneyes2320]

Hormones can cause aggression. Once she's spayed, it should go away. In the meantime, bear in mind that nose bopping does nothing but make her distrust you. Two things you can try instead are 1., yelp a high-pitched yelp whenever she does bite, and 2., immediately press her head down to the ground firmly but gently and hold for several seconds. This pressing of the head is believed to mimic the behavior a momma bun may do to "discipline" a kit.

Also, are these actual bites or just nips? Nips are pinches intended to communicate. Bites are vicious and will draw blood.

They are actually bites and are leaving bruises, occasionally drawing blood.

 

[lioneyes2320]

If it's nipping and not biting, is she coming up and nipping, or is she nipping while she tries to lick or groom you? Is she showing any other territorial or aggressive behaviors like boxing, grunting, lunging, etc? Is she showing any hormonal behaviors like circling, humping, or spraying urine?

It's biting, not nipping. She has not licked at all since we got her. She occasionally will grunt, but she doesn't lung or box at me. No hormonal behaviors

 

[FlemishFloridians]

It's biting, not nipping. She has not licked at all since we got her. She occasionally will grunt, but she doesn't lung or box at me. No hormonal behaviors

Grunting is sexual behavior in rabbits (especially females - Velvet, our Flemish doe that just had kits grunted and would raise her tail for Pinto to breed her).

Now might be a good time to spay her to see if it helps. Where does she live? Does she stay in a cage, a room, outside?

Sometimes rabbits also bite when they are unhappy and trying to tell you something. If nothing else seems to be out of the ordinary, a vet visit could be in order to see what's going on - maybe she has an underlying issue that's causing her to be upset/scared/hurting. Even though the reason can't be easily perceived by humans, there's always a reason why animals bite (illness, you moved something, took something, rearranged something, etc., that she didn't like).

 

[JBun]

Spaying could fix the behavior if it's primarily driven by hormones. But if it's a learned behavior, then you'll need to work with your bun to teach her and change the behavior.

You also need to evaluate if anything you've done has reinforced her developing this behavior, such as petting, giving attention, or food right after she's shown the unwanted behavior. Doing any of these things soon after unwanted behavior, will just reinforce that behavior. You want to make sure you're positively rewarding the good behavior.

Then like FlemishFloridians mentioned, there could be things causing her to feel unhappy or even scared. Like if you try and pick her up or try and hold her, and she doesn't like this. Or she may not feel she has a safe space she can be left alone in when she wants to be, and so is feeling territorial insecurity. And then there's the possibility of an underlying health issue causing her to react aggressively. Such as if she has any of the common health problems that can affect flemish giant rabbits, like joint issues or heart issues. If this aggressive behavior is mostly happening after trying to pick her up(if you do this), this could make her feel pain and so react because of this pain. So a health check by a knowledgeable rabbit vet may be needed if there's any chance it's health related.

Try and see if there are any particular circumstances where she seems to be the most defensive. If it's related to someone trying to pick her up and hold her, it could be she dislikes being held, or it could have to do with it causing her discomfort from a medical issue. Or if she's just on the ground when she's defensive, it could be territorial behavior due to hormones, or it could have to do with feeling insecure and scared from not having a space she feels safe. So those are primarily the things I would be looking at as a possible cause for aggressive behavior in a rabbit.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Aggressive_rabbits
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-with-your-bunny.html
https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-care-advice/maintenance-handling/caring-giant-rabbits/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Spaying_and_neutering_rabbits
https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/