Getting Frusterated

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babydoshia

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Evansville, Indiana, USA
I'm really starting to get frusterated.Murphy has been very mean lately. Bitting and "boxing" mewith his front feet. It's mostly when I try to do somethingor pet him inside his cage. Which I understand is histerritory and he is protecting it or whatever, that's fine, but I willnot tolerate biting. He bit me 5 times just now and drewblood once. Why is he acting like this? Willnutering him make him stop?



Can someone please help me?What reasons could he bedoing this? I mean, I love the boy but I dont like him beingmean.

Please help, I'm starting to loose my patience.



-Madelon



Ps. He doesn't bite me or box when he is out of the cage, that probably has something to do with it.
 
Neutering him will calm him down some. How old ishe? It seems to me that once they hit the teenage years, they get a bitmoody, due to raging hormones.

One thing you could try is a treat when petting him. Or maybe, for now,let him be when he's inside his cage. If that's the only time he'sdoing it, then clearly that's his space and he doesn't want youinvading it.

When he does bit you, clap your hands together loud, with a loud NO.He'll get the picture. My doe Abby used to nip me too, and now all shedoes is lick me all over instead of biting. :)
 
He's 4 months old. I know it's becausehe wants his space, but unless he's going to feed himself and fill hisown water and clean his own litter box, he's going to have to deal withmy hand in there. It's only for a like a second anyway.



I'll try to get him neutered sometime this month or next. He's old enough right?



When he does it, I like "yell" ow in ahigh pitchedvoice(advice form a thread before), and then yell NO! andpush his head down to the floor (gently). If I hold his headdown long enough, when I let him go he'll be nice, but sometimes he'llstill be mean.

Hopefully the neutering will settle him down.



Thanks alot

-Madelon
 
Some buns seem to have a nasty steak in them thatway. My daughter's ND can be a handful for her, but I tend tobe more forceful with him , so he is less sure of himself with me.

Some breeders will not breed any rabbit that demonstrates a nastytemperment, in the belief that it is an inherited trait. Iwould tend to agree with them on that point. Be that as itmay, the fact remains that you have a biter, and what can you do aboutit?

Neutering may help. I've also used the pinning method, withsome degree of success, but I do tend to be forceful andstrong. Not abusive, just very quick and not at all hesitant.When I pin the rabbit, I talk to it, saying I am the the alpha rabbit,boss rabbit, big kahuna rabbit and it must accept that fact of life andNOT bite me. I also imagine myself and it, in asuperior/iinferior mode because there are those of us here, thatbelieve buns can "read" our feelings, our "energy," or "kharma," if youwill.

I've found that the occasions I've had to do that to my "biter" bunhave become less and less as time goes on and I cannot remember when Ilast had to do it. If he makes an ykind ofaggressive move, though, I am quick to respondwith my alpharabbit mode, lest he think I am weakening.

Some people claim one should "kill" such a bun with kindness, and theywill eventually get the message you love them and will cease theiraggressive behavior. I've not had the patience, nor painthreshold, to support that opinion, but I will throw that out to you asanother option.

The "ouch" theory worked for me when young buns "nibbled" at me with"love bites" because they didn't realize they were hurtingme. Whether is was the onset of maturity, or my "ouching" inpain, they eventually got the message and refrained from nibbling asmuch. That was different, to me,than the aggressive biting my"biter" used to do, and which I beleive your bun is doing.

I wish you luck. I know how disconcerting it can be and howbothersome it is to be unable to trust your bun with other people andchildren, if it is a biter.

Buck
 
Stitch is only 3 months old so I haven't gonethru the biting stage she has shown agression with me one time when Ihad my hand in her cage she lashed out at me scratching me pretty goodletting me know HEY no touch my stuffs.

I gave her a loud NO and pushed her head down and she backedoff. Now when I clean her cage she just lets me do what Igotta do and mess it up all over again when Im done but I cant cleanher cage w/o her being involved in moving things and sniffing stuffwhile Im working on it same with her litter box she gives me a how dareyou change that I just got it all patted down and moved my poop as Iliked it look.

I honestly dont want to go thru the biting stage Im kinda hoping shewill skip right over that *giggles* She isn't honestly by nature atempermental bunny as far as I have seen she pretty much at her age nowlets me do as I want around her she puts up with me she doesn't put uptoo much of a fuss when I hold her or when I call her to me for apetting she walks over slowly smooches me and actually puts her headdown for me to pet her. Then I have to remember when my sonwas 12 he was SO wonderful he's still wonderful but when he turned 13some alien came down and replaced him with a different child I swear toyou they did and I keep thinking that will happen with Stitch as sheapproaches her "teens"
 
I'm with Buck onhis approach to training on this. I've never had much of a problem withSebastian but the several times that he has bitten or done somethingthat I didn't find acceptable I have pinned his head to the floor, useda deep, commanding voice, sternly told him no and talked to him. Iwaited long enough for him to understand I AM the boss. As Buck said,you don't want to hurt or abuse them, but leave no doubt as to who theboss is. That is the way in nature with animals. I usually follow upwith a lot of love after he has regained his composure. Iwishmore people would understand that most animals arehappier once they know and understand their place in the peckingorder.

Raspberry
 
Thanks alot Buck, that makes alot ofsence. I'm going to stop with the high pitched noise becauseI dont think it will do anything. I know it is an agressivebite because he grunts while doing it, and will actually chase my handaround the cage to bite me. I''m pretty patient most of thetime so I'll just try to continue with the head down method.I'll get him neutered still, just because, it's well healthier for themand I'm not planning on breeding him anyways.



Hopefully he will calm down. Thanks alot for the help, I'll let you know how it goes.



He is old enough to neuter right? He's 4 monthsold. I'll probably be able to get it done in the next fewweeks, after I get paid. (Hehe, I'm so glad I got a job, nowI can pay for it myself!! :) )



-Madelon

And same here Raspberry, once he is niceand will allow me toput my hand in his cage I will tlak nice to him and scratch his head.


 
I have the same problem with Gir lately, but notin his cage, in the 'resting' area he has outside the cage.We have been using the 'pin' method and he calms down a little, but hestill gets nasty.

Ironically... only with Shawn will he actually bite. With me he just lunges and grunts.

Well another month and her gets snipped, and maybe he will calm down a little and remember he is not the alpha bunny.
 
Isabella is the exact same age and she is showingsome aggression when she doesn't get her way. Her owners are showingdominance by doing the same thing you are.

They DO settle down!! Usually!

I was lucky that Bub's teenage stageis pretty easy. He showscourting behavior but hasn't been territorial. He grunted whilesmelling my coat because he smelled Fenny, but he didn't do anythingelse. But his dad Bunbun went through a really aggressive stage when hewas young, exactly like what you're describing, and he turned out to bethe sweetest bunny, gentle and loving with everyone. He wasn't fixedeither. So Murphy will probably turn out fine. They sure change a lotat this age!!!

Rose
 
babydoshia wrote:
He is old enough to neuter right? He's 4 monthsold. I'll probably be able to get it done in the next fewweeks, after I get paid. (Hehe, I'm so glad I got a job, nowI can pay for it myself!! :) )
Click to expand...
House Rabbit Society says some rabbit savvy vets recommend 5-6 monthsold, depending upon when the rabbit reaches sexual maturity.That can be as soon as 3 to 3 1/2 months, but apparently there is agreater surgical risk with a younger bunny.

Buck
 
Thanks again for all the help. I'll see what the vet says about neutereing.

I think I've found what will work for us for him to learn. Ihad to clean his cage tonight so I tried this out and it worked verywell. I just pet him with one hand while saying "good boy"over and over and did whatever else in his cage with my otherhand. He did very well and just sat there getting attentionwhile watching my hand. Then when I was done I stop pettinghim and screwed with some things in his cage to see what he would do,and he didnt bite or grunt or anything :D Then Ipraised himand pet him and all that.

I think this may work out. I'll still push his head down ifhe does be mean, but I would rather prevent the biting, then I wonthave to punish him at all. Hopefully he will get thepoint. He's a smart boy and should learn quickly. :)



Thanks

-Madelon
 
Nepo used to be agressive, but now he isn't.While you're cleaning the inside of the cage I've heard that you canput one hand on top of the bunny's head, I've tried it an it works. Idon't know if it is the same with all bunnies, but before when I wasgoing to pet Nepo, he bit me, I think he bit me because he thought Iwas going to hurt him, but now when I'm going to pet him I do it slowlyand he doesn't bite me, he licks me:).
 
Hi,

Murphy doesnt have any bad traits in his backround so I think it isjust a teenager thing. His siblings arnt acting up at all yet. How ishe doing now? If you are still having trouble just keep up with thehand on top of the head when ever you great him and he should get theidea. That is what I do with all of mine. It works great but you haveto keep up with it. If you are still having problems with things let meknow and we can set up a time and I can show you ideas and tips with myrabbits.

Murphy is still pretty small for when I like to get them altered if Igo that route. I like them to be about twelve pounds at least.

Something else that you have to understand about bucks, wich usaulyyoung bucks know them selves but dont fully understand apperantly. Theway that rabbit territories work the doe goes to the bucks. Us breedersfallow this rule as well. When ever we breed a rabbit we always takesthe doe to the bucks cage. So when you reach into your bucks cage yourbuck kind of kicks into breeding mode. When he gets older he will learnto understand this and use it more responsibly I guess would be the wayto discribe it. Like people said before he is going throughhis teenage time now.

Getting him neutered may help, but you need to keep it from becoming ahabit. If it does neutering him wont help, and it also will be veryvery hard to break. So keep up with the dominate rule, and do what everyou can from keeping him from bitting you ect.

If you need help let me know and we can set up a time and I can helpyou out more like by showing techniques I use with my rabbits.

I hope that this helps.
 
Just going to throw this in for discussion amongpeople who know a bit more about theinnards of a rabbit thanI do. Evening Primrose Oil softgels are used a whole lot inskunks to help control raging hormones, both before neutering &spaying, and after, when there are hormones still racing thru theirbodies.

- Dolores
 
i need help nemo my pet is biting his cage i bought him bigger cage 2 months ago and he was enjoying the cage but only couple of days ago he been biting cage i need help someone tell or give me advice
i wolud really appreciate it :(:)
 
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