Grunting and aggression while feeding

[Mr. Ici]

Please help, I need some advice.
Little Sonic grunts whenever I reach into her cage, especially when I'm trying to put pellets in her little bowl. He grunts and then charges. She has bitten me twice now.

Outside of her cage, she's a happy little rabbit who jumps and plays and runs around like a mad thing and she will pop over to say hello and sniff me out.

This behaviour only happens in her cage. She will however let me open her cage door and give her a nose rub.

She's getting aggressive and as we speak, I can hear her digging into her litter tray. If I try and put the litter back into the litter tray, again she will grunt, charge and bite.

Please help. I don't know what it the matter, this behaviour only started this week

(Sonic is a girl, will be neutered in a month and is a house rabbit.)

 

[Pipp]

Sonic is hormonal. And very territorial.

Is she a dwarf per chance? That can be double trouble. But rest assured she will be back to her sweet little self a month or so after the spay. (Although she may get worse before she gets better if she's a teenager -- six months to eight months old or so).

Although honestly no bunnies like people messin' with their 'stuff'. It's considered rude to reach into their house.

Can she come or go on her own? Can you give her a treat outside the cage and then put the pellets in? Otherwise you'll have to figure out some other diversionary tactics.

That's her space. :coolness:


sas :biggrin2:

 

[Pipp]

PS: You may save the litter box if you put a towel in her cage for her to dig. Or if she's a 'project' bunny, a cardboard 'hidey box' to work on.

Are the two girls together?

EDIT: Oh wait... didn't you have two boys? Did you get a visit from the gender fairy?


sas :bunnydance:

 

[Mr. Ici]

The Buns live in seperate cages and have seperate playtimes.
Puddles has just been neutered and Sonic's due in a month or so. I'm worried because we love little Sonic but this behaviour has got to stop :nerves1

EDIT: Yup, they were both boys, then Puddles became a girl. Sonic is also a girl but I have my doubts becuase "she" poos everywhere to mark her territory and is a chin-rubber. We'll see in a month

 

[Pipp]

Yeah, unfortunately that's why so many six-month old rabbits are surrendered to shelters. But she will get over it.

Pipp is a Netherland Dwarf and she turned from the sweetest little snuggle bunny into a rabbit from h*ll starting around five months and ending at around eight months, about a month after her spay. She charged, grunted, nipped, peed and pooped on my bed -- constantly -- and was uber hyper with the digging and chewing.

But the spay calmed her right down. Her litter habits returned and was sweet again. She's still a hyper rabbit, she spends hours on my lap digging at a towel there or grooming me. She's free-run in my bedroom and she's only aggressive when I go to leave the room and there are other bunnies outside. She'll grunt and nip my toes.

They are very entertaining little bunnies!

Try and spend as much time as possible on the ground with her. I find single flakes of oats given to her one at a time work great. They're like bunny crack for Pipp. You can have long bonding sessions without puffing her up with too many carbs.


sas :bunnydance:

 

[Mr. Ici]

Thanks so much for the encouragement!! .
I've spend the past hour or so petting little Sonic and she's completely ok with me. She'll even come to the front of the cage to play (as long as she's not having one of her crazy cover-herself-in-hay sessions).

As I said, the problem is purely feeding time and tidy-up. For example, her litter tray is now empty, on its side with the litter everywhere and if I try to tidy up, she will defineitely bite (forgotten how to spell).

x

 

[Mr. Ici]

Well, I think I've fixed things. I'm writing this for the benefit of anyone else who may have the same problems.

Sonic was being aggressive while I fed her so I assumed she was being protective of her food. I overcame this by feeding her bits of yummy carrot outside her cage and while she ate it, I sat beside her. Over a couple of days, I fed her carrot and while she was eating I got right in her face (nearly rubbing noses). After a couple of funny looks, she realised I wasn't taking her food and after 3 days or so, the cage aggression stopped (I hope it doesn't come back :?).

As for the annoying habit of digging in her litter tray, she stopped this as soon as I started putting LOTS of hay on top of her litter.

I'm not sure if these methods are unordothox or usual, but they seemed to have worked for me (I'm still keeping my fingers crossed!)

Pat
x