Help! Rabbit attack

[zarley]

Can anybody tell me how to stop our 4mth old boy bunny (plush lop) from attacking my daughter. We are a family of 5 and he only attacks my 11yo daughter. He was bought for her and this is heart breaking. He has drawn blood over half a dozen times on her hands and ankles. We are getting him desexed in a couple of weeks in the hope this will help but we can't get him in any sooner. He has also started to spray. Otherwise he is totally adorable (when he's not doing those despicable things). :bawl:We are clueless and would appreciate any advice. Thanx Zarl

 

[PipkinbunRibb]

Are you with her when she handles him? Maybe she isn't picking him up right or making him feel uncomfortable. If you are with her while she handles him and she's doing everything right but he still attacks, have her start off with a slower bond with things like hand feeding, strokes on the head/back (depending on where his favorite scratching spots are ) Myy rabbit gets VERY nervous around new people and sometimes doesn't even let them pet him, with my family he's very sweet and allows petting, and with me he lets me handle him, clip his nails, whatever . And the neutering will definately help control his personality to make him more loving. My rabbit didn't even let me hold him until we got him neutered! :bunnyheart:goodluck

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Wait and see how he is after neutering. It usually cures most of the problems. Only had that kind of problem in the past with females. Usually, we just work with them slowly and use a lot of bribery--also, bad behavior gets negative re-enforcement and by that I mean that an unacceptable behavior is met with treatment an alpha rabbit would give a subordinate. I will pin them after the appropriately loud "ow" and if they continue I up it by rolling them on their back and pinning them and grunt. Good luck.

 

[warminwisco]

How old is the rabbit, has he done this from day one?

 

[warminwisco]

Sorry 4 months.

 

[zarley]

He was as sweet as to ALL of us until his jellybeans dropped. He will accept pats, food and crooning from her and then, like a schitzo will turn around and attack. He also doesn't like her going to his cage, but will let the rest of us pat him and clean his cage. His main exercise area is out lounge room where he rules which OK, unless your 11yo. Funny enough, he is fine with my 9yo. Your thoughts/advice are appreciated.:brown-bunny

 

[flemish giant]

Rabbits are prey animals and BC of this do hold grudges so if your daughter did something he didn't like you might find it hard to get him out of this behavior. I would take the earlier advice and slowly convince him that she's not bad to him. Find out his favorite treat and let only her feed it to him.

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[RabbitGirl101]

right now he is dealing with a lot of hormonal issues. If his testes dropped or are about to drop he is going to be more hormonal than normal. Never let your daughter go around him by herself. Don't just take him out of the cage, talk to him and try to pet him before you lift him out of the cage. After he is neutered it should help a lot. I have a female and she is a total brat in her cage, she lunged to attack us, that was between the ages of 6-8 months, she has now grown use to her hormones and has calmed down we can easily grab her from her cage and now shes at a temperament that I feel comfortable enough that we could breed her without her attacking us if we tried to look at her babies. Try to give him more toys that helped our Eevee out as well as she has teeth that grow faster than our other rabbits and hay isn't enough for her to keep her teeth at a short length. (This is another reason we felt she bit us, because her teeth made her feel uncomfortable)