Amour
Member
Hello there! I'm new to the forum, and new to bunnies as well. I love bunnies though. I've loved them my whole life, but never had the means to properly take care of one until now.
I'd like everyone to meet Bolita, the double-maned lionhead doe.
To me, she's the cutest bunnie I've ever seen, or held.
Me and my husband have had her about a week and a half. She has a pedigree.
She was born on April 22nd of this year. So she's pretty young, but we wish we could have gotten her as a baby.
She has not been spayed yet. From what we've found, the nearest good rabbit vet is over an hour away, and it's difficult for us.
The lady who we bought her from bred bunnies and had tons of them, all in small cages. But she seemed to take good care of them. Bolita is a nice weight, and her coat is really soft and long.
Her 'house' is a room meant to have a washer and dryer with some space left over, so it's pretty large compared to the little cage she used to have. We have her a little cardboard box in the corner with a very soft fuzzy blanket for her to lay on inside it. The floor of the room is ceramic tile, so we have two more extra blankets laid out flat for her to lay on to get away from the cold.
We also have a little carpet where her two food dishes are. They're ceramic and one holds her pellet food (which is just pellets with 16% protein) and another with her timothy hay, both of which we keep stocked at all times. She has two water dishes which are always kept with spring water.
And she has a litter box in the opposite corner of her 'house box' filled with paper litter that she actually uses (such a good bunnie!)
And to top it off, the door to the room has a child gate to keep her in at night, but we take her out of her house during the day to explore the rest of the apartment.
Sometimes we give her saltine crackers which is what the lady we bought her from suggested to give her salt. And also, we sometimes take baby carrots and cut them up really small and give her a few pieces as a treat.
When we first got her, she was very scared. In fact, she's still a little scared but recently she's started really being curious and happy about her new freedom.
The Problem:
Bolita is usually the sweetest bunnie. She'll let us pick her up, hold her, and pet her as much as we want. She's especially sweet to me. She'll nuzzle her head under my hand for me to pet her, she'll lay next to me in my bed while I'm on my laptop. She's just so cute!
But sometimes, to my husband she's really aggressive. The first time we noticed this was when my husband went to pick her up a certain time, and she jumped at him and scratched him like she was trying to attack him.
The next time it happened, my husband was in her house trying to give her a piece of carrot, and she jumped up and bit him really hard. Then she ran away from him, and when he tried to pick her up, she bit him a second time even harder, and he bled a lot.
She was perfectly sweet that evening and the next day. She licked my husband and even slept with him that night.
But yesterday, when he got home from work, he went to pick her up and she jumped at him again. And all last night, he'd try to bond with her by holding her, and brushing her, and giving her carrots. But she'd still be really aggressive and even bit him again until right before we were going to bed. She started being really sweet then.
We read on the internet that you could use a spray bottle and squirt them with a little water when they're being naughty, so we bought a bottle to try. My husband squirted her a little last night when she was being so aggressive and told her "No!", but all it seemed to do was make her even more scared of him.
We've tried our best to keep her from being so aggressive with him, but we're at our wit's end. Which was why we came to this forum.
Thanks for any advice in advance!
~Amour, Cristian, and Bolita
:bunny19
I'd like everyone to meet Bolita, the double-maned lionhead doe.
To me, she's the cutest bunnie I've ever seen, or held.
Me and my husband have had her about a week and a half. She has a pedigree.
She was born on April 22nd of this year. So she's pretty young, but we wish we could have gotten her as a baby.
She has not been spayed yet. From what we've found, the nearest good rabbit vet is over an hour away, and it's difficult for us.
The lady who we bought her from bred bunnies and had tons of them, all in small cages. But she seemed to take good care of them. Bolita is a nice weight, and her coat is really soft and long.
Her 'house' is a room meant to have a washer and dryer with some space left over, so it's pretty large compared to the little cage she used to have. We have her a little cardboard box in the corner with a very soft fuzzy blanket for her to lay on inside it. The floor of the room is ceramic tile, so we have two more extra blankets laid out flat for her to lay on to get away from the cold.
We also have a little carpet where her two food dishes are. They're ceramic and one holds her pellet food (which is just pellets with 16% protein) and another with her timothy hay, both of which we keep stocked at all times. She has two water dishes which are always kept with spring water.
And she has a litter box in the opposite corner of her 'house box' filled with paper litter that she actually uses (such a good bunnie!)
And to top it off, the door to the room has a child gate to keep her in at night, but we take her out of her house during the day to explore the rest of the apartment.
Sometimes we give her saltine crackers which is what the lady we bought her from suggested to give her salt. And also, we sometimes take baby carrots and cut them up really small and give her a few pieces as a treat.
When we first got her, she was very scared. In fact, she's still a little scared but recently she's started really being curious and happy about her new freedom.
The Problem:
Bolita is usually the sweetest bunnie. She'll let us pick her up, hold her, and pet her as much as we want. She's especially sweet to me. She'll nuzzle her head under my hand for me to pet her, she'll lay next to me in my bed while I'm on my laptop. She's just so cute!
But sometimes, to my husband she's really aggressive. The first time we noticed this was when my husband went to pick her up a certain time, and she jumped at him and scratched him like she was trying to attack him.
The next time it happened, my husband was in her house trying to give her a piece of carrot, and she jumped up and bit him really hard. Then she ran away from him, and when he tried to pick her up, she bit him a second time even harder, and he bled a lot.
She was perfectly sweet that evening and the next day. She licked my husband and even slept with him that night.
But yesterday, when he got home from work, he went to pick her up and she jumped at him again. And all last night, he'd try to bond with her by holding her, and brushing her, and giving her carrots. But she'd still be really aggressive and even bit him again until right before we were going to bed. She started being really sweet then.
We read on the internet that you could use a spray bottle and squirt them with a little water when they're being naughty, so we bought a bottle to try. My husband squirted her a little last night when she was being so aggressive and told her "No!", but all it seemed to do was make her even more scared of him.
We've tried our best to keep her from being so aggressive with him, but we're at our wit's end. Which was why we came to this forum.
Thanks for any advice in advance!
~Amour, Cristian, and Bolita
:bunny19
