Nail clipping and aggression

[brokenyears]

:cry2So I've been reading up on nail clipping for a few weeks now. Tonight me and my boyfriend tried trancing thumper and clipping his nails. After three clips he freaked out and we let him go, when he came back to us he bit my boyfriend three times. Thumper has never bitten us before, also he started digging and bitting at the towel we used to comfort him in.



Is this normal? Did we do something wrong? Is he just mad at us and going to get over it.



This really upsets me because I'm afraid to go near him now. . .



Thank you in advance for reading !

 

[brokenyears]

Just a little ps.

Thumper hasn't had his nail clipped in . . i'm not sure how long. At least 6+ months or he may have never had them clipped. The shelter we adopted him from had him between 3-5 months and never clipped them there. Also his quick is really easy to see and we made sure to cut far away from it. Also I just went and sat with him for a good five mins petting him, but he still was staring at me very upset/scared/shocked. :dunno:

Sorry forgot to put this info in!

 

[kirbyultra]

What kind of environment did Thumper grow up in? Do you know? Maybe he has had bad experiences with being handled or picked up.

It's ok to start slow. 3 nails on your first try is plenty. Just be patient. It is natural for him to freak out. Try not to force him, go as slow as you need to. The more you push, the more scared he'll get and the more aggression will come out of the rabbit.

He may be mad for a while, maybe even a couple of days. Give him some quiet space to de-stress, and try it again. If trancing doesn't work for him, try a burrito? Is there any position where the two of you can work with him together to hold him securely and cut swiftly?

Don't be discouraged! It's new to all of you. Don't hold it against Thumper either. The poor thing is just scared

 

[brokenyears]

The shelter we got him from said he was a stray, didn't give us much infromation beyond that. He is a very sweet boy always grooming us and coming right up for attention. I think thats why it's upsetting to me, but we gave him his space last night. We will do the same today and hopefully he wont be upset.



Thank you that makes me feel better