Nipping

[daisy052104]

Punkin, my lop bunny, who is about 8 months oldand spayed nips my hubby and I any time she is out and we're holdingher and trying to snuggle with her. She never didthisbeforeshe was spayed.I dont thinkshe's doing it to assert dominance but I'm not sure why she's doing it.It hurts and we need to get her to stop. My hubby's to the point thathe wants to get rid of her and I'm not willing to do that withouttrying to get her to stop.

Does any one have any suggestions or best practices???

 

[Leveret]

The only advice I can offer is to take note whenshe does it and ignore it. I know it's hard to ignore it when it hurts,but I've nipped a few nippers in the bud by ignoring them when they didit and pretending I didn't even feel it. Kit tried it on me when he wasstill a baby and his teeth weren't fully through, so it didn't hurt atall. He was trying to tell me he didn't like me handling him. I ignoredit and he never did it again, but I don't handle him much anymore,either. My last bunny, Kat, nipped a few times. I ignored that, too.Generally she did it when I was holding her or touching her in placesshe didn't like to be touched. Bonnie bit me once when I movedsomething in her cage she'd just spent the last few hours arranging toher liking. I ignored it and she hasn't bit me since.

I think the key is to pretend like it has no impression, but alsorespect what the rabbit is trying to tell you. If she nips you when youhug her, maybe she doesn't like hugs. In my limited experience, rabbitstend to nip to make a point about something. A strong point.

 

[JadeIcing]

How long do you hold her?Does she only nip whenbeing held?

She may be telling you she is done. Another thing is some rabbits just don't like to be held.

 

[Porpy]

When we first got her, we would try to handleher and Tigger would nip in frustration of wanting to be put down. WhatI've found is that instead of picking her up I play on the floor withher and then she likes being handled this has built some trust so thatnow if I need to pick her up she tolerates it better. She also startedniping if you were in her way and loud "OW!" seems to have killed thatoff. Dont know if thats any help to you though.

 

[naturestee]

We've learned to make sure the rabbits know thatnipping won't get them what they want. For example, if shenips you while you're holding her do you put her down rightaway? If you do, you're teaching her that nipping you getsher what she wants.

It's not easy, but when she nips you do not flinch.They're looking for that response. Say "no" in a stern voiceand lay your hand over her ears and the back of her neck.This is a position rabbits use to show dominance. Don't pressdown and don't be rough. After she behaves for a little bit,put her down and praise her.

But do make sure you're not annoying her a lot by holdingher. You can love on her without holding her if it makes herfeel more comfortable. My rabbits generally don't like beingheld.

 

[JimD]

naturestee wrote:

We've learned to make sure the rabbits know that nippingwon't get them what they want. For example, if she nips youwhile you're holding her do you put her down right away? Ifyou do, you're teaching her that nipping you gets her what she wants.

It's not easy, but when she nips you do not flinch.They're looking for that response. Say "no" in a stern voiceand lay your hand over her ears and the back of her neck.This is a position rabbits use to show dominance. Don't pressdown and don't be rough. After she behaves for a little bit,put her down and praise her.

But do make sure you're not annoying her a lot by holdingher. You can love on her without holding her if it makes herfeel more comfortable. My rabbits generally don't like beingheld.

:yeahthat

If one of our buns nips us they immediately are returned to their cage for a time out.
After a few times they start to associate nipping and time outs, and tend to stop.....ummm... sometimes.

~Jim

 

[daisy052104]

We dont really hold her when she's out. Weusually have her on the couch and she's able to hop around. When shehops over to us, on us, around us...she nip our necks, hands, shirts.We aren't really holding her when she does it, she's mainly just on us.

 

[JadeIcing]

I wonder if she is grooming. I have heard of over eager groomers.

 

[ec]

I've got an "overeager groomer" - when she firstcame home with me, she'd recently been spayed and was definitely inwhat I'd call "rowdy teenager" mode. She was very enthusiastic abouteverything, including doing some grooming on me - not realizing thather teeth were hurting me.

I think there's more than one thing going on here. One, your bunny isat an age where she's pretty intense - spaying/neutering can't takeaway the developmental stage she's going through. It's natural, and shewill settle down as she enters adulthood. But - as with human teenagers- there's a great need for love and patience. (I know that's notalways easy! )

Also, it does sound like she's trying to groom you - one thing that youcan try is to make a loud "Eek!" sound (or something similar) whenshe's at it. It might take a while for this to register. I'd stronglyrecommend doing this before proceeding to the gentletouching of head/shoulders., a stern "No!," etc. It might be enough todo the trick, though much depends on the individual bunny'spersonality...

Plese don't punish her for this - that's not something rabbits understand.

 

[pumpkinandwhiskersmom]

Our Pumpkin is a nipper. When she'supset or frightened, she will nip, and once, when she had way, way, wayhad enough grooming (in a heavy shedding time), she really bithard. The shrill EEK! will usually make her stop.Just like everyone else has said, don't punish her....she is acting theway bunnies are supposed to act! I know it's hard when theydo that. Our girl much prefers that we get on the floor andgive her love while she's vegging out. Good luck!

 

[Leslie102]

oscar used to nip, even 6 weeks to a3months after he was neutered. MOstly he did it to say get outof my way or hey, i want to play a game with you. When hewanted to play a game, i would fold a paper in half and hold it up forhim to shred. When he was saying get out of my way the nipwas typically preceded by a nudge, i would squeal like ec mentioned andlightly put my hand on his ears and neck like naturestee mentioned,(tosay i'm top bunny in this house)both worked like acharm

Now my baby boy only nips his daddy when he's getting the night timeveggies ready to late, he just gets so excited. Oscar knowsbetter than to nip me though or, he just like me more(ihope) When i'm getting his veggies ready to late he stands onhis back two legs and scratches my leg to get my attention (just like apuppy) HIs nails are always trimmed so it doesn'thurt. it's just soooo cute i'll have to get a pic of it one day.

don't get rid of your bun as your husband suggested, the teenage years go by quickly.(or at least they did for me)

 

[daisy052104]

I've been working with her on the nipping bymaking an eek sound when she does nip and it seems to be helping.Yesterday she actually started to groom my hubby's head. It was toofunny to watch her try to fix his hair. She also tried to help him withhis eyebrows but he didnt let her do that.

We've also been trying to bond our 2 girls together. I'm hoping thiswill help with the behavior as well. Punkin is definatly showing Hollywho the boss is by mounting her everytime we put them together. Thelast time Holly became a little aggressive and we had to cut thesession short. Hopefully we can get them to become friends.