not sure what to do about cordie

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heavenlyshelties

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Bonner Springs, Kansas, USA
Now some of you may think I am ahorrible person for this but I am very concerned. In the pastfew months cordie has gotten more secluded and angry. She'sscratched and charged and everything else but never bit. Today when Iwent to change out their litter, when we put her back in her cage Iwent to scoot her food bowl over a bit and I stroked her head and shebit me very hard. I've never been bit by Miffy or her before. Shegashed my finger in two places very deep and ripped the skin offbasicly. I thought oh maybe she was just scared so afterbandiging it as much as I could i went back to her cage and reached into pet her and try to calm her down, she did it again!! A fewhours later my husband went over to her cage to pet her and she bit himbut not near as hard but he's still bleeding.

It can't be hormones completley because Miffy has never shownaggression like that. I can't figure out what's bothering herthough. If this continues I have to place her in a newhome. I just can't risk her hurting my little girls likethis. We didn't hurt her in any way and for her to be soangry so much later doesn't seem to fit.

Any suggestions? I absolutley can't afford to spayher, they want $275 for the vets within 100 miles of me that i couldfind who would spay bunnies. I hate rehoming my pets and it guilt ridsme so bad that if it comes to that I will probably never buy anotherbunny again.

Any help is apprecaited in what I should do.

Thanks so much.


 
It CAN be hormones. You would be surprised howone minute a rabbit that was always sweet can turn like that. My buckwas like that as a baby. He was so sweet and then just out of no wherehe started biting and attacking me. He was neutered and it helped buthe still was rather aggressive for a good 18 months but with a lot ofwork and patience he is a love bug again.

Does are by far the worst, at least in my opinion. If your not willingto spay her, you could try squirting her with a water bottle butthat may make her more aggressive if she feels threatened. You couldalso invest in a good pair of leather gloves, but don't use them to pether, just use them to reach in her cage and she should learn that youwont back off even if she attacks you. The other option that comes tomind is to avoid cleaning her cage or touching her things while she isin it. Sometimes rabbits get cage aggressive if their cage is too smallbut if you increase the space, they become less aggressive about it.

I'll let others comment on it though with their ideas, none of my rabbits have ever been cage aggressive.
 
Sounds like hormones to me. As soon asyou described it, my first thought was - is she spayed. WhenI read that she isn't... my guess is that she is hormonal andterritorial.

If you put your hand in her area, you should expect that she willdefend it - you are intruding. The best you can do is to tryto understand her and work with her. Cover her eyes with yourhands if you need to put your hand into her cage for somereason. Don't pick her up from her cage - just let her comeand go from her cage if you are letting her out. Don't touchher stuff or clean her cage until she is out of it - so she doesn'tfeel the need to defend her territory.

I find that the bunnies grow out of ther territorialness when theymature. Cookie (my parents un-neutered bunny) wasslightlycage aggressive for a while - we had to do all thethings I listed above, and he has since grown out of it now that he isout of his 'teenage years" and his hormones have calmed down.

Edit: Also, all bunnies get hormonal around the age they hit 'puberty'and a lot go into defense mode. I know you mentioned if youhave to rehome cordie you would likely not get another bun and I justwanted to mention that getting another baby bunny will likely result inthe same situation, so I guess that is something to keep in mind.

________________
Nadia



 
Thanks for the great advice ladies. I so wish Icould afford to spay them both. Maybe when I get a little extra money Ican try to do it. I gave Cordy some time to cool off and thencarefully ( and I admit scared to death ) tried petting her again andtalking calmly to her. I was offering her food when she bit me, but itwasn't like she was tying to eat cause I have been doing the food thingfor a few weeks. No, she just gave me a dirty look and paused thencharged.

Well as I said I tried petting her again and then suggested we letMiffy and her out for a bit since the girls were asleep. She laidhappily in my husbands lap for a good hour and then slowly came over tome. She didn't sit in my lap but laid by feet for the rest of theduration of the night.

I am just going ot keep my fingers crossed that she doesn't do it againbecause OUCH!!! I'm a little worried about infection?? It'sdeep!

I'll try your suggestions and deffinitley look into a larger cage,though with her by herself I have an extra large one right now anddon't know how much bigger I could get? Anyone havesuggestions on places to purchase them at under $100

I am in Kansas if that helps.


 
You could always trywww.craigslist.com for your areain Kansas (the "pets/pet stuff" listings are under "community" ibelieve or use their generalsearch bar). You neverknow,listings change dailyand you could find new orused large cages for great deals and not have to worry about shippingcosts. Also, I've heard and read about a number of bunny owners makingcustom cages with "wire cube grids." They sound very affordable! Here'sa link that tells you about it and how to make the cages:http://www.bunssb.org/cage.asp

I know amazon.com, walmart, and office supply stores sell the wire cubegridsalso (in sets of 6?), but i, myself don't have anydirect experience with using this kind of cage. Does anybody else??I've beenwanting to tryout this kind ofcage,too.



Hope this helps :)


 
I've seen some very good advice on here, I don't have much to add.

Each rabbit is individual, so whilst one may not have been overlyhormonal, another might be, like in women, some get bad PMS, others getnothing, that kind of thing.

I had a very territorial doe, and I loved her with all my heart, andbecause she was the daughter of my bestest rabbit ever, I persevered,and we got to the point that I could easily get her out of her hutchwith a variety of techniques, depending on her mood and body language.

As bizarre as it sounds, I used a sock to do this.

I firstly just dangled the sock in her hutch and she charged at it andstarted ripping it apart, yet I kept it there and she soon realisedthat it wouldn't leave, she sat really confused in the corner. Then Iwould use the sock to stroke over the body so that she got used to thefeeling. We kept going like this for a few days, and then I put thesock on my hand so that a lot was dangling off the end, and did thesame thing.

Over time I gradually put my hand in, and because she learnt thatattacking it did nothing, she did not attack me, then I tried withother socks, which she tested, but soon realised they had the sameeffect, and then I found myself able to stroke her and pick her upwhilst having the sock on my hand.

She should be fine when she is out of the hutch, as it is not her territory.

Another thing that might help is sitting next to her hutch, with thefront off, and waiting for her to come to you and talk to her, maybestroke as abit, as the more you are near her territory, the less shewill see it as you invading her territory.

The same bunny I used the 'sock of dominance' on (as my brother calledit) was a room rabbit, so we shared a room, and she regarded it,clearly, as shared territory. If she was on my bed before I was, shewould lung and charge at me, but if I got there first she would comeover and snuggle with me. So cute.

I also have a buck who at the moment has a new game, this game seems tobe called 'let's bite Tracy and hang on for as long as I can'. Itbloody hurts and I have scars all over my hands, legsandfeet, but again, I have just tried to do different things to get himout of his run, or hutch. It's hard, and demoralising, but again, he ismy best bunnies grandson and I wouldn't ever risk losing him.I am looking at getting bird of prey gloves, but I have yet to learnhow expensive they are. Also, I used gardening gloves to hold him for abit, they were really tough gloves and really really excellent, andthey would be cheaper than bird of prey gloves, but I can't use themanymore because recently he seems to like my elbows.

Once rabbits realise they are not getting a reaction they generally stop doing it.

Do you have any charities there that do vet care for free? or with small donations? Maybe that is something to look into.

Good luck with her.
 
Hey there - have you thought about building aNIC cage? Many menebers have REALLY large ones, and it costthem about $60 to build. I have a fairly big one as well thatcost me about $50.

Here's a link to see what they're all about:

PHOTO PHILE: NIC Cages Only
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=15348&forum_id=1



Ideas and Instructions:

How To Build A Bunny Condo (with NIC Cubes) (Michigan Rabbit Rescue)
http://www.michiganrabbitrescue.org/condo.htm

Great Site With Instructions for Neat Ideas Cube (NIC) Cages (R. KellyWagner)http://members.aol.com/bunrabtoo/neatcubs.html

Cavy Cages (cube cages)
http://www.cavycages.com/

Exercise Pens
http://www.lagomorphs.com/exercisepens.pdf

The "Gated Community:
http://www.lagomorphs.com/gated.pdf

Bunny Housing Ideas
http://www.geocities.com/bunitob/

Housing (and cube cage instructions)
http://www.bunnylu.org/housing.html

More NIC Ideas and Instructions (SJ Beard)
http://hometown.aol.com/sjbeard/bunnycages.html





These are from the Bunny 101 section.
 
As others have said, it really does soundlike her hormones are kicking in; also that her age is a big factor,too. Spaying really will help, although it takes time for the hormonelevels to drop...

Like others here, I have a fairly large NIC "house" with a puppy ex-penattached. It's in my living room, which is where I spend most of mytime when I'm home. Nibbles was a "teen" when I adopted her and neededto have a space that was all hers. She's free to come out and run forseveral hours every day (outside of her cage/"yard," that is), butoften chooses to stay inside it, or to go back and forth between herarea and the rest of the room. (I have a feeling that she was poked andprodded and kept in a tiny cage before she was turned over to a rescue,so having her own living space helped her tremendously in feeling athome and in getting to trust me.)

(Also, I spent a lot of time just sitting on the floor and letting hercome to me... it helped a lot - i used to sit in her pen and talk onthe phone or read aloud, not trying to touch her... I think that helpedtremendously.)

I know you're feeling frustrated right now, but I think there are somegreat suggestions/solutions here. This article on "teen" buns was veryhelpftul to me, BTW:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-9/rebel-with-paws.html
 
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