Pappy's biting

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Jems

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Pappy has started nipping at meoccaisionally. He has nipped my boyfriend quite abit. I took it as a warning that he didn't likewhat was happening. For example my bf tends to pat theanimals a little harder then he realizes. He would start atPappy's head pushing the ears down flat and then continue on to thetail and Pappy would nip at him. I told him to be more gentleand not touch his ears. This seemed to stop the nipping forthe most part.

This morning when I went to feed them some cheerios and a few raisons Icouldn't reach thier dish. I told them "you need to stoppushing your dish to where I can't reach it" so my sonsaidhe'd get it. He reached in to get it and Pappybit him. He screamed and pulled back. I looked andPappy had left deep teeth marks on my sons wrist and it wasbruising. I went to lift the cage so I could pull the dishout the bottom and he bit me. He drew blood. Ifinally got the dish and when I went to put it back he charged atme.

Is there anything I can do? I told him he was a bad bun andhe just gave me the look. Will getting himneutered help with this?
 
Hi Jems!

OUCH!!!!

Our Benji went through that kind of behavior not that long ago (Topic: "I did a terrible thing last night").

I think it was more an "alpha" bunnie demonstration. He's always beenterritorial and was at his worst prior to neutering. It took quite afew weeks for his hormones to wind down and then he mellowed out quitea bit.

Other member offered a lot of advice and I'm sure plenty will be following mine.

I suggest removing Pappy from the cage prior to feeding or cleaning. Imight give him a treat when returning him to the cage just to say"Thank you for letting me mess with your stuff".

Any soap/perfume/detergent/aftershave changes lately? I would wash myhands prior to interacting and maybe wear clothes that always smelllike me, like a sweater or sweatshirt. Let him know that it's you.Bunnies sense of smell is pretty sensitive.

Lastly, neutering is something to consider. How old is Pappy?

Jim
 
Forgive me but I can't keep all the bunniesstraight. How old is Pappy now? Bo did the nipthing when he was reaching maturity and needed to be neutered.

He really backed off of the nips after about 4 weeks past hissurgery. However, if he wants me and my daughter won't lethim get to me, he will nip her just enough to pinch...... she gigglesmost of the time.

He used to come up behind me if I was on "his loveseat" and biteme in the back! :shock:That hurt! He also bit me onthe neck twice and drew blood! the little vampire! LOL!
 
Ow!Itcan be really frustrating when your pet bites you,especially when they also bite other people! I don't thinkUmbra's ever really "bit" me. He's nipped me more than acouple of times when I've been in his way, but it doesn't bother me toomuch, after all, I used to own a couple very rambunctious parakeets,and when Jade bit it really hurt and/or drew blood! IfUmbra bit as hard as Jade the parakeet used to, then I would have aproblem! =) Usually, if Umbra gets in a pushy mood,and nips me more than once, I give him a quick squirt with mysquirtbottle and say "No!". He usually gets the idea, and ifhe doesn't, then he goes right back in his cage for a timeout. That's what works for him.

Good luck with Pappy though.

--Melissa and Umbra
 
Mocha used to nip from the time his hormaoneschanged up until about a year and a half. After he got through the'teen' stage then it cut out for good and Mocha had not bitten anyonein months. Time may settle him down or a neuter may help but it alsomay not.
 
Hmmm. Emmy getsreally irrated when I'm fixing her cage when she is eating. She justcomes up to me normally and gives me a little hard nip that hurts.:DBut hey, she needs her space. But when Emmy is really angryto the limit, we give her her space, and then come back in a fewminutes to see how she is. Usuallu when she growls and try's to nipme... I just slowly bring her hand to her forehead and just pet her.:)When that happens, I tend to put my hand on the floor tosee if she is still mad at me, and if she comes and licks me, all iswell!



Katy, Trina and Emmy.
 
LOL Bo pretends he will bite us if we mess withhis cage while he's in it. He comes up with his ears foldedand a nasty look. Then I pet his head and he melts LOL! He'sa sucker for ear rubs :)
 
Bo B Bunny wrote:
Forgive me but I can't keep all the bunniesstraight. How old is Pappy now? Bo did the nipthing when he was reaching maturity and needed to be neutered.
[shadow=green]JimD[/shadow] wrote:

Any soap/perfume/detergent/aftershave changes lately?I would wash my hands prior to interacting and maybe wear clothes thatalways smell like me, like a sweater or sweatshirt. Let him know thatit's you. Bunnies sense of smell is pretty sensitive.

Lastly, neutering is something to consider. How old is Pappy?

He is by my guess about 8-9 months or so. We got himin September at the fair and I think he was around 8-10 or12weeks then. I know he is starting to 'mature'because EVERYTHING in and around his cage has recently been coveredwith urine .Until today though it has just been little nips that don'thurt. I spoke to myson this afternoon and he said -Pappy bit Daddy when he was cleaning the cage.

I guess we hope it passes. I am hoping to get all the boysneutered this spring providing I can find a vet in the somewhat generalarea that does it. Not to many rabbit savy vets 'round he-ah.

We have not had any 'smell' changes that I can think of.Thanks for the help all and if anyone else thinks of anything PLEASElet me know.

Jen
 
Sounds like he's about 8 mos old ..... give or take. He's probably maturing.

If you turn him over and check, most likely his testicles have descended or will soon.

Having him neutered might help curb this behavior. Some"full" males will chill out after some time from what I hear.It's those teen hormones running through his system..... :p
 
my old rabbit bugs. he never Sprayed or bitanybody esp. me! i guess i was just lucky to have a rabbit like that!and like the people who we got him from the rest of the male bunnieswould hump things and spray.. but Bugs never did any of that! but hedid bite me one day after my brothers baseball game. durring the game ifound a girl my age and she had a male rabbit so i was holding him. butwhen i came home (without washing my hands) he smelt the rabbit and hebit me! i yelled at him and put him back in his cage, but then i feltbad and i started to cry! lol i felt so bad! lol.. but Cinn is in thatstage now! she is chewing on EVERYTHING she can! lol its driving meinsane! i pick her up in the middle of it and i say stop! no morechewing! and then she stops for a little!

GOODLUCK ON PAPPY!
 
Bo B Bunny wrote:
Sounds like he's about 8 mos old ..... give ortake. He's probably maturing.

If you turn him over and check, most likely his testicles have descended or will soon.


Oh they have been descended for a while now. The vet showed me when I took "her" in because she/he was sneezing alot.

I hope it stops. He didn't do any biting this weekend but didcharge at me once. I moved before he got me.

I had to restructure thier cage and make two rooms so I could seperatePappy and Bugs. Pappy has been terrorizing poorBugsy. Now he's really not happy.

We took snowball out and put him in a seperate cage last weekendbecause he was starting to pick on Bugs. I kinda feel badbecause they all usually get along and seem confused about why they areapart but I would rather be safe then sorry.
 

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