Rude and mean

[changeme4]

Ok. So help me out. I have had problems with my bunny before... and I still have MAJOR issues!! I got her potty trained, I let her roam my room every 4-8 times a day maybe 30 min or more until I have to leave for work or just have a few hours for myself and friends. She still chews on my carpet even though I got her mats that a lot have recommended. I feed her 2 times a day but ofc she doesn’t eat much. She has 2 pellet bowls. And one hand of hay (in the morning and night) She will either eat the hay. Or she will move it around in her pen.

1. Still chews carpet.
2. she digs in two spots in her cage all night. No idea why. One is her potty spot and the other is under her dishes.
3. I clean her cage every week and very much so sanitize and clean her pee spots.
4. Everytime she’s roaming the room and I try to reach to pet her. (When she comes up to me) she runs. Or start BITING me on the back or stomach when I’m sitting up and leaving her a lot. Not a nibble. A bite leaving marks.
5. She won’t let me pick her up to clip her nails when I need to. I can only do one or two at a time but she ends up kicking her hind legs at me and scratching my arms or stomach or neck.(due to long nails also)

I have been giving her more toys every few months when she’s done with the last toy wether it’s a chew toy or hay toy or whatever the case. I still buy her new things. Good treats. I pet her sometimes but only when she’s eating her treats. She acts like I’m a dangerous person. But at the same time when changing or doing my makeup in the mirror she will circle me or sit on her hind legs and sniff me and follow me across the room. Acts like I’m her mother. I’m not understanding what I’m doing wrong. She has bitten my mom when I went for a bullriding camp 2 hours away and stayed their for 2 days and so I’m guessing that’s still the “hormones and territory” problem. Anyone. PLEASE help me get to be a “better mother” and help her understand I mean no harm or nothing. She's bout 7 months and we never had problems till spring arrived. I have never once hit her or stepped on her nothing. So I don't understand why she acts like I would. And no one else feeds her besides my mother. And she loves animals.
She hasn’t eaten her food since last night I just changed it out. And she makes a whimpering noise every time my hand enters the cage.

 

[Blue eyes]

She's hormonal and that means very moody. She can't help herself. It is very difficult to bond with a hormonal rabbit. It doesn't have anything to do with what you are or aren't doing. Spaying can make a world of difference. She may even stop carpet chewing (try to keep her off carpet for now unless you are monitoring. You don't want it to become habit).

Until she's spayed, you'll need to be extra patient and don't take anything the wrong way. The sooner she's spayed, the better.

 

[Hermelin]

1) Chewing is a natural behavior, try to redirect the chewing to something else or cover the carpet with another material that is okay to destroy.

2) How is the cage set up, show a picture of the cage and we can get a better idea, but try to provide a digging box, let her get the pent up energy out and fill up the hay. Make sure she get all her food at night before bed time, also how much do you feed your bunny? Bunnies should have 24/7 access to hay and just a small amount of pellets.

3) Don’t do a too much cleaning, it can sometimes confuse the bunny were the litter box is if it too clean. Myself do through cleaning of the cage every week but the litter box is just emptying the litter and changing, washing and sanitizing the litter box I do it once every month or twice.

4) Is your bunny spayed? Hormonal bunnies have a bit of a temper, also you might need to teach your bunny whats okay and what’s not. For example biting ignoring, letting out a high pitch squeak and rewarding good behavior often works to correct a behavior.

5) Most bunnies take time to get used to these things and picked up is also a learning or getting used with, some will never behave. So you need patience and a lot of bribing, often it can help being two when you do the trimming of the nails.

Bunnies can be stubborn and need time to warm up, I’m still building my bond with one of my bucks and myself had him for 2 years. I can get a bit of growling, him ignoring me, hiding and nipping when he’s grumpy. So they have quite a lot of personality but at least it have gotten better compared from how it was when I got him. So don’t feel discourage and keep on working with your girl. The hormonal period can be a bumpy ride

 

[zuppa]

Well I'd be interested to hear other party as well.

At 7-8 months she is hormonal and territorial and you keep entering her territory she doesn't like it.
If you can neuter her she will be less territorial after a few weeks after surgery and it will be easier to train her and rebond with her.

I think she doesn't feel safe with you maybe you are too mean to her trying to pick her up and reach in her own space, so she just gets defensive.

I have a rabbit with same problems, I've got her when she was about 2,5 months and she had very disturbing environment, little barking dog and lots of noisy people around, TV on next to cage etc, she was very scared of everything and was very defensive I've lost lots of blood as well. It took time to build trust and I was ready to give up so many times, now she's nearly two years old and she is still protective over her territory but she doesn't bite anymore. I can pick her up and she will stay on my lap purring and relaxing, she's okay with trimming her nails and she loves grooming i brush her every now and then even she doesn't really need it.
She is not spayed yet so I am hoping that neutering will fix some small problems like being territorial, but she is so much better now anyway.

I think you just don't understand her and so she is not happy, if you want to bond with her you need to spend time and be patient, for the starters lay down next to her cage for hours reading or playing with your phone not paying attention at all, don't try to approach her, she will see you're not trying to get her and after a couple weeks of doing that exercise for a couple hours a day you can go to the next step, open her door and do the same, read for a couple hours, don't look at her. She will go out or maybe not this time, but one day she will and maybe after a few more days she will come to you. This is a long process since I can see she just doesn't trust you at all. so you will have to rebuild that.

If you don't have time/patience for it maybe better find her a good new home where people will understand her and will have time for her.

Smokey, scared to death



More relaxed. I will have to get some more recent pics of her

 

[BunBun71]

Well I'd be interested to hear other party as well.

At 7-8 months she is hormonal and territorial and you keep entering her territory she doesn't like it.
If you can neuter her she will be less territorial after a few weeks after surgery and it will be easier to train her and rebond with her.

I think she doesn't feel safe with you maybe you are too mean to her trying to pick her up and reach in her own space, so she just gets defensive.

I have a rabbit with same problems, I've got her when she was about 2,5 months and she had very disturbing environment, little barking dog and lots of noisy people around, TV on next to cage etc, she was very scared of everything and was very defensive I've lost lots of blood as well. It took time to build trust and I was ready to give up so many times, now she's nearly two years old and she is still protective over her territory but she doesn't bite anymore. I can pick her up and she will stay on my lap purring and relaxing, she's okay with trimming her nails and she loves grooming i brush her every now and then even she doesn't really need it.
She is not spayed yet so I am hoping that neutering will fix some small problems like being territorial, but she is so much better now anyway.

I think you just don't understand her and so she is not happy, if you want to bond with her you need to spend time and be patient, for the starters lay down next to her cage for hours reading or playing with your phone not paying attention at all, don't try to approach her, she will see you're not trying to get her and after a couple weeks of doing that exercise for a couple hours a day you can go to the next step, open her door and do the same, read for a couple hours, don't look at her. She will go out or maybe not this time, but one day she will and maybe after a few more days she will come to you. This is a long process since I can see she just doesn't trust you at all. so you will have to rebuild that.

If you don't have time/patience for it maybe better find her a good new home where people will understand her and will have time for her.

Smokey, scared to death

View attachment 48996

More relaxed. I will have to get some more recent pics of her

View attachment 48997

Sorry that I can't help, but your rabbit is so cute.

 

[changeme4]

problem with the carpet is until i get my new pace thats all she will be on... she will jump off the bed when she has the chance. i monitor her and kinda yell or make a noise when she chews the carpet but she wont leave it alone.. i want her to free roam but i dont trust her even alone..

 

[Blue eyes]

Is she chewing just certain areas, like corners? If so, you can put a square piece of porcelain or ceramic tile on those spots. I'm surprised she isn't peeing on the bed. Many rabbits can't resist peeing on soft blankets.

You really have to keep her from chewing on the carpet or else spaying may not even help (it can become an ingrained habit if she is allowed to continue). You may need to get a large heavy duty tarp (like those plastic ones from wal-mart. You can put that down on an area of your carpet and use an ex-pen to keep her on the tarp. A fleece blanket or a sheet can go on top of the plastic if you like.

 

[changeme4]

I think she doesn't feel safe with you maybe you are too mean to her trying to pick her up and reach in her own space, so she just gets defensive.

I think you just don't understand her and so she is not happy, if you want to bond with her you need to spend time and be patient, for the starters lay down next to her cage for hours reading or playing with your phone not paying attention at all, don't try to approach her, she will see you're not trying to get her and after a couple weeks of doing that exercise for a couple hours a day you can go to the next step, open her door and do the same, read for a couple hours, don't look at her. She will go out or maybe not this time, but one day she will and maybe after a few more days she will come to you. This is a long process since I can see she just doesn't trust you at all. so you will have to rebuild that.

If you don't have time/patience for it maybe better find her a good new home where people will understand her and will have time for her.

the thing is with this i dont do anything, she used to let me pick her up but now i have to kinda hold her so she wont run so i can clip her nails.

i am patient with her but she doesnt seem to understand im not hurting her and when i leave her on me or around me but she starts to bite me thats when i have to pay attetion to her and tell her no or snap my fingers

 

[changeme4]

Sorry that I can't help, but your rabbit is so cute.

thank you!!! her name is thumper cause she thumps alot

 

[Hermelin]

So is your girl spayed or are you planning to spay her ☺

Because knowing if she’s spayed we can rule out hormonal behavior to biting and acting grumpy.

Many things can trigger biting and you don’t need to act mean or aggressive to make a bunny act aggressive to you. It can also be that we don’t understand their language or interpreters it wrong which can make the bunny feel unsafe in most situation.

Cage aggression is common specially with bunnies that are hormonal or feel cornered in their own area. Often giving them more space and building a better bond the cage aggression can go away.

Most bunnies don’t like being picked, did you reward your bunny every time you picked her up before. Myself find it easier to calm my bunnies down when they get rewards while I handle them and slowly do it over time. You can try the bunny burrito and trim the claws or taking your bunny to a whole new area. Taking your bunny to a new place will make them focus more on the surroundings and can make it easier to trim her claws.

I know that when one of my buck was neutered and the hormones was not settled he became an aggressive bunny. It was first after the hormones calmed down he was the normal docile bunny again. This was with my bunny that had never acted aggressive before.

 

[BunBun71]

thank you!!! her name is thumper cause she thumps alot

That is a nice name.