Sweet buck aggressive to new owners

[CopperRabbit]

Hi all! I’ve been breeding Rex rabbits for meat and show for the last 2 years or so, but I am new here, so hi!

I am in need of some advice because I’m not sure what to do:

I just sold an 11 month old, proven buck to a new home that wants to use him for the same reason as I had him... show, breeding, etc. the new owners are homesteaders and have other rabbits. I had him his entire life and was able to carry him back and forth to his outside pen when the weather was nice, clean his cage up when needed, add food, etc. he really is a good boy.
However, about 2 days after going to his new home the mother messaged me and said that he had bitten her daughter when she opened the cage to pet him, and then the mother tried and he bit her, and then they said he was “lunging and shaking” sticks near/in his cage.... I was naturally horrified of his behavior because I never would’ve sold an aggressive buck. However, I am thinking that he is not settled in and probably super nervous if his new cage/environment and was defensive and but, and then when they kept antagonizing him he got even more amped up? Is this correct at all? I feel awful and I want to help the mew owners be able to work with him, so I told them to just leave him alone other than food and water and let him settle in.... that’s what I do with all of my new-to-me rabbits when I get them and I feel like it helps them calm down and settle in.
Any advice?

 

[Blue eyes]

Absolutely the poor rabbit is still acclimating to his new environment. He should have been left totally undisturbed for the first 2 days. You are doing it right when you give your new rabbits time to settle in and you also did right in the meantime by telling them to do the same. After that minimum of 2 days settling in, the rabbit should be slowly permitted out of its cage. By "permitted" I mean that the door is open (using an ex-pen to limit the area) and bunny comes out IF he's ready. He may not be. It should be the rabbit, not the human, doing the initiating of contact. This is how the bun learns that a human is "safe."

It is completely understandable why the rabbit would lunge when a hand was intruded into his space. This is what a nervous rabbit will do. It does not mean he is aggressive, just scared.

I'd recommend them reading the following page on how to bond with a rabbit (from my website). Hopefully it will help them put things in perspective and understand the rabbit is adjusting to his new environment and needs plenty of time and patience to get used to his new people.
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-with-your-bunny.html

 

[CopperRabbit]

Absolutely the poor rabbit is still acclimating to his new environment. He should have been left totally undisturbed for the first 2 days. You are doing it right when you give your new rabbits time to settle in and you also did right in the meantime by telling them to do the same. After that minimum of 2 days settling in, the rabbit should be slowly permitted out of its cage. By "permitted" I mean that the door is open (using an ex-pen to limit the area) and bunny comes out IF he's ready. He may not be. It should be the rabbit, not the human, doing the initiating of contact. This is how the bun learns that a human is "safe."

It is completely understandable why the rabbit would lunge when a hand was intruded into his space. This is what a nervous rabbit will do. It does not mean he is aggressive, just scared.

I'd recommend them reading the following page on how to bond with a rabbit (from my website). Hopefully it will help them put things in perspective and understand the rabbit is adjusting to his new environment and needs plenty of time and patience to get used to his new people.
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-with-your-bunny.html

Thank you so much for the input! I am so very embarrassed that he behaved the way he did, but at the same time I realize that rabbits, specifically breeding bucks, can be territorial to his new cage, people, etc. I offered to buy him back because I wasn’t sure what to do because I’ve never encountered this before and I want to make it right with the new owners. They declined for now and said that they wanted to try and calm him down and make it work. I’m just worried that they have kind of established this “hostile” relationship and it will always be that way

 

[JBun]

Nervous. May also be any other rabbits they may have put him near, if he or they are acting aggressively towards each other. Particularly if the owners put him near another buck. Or if their child had just been handling another buck, that can sometimes set them off. Bucks are already naturally territorial with each other Plus he'd be unsettled from being in a new home.

If they are keeping him, I would suggest to them to either move him away from the other rabbits for now, or to put him near a doe that he clearly seems interested in and happy to be near, and that is not aggressive towards him and likes having him near. Then let him have time to settle in with minimal handling, and see how he is after that.