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Bad Tempered Rabbits at work!!!

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L

LionheadLuver

Warren Veteran
Hi
We have boarding at the pet shop I work at and we had to clean them out (as with any animal!!). There were three, two Netherland Dwarfs and one Dwarf Lop/French Lop. The first one, a Netherland Dwarf was really friendly and sweet. The other two were right devils, especially as the lop was REW, it had devil eyes. Anyway, it was so aggressive and bad tempered. It took about half an hour to come up with a good plan to trap it and clean the hutch out. He attacked anything and everything that entered his hutch. He was huge but the hutch he was in was only about 4ft, and his water bottle wasn't working so I had to sit there squezing it for like 15 mins, he was so thirsty. The Netherland was also aggressive. I mean, can't people tame their rabbits?!?! After cleaning out those two, my girls are angels. I feel so lucky to have my two angel girls.

Just wanted to let it off my chest. Sorry if this thread seems pretty pointless.
 
Some rabbits are just plain mean:cry:
Zakura was like that as well, I got her at 7 weeks and I had handled her since she was 2 weeks. Since I got her she had been living inside in my bed room, and when she was 4 months she just clicked.
She started attacking my hand when I came to feed her, and soon she would hardly let me put my hand into her cage without her charging at me:cry:
Had her neutered and it helped...somewhat... though for some reason NOW she's fine in her cage, but attacks out in the pen:roll:
 
Why didnt you get him a new water bottle or a bowl instead of squeezing the old one?

Was the rabbit neutered?
 
Was the aggressive rabbit neutered? Perhaps you need to have a word with the owners, the rabbit clearly needs larger accomodation and better care.
 
If his water bottle isn't working properly he may well be aggressive in part because he is dehydrated and has to really struggle every time he wants a drink. Squeezing it is all very well but he can't get a drink any other time you're not there and the same thing will happen when he goes back home. Giving him a new bottle might make a lot of difference to him. I would also suggest a bigger hutch and neutering though, it sounds as if this poor bun is suffering from fear aggression and has learnt that you can make nasty humans go away by attacking them :cry:
 
I don't know if he was neutered but probably not. There was a sheet to fill out for each rabbit and the owner of the friendly one, filled out everything from veg to fleaing/bathing. The owners of the aggressive ones only put down their details, nothing about if the rabbit can have veg or if it's friendly etc. Probably shows they don't care much about the welfare of the rabbit if they can't even be bothered to fill out the sheet. It made it so much easier knowing what to do from the sheet if it's filled out. I didn't think about changing the bottle. Don't know if it's one of the pet shops bottle or the owner's. Can't really interfere with it that much.
 
If it's really that difficult I'll send you a couple of quid to buy it a new bottle :roll: They're dirt cheap and if the poor thing can't drink it's not exactly going to have a long and fulfilling life is it! At the very least have a good fiddle with it to work out why it's not working - is it blocked, crusted with limescale? Give it a darn good clean and see if you can make it work.

Why not see if the RWA will send you some of their leaflets (or you can download them from their website) to give to customers as a bit of a 'hint' when they come back to collect their animals?
 
How is the poor thing going to drink while your not there?

Fluids are so important to a rabbits gut movement.
 
I'm just the "cleaning-out" person, not the manager. I can't fiddle with things that are not the pet shop's. Anyway, it'll be gone by the time I go to work again, so I can't do anything about it now.
 
LionheadLuver said:
Hi
We have boarding at the pet shop I work at and we had to clean them out (as with any animal!!). There were three, two Netherland Dwarfs and one Dwarf Lop/French Lop. The first one, a Netherland Dwarf was really friendly and sweet. The other two were right devils, especially as the lop was REW, it had devil eyes. Anyway, it was so aggressive and bad tempered. It took about half an hour to come up with a good plan to trap it and clean the hutch out. He attacked anything and everything that entered his hutch. He was huge but the hutch he was in was only about 4ft, and his water bottle wasn't working so I had to sit there squezing it for like 15 mins, he was so thirsty. The Netherland was also aggressive. I mean, can't people tame their rabbits?!?! After cleaning out those two, my girls are angels. I feel so lucky to have my two angel girls.

Just wanted to let it off my chest. Sorry if this thread seems pretty pointless.
Click to expand...

Its not really a case of people taming their rabbits - Jens quite often really aggressive & if someone said that to me they'd get such an earful!! :? Good job you have ended up with nice buns really, if thats your attitude. As for the water bottle, if I was as thirsty as the poor mite must've been, I'd be nasty too! :(
 
LionheadLuver said:
I'm just the "cleaning-out" person, not the manager. I can't fiddle with things that are not the pet shop's. Anyway, it'll be gone by the time I go to work again, so I can't do anything about it now.
Click to expand...

Did you tell the manager about the bottle not working?
 
From the mood the rabbit was in today, I'm suprised it ever gets cleaned out, cos I don't know how on earth you can do it stress-free and without causing upset to the rabbit? In the end, we had to trap it in it's 1ft bedroom, while we cleaned out the living area, which is not ideal. If the rabbit is tamed and friendly, it has a much better life, cos it doesn't get so stressed and upset over things such as cleaning out and feeding. The friendly Netherland was so calm and sweet, I happily stroked it, fed it, watered it, and cleaned it out, so much less stress to the rabbit, and also to me. I'm not so happy to clean out a bad-tempered one.
 
The rabbits not evil or mean :( :? Is it at the pet shop or at home? If its at the pet shop he is probably just miserable from being somewhere strange and not being able to have a drink :(

Surely if the pet shop is looking after the bunny its the pet shops responsibility to make sure the bunny has access to water? Sticking a new water bottle on the hutch isnt fiddling with things that arent the pet shops. Leave the broken bottle there if you want just put a working one next to it. Im sure the owners wont be mad that the bottle has been replaced :D
 
LionheadLuver said:
From the mood the rabbit was in today, I'm suprised it ever gets cleaned out, cos I don't know how on earth you can do it stress-free and without causing upset to the rabbit? In the end, we had to trap it in it's 1ft bedroom, while we cleaned out the living area, which is not ideal.
Click to expand...

Most people take the rabbits out of the hutch while they clean it, maybe thats why he wasnt happy. He may not be used to having his hutch cleaned while he is still in there
 
You can't just brand the rabbit 'mean'. You've got to look at it from the rabbit's point of view. Lots of rabbits can be quite possessive over their home. To the rabbit, that small hutch is his territory. You invade his space when you put your hand in there, as a stranger you bring strange smells, quite possibly of your own rabbits. Your hand is as big as his head. Many rabbits do not like being in a hutch whilst it's cleaned out. And, if his owners did as you had to, and trapped him in one part of the hutch, then he might associate cleaning time with being trapped, or fear. And as others have pointed out, if he can't drink then he'll be all the more frustrated. But the rabbit is not in any way evil... no matter how red his eyes are. :?
 
sillyrabbit said:
Most people take the rabbits out of the hutch while they clean it, maybe thats why he wasnt happy. He may not be used to having his hutch cleaned while he is still in there
Click to expand...

I thought that - If I tried to clean Jeni's hutch with her in it, she'd savage me :lol: Lionheadlover, are you confident in handling rabbits? I just take Jen out of the hutch the same as any other rabbit, if she bites she bites, but its not stressful and doesnt upset her, if she gets stroppy, she'll settle down once in her run. As Becky said, rabbits arent mean - they're obviously worried or unhappy about something X
 
I think all of mine would be pretty mad if trapped them in the bedroom part while I cleaned the hutch :lol: Buu gets stroppy when I start messing about in her hutch so I just do it while she is out :lol:

Im guessing the pet shop are letting these bunnies out for exercise, I would just have the hutches cleaned while the buns arent in them :D
 
See if the owners want to give it up, I do love a good challenge with an aggressive bun - several have been to Aunty Alison's school of relaxation and have ended up being rehomed as much calmer, happier bunnies.
 
I hope the rabbit got a new water bottle poor thing, also I have a REW and he certainly doesn't have "devil eyes" I think they are gorgeous:D
Sallyx
 
Firstly, I tried to pick it up, but it went for me, so I wasn't putting my hand in again. :rolleyes: Anyway, after that we sat there waiting for it to go into a box and that didn't work. So we trapped him in his bedroom and did the living area, and visa versa. Did the same with the aggressive Netherland. I'm confident in handling the rabbits that are for sale in the shop, they just kick, but I've worked out a way to pick them up safely and as stress-free as possible. I am very confident in handling my girls, but they just sit in the corner and I can pick them up easily, but I know their little tricks and habits and can stop them from doing those too.

REWs are beautiful, but as a joke, because this one was evil, I called it the devil eyes.
 
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