Help me like Strawberry again

To be totally honest I am terrified of Strabws. He hasn't hurt me but he does go for me when I'm in his room and even when he is running round my feet waiting for his tea I am scared me is going to bite me. He chased me out of his room earlier grunting at me. Do you think I would be better putting him in the crate in evenings and sitting in the same room as him?

I feel bad as he is on his own all day and all evening too now as I darent go and sit with him.

Please help me bond with him again. He just grunts and runs at me at the minute. I hate going in his room cos I am scared of him.

get some wellies and thick clothes and show him your not scared. he will soon get bored of trying to frighten you hun.

i wonder whats up with him :?

not so good at what i preach, i still cant pick up Alvin unless hes at deaths door yet Ste who shows no fear never even gets a scratch :evil:

I don't know what's wrong with him but I don't like it! I will get him to vets on wed if things haven't improved but he doesn't look in pain.

I can pick him up as long as I can get behind him. He goes mental after a few mins though so I have to put him down,

He is gonna end up so fat as everytime I need to go in his room I throw pellets at him to distract him!

I'm presuming he's neutered, if not that's step one After that the first step is to work out why he's doing it and then break the cycle so he stops.

For example at tea time, he grunts and circles, so you put the bowl down quickly and get out his way. Yes? Next day he's learnt the more he grunts and circles the quicker he gets his food so he does it again, and you are left to deal with a madly grunting and circling rabbit.

If that sounds like your routine then you need to break it. Instead work out a new routine involving less of him chasing you out the door!

What your current feeding routine (when, what and in what way (bowl, ball, by hand etc.) and when do you have time to spend with him eg morning/evening/work commitments?

Do you have to keep the additional male bunny you took in? Why not revert back to your original two and find a new home for the extra bunny. Strawberry cannot help himself and he is going to continue whilst he knows he is there.

:wave: Awww he is just playing I reckon and getting the reaction so learning that behaviour. I would walk into the room whistling or singing and then walk out without having anything to do with him. If he runs at you or anything just ignore him. If he physically tries to harm you, it might be worth having a rattle - (an old milk bottle with some rice in it) and shake that at him and then leave whistling or singing. He is sensing your fear and feeding on it. If you do this it has to be continuous over a couple of hours every 10 minutes or so just walk in whistling/singing don't acknowledge him at all and then leave. Each time increase the time in the room but keep singing or whistling. Worth a try...

:wave: I know how you feel - sooty up to a few weeks before her spay was like this, she slept in the kitchen at night, became very territorial and would stand in the doorway and growl. in the end i refused to go in unless i really had to :lol::lol:

Now shes right as rain - i must admit i was scared of her but i started off as Donant says wear the thickest fleece, gloves everything and went in with the thought - so what if she bites me - its not going to cause death and it will just be a bit of blood..

Needless to say she hasnt bitten me since - I just sat there and stroked her for ages, left her when she wanted to be left but gradually with treats etc built bridges. Dont show your scared - sooty definetly reacted to that! talk softly, warn her youre there etc.. I talk to sooty all the time, if she growls i just talk as if shes a child 'oh you grumpy girl' but dont jump or anything. I got back on track because i started to think Sooty was thinking I didnt like her anymore because i never spent as much time with her as before - Straws may be being grumpy because he can sense you are not friends anymore
It will take a few weeks, but you do need to bond again - hope all this makes sense and i havent waffled too much :lol:

Snowberry said:

I don't know what's wrong with him but I don't like it! I will get him to vets on wed if things haven't improved but he doesn't look in pain.

I can pick him up as long as I can get behind him. He goes mental after a few mins though so I have to put him down,

He is gonna end up so fat as everytime I need to go in his room I throw pellets at him to distract him!

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mmm if he likes pellets he is gonna learn that he needs to do this to get more:lol: little tyke

Yes he is neutered, he was done a long time ago. He wasa bonded to snowdrop but attacked her on friday due to referred aggression when he was side by side with another male who we hoped to bond with him.

My OH has just sat with him and he doesn't attack him usually, just me. He thinks he was grinding his teeth though so gonna make an appointment for 2moro to get him checked over. He is eating as usual.

I work full time and do planning in evenings sodont have much time to spend with him which was fine when he was bonded. I am now trying to split my time between 3 single bunnies which is really hard. I will start working with him after work everyday

I darent hand feed him, he would bite my hand off! At the min I just put a hand ful of pellets on floor.

Snowberry said:

Yes he is neutered, he was done a long time ago. He wasa bonded to snowdrop but attacked her on friday due to referred aggression when he was side by side with another male who we hoped to bond with him.

My OH has just sat with him and he doesn't attack him usually, just me. He thinks he was grinding his teeth though so gonna make an appointment for 2moro to get him checked over. He is eating as usual.

I work full time and do planning in evenings sodont have much time to spend with him which was fine when he was bonded. I am now trying to split my time between 3 single bunnies which is really hard. I will start working with him after work everyday

I darent hand feed him, he would bite my hand off! At the min I just put a hand ful of pellets on floor.

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Aww he is picking up the fear - the grinding could be pain though deffo- can you not hand feed some spring greens or a small piece of banana or herbs he will smell that before wanting to bite you.

raine said:

Do you have to keep the additional male bunny you took in? Why not revert back to your original two and find a new home for the extra bunny. Strawberry cannot help himself and he is going to continue whilst he knows he is there.

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I had planned on rehoming Bungle but fell in love with him. He needsa special care becase of his long fur and bad teeth so I wanted to keep him with me but if there is no way he will bond with my 2 then I will have to let him go.

They are going to Fayes in december to try bonding. We will see what the best solution for all is but I dnt think strawbs and snow will work as a pair if he goes back to bullyinh her as he was before we even had bungle here.

took alvin over a month to get over boarding, he wasnt violent but Lou said she had to put a board to block his sight of other buns before he would stop chasing pearl and a month later at home he was still crazy humping the poor thing.. this referred agression thing is quite scary

is the boy still in your house? maybe while hes still there strawberry will not settle neautured or not

donnamt said:

took alvin over a month to get over boarding, he wasnt violent but Lou said she had to put a board to block his sight of other buns before he would stop chasing pearl and a month later at home he was still crazy humping the poor thing.. this referred agression thing is quite scary

is the boy still in your house? maybe while hes still there strawberry will not settle neautured or not

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Yes he is still here but is 2 floors away. I have all three in separate rooms and separate floors of the house! Roll on december when faye can try bonding and we will know what's going to happen with them all!

I'd be inclined to 'suit up' and protect yourself from him so that he doesnt get anywhere with his behaviour.

I've got bunnies (particularly Doris) who like to growl and lunge but I just pay very little attention to it ,in fact I find it quite amusing sometimes.

After a while they can't be bothered.....I think he is probably picking up on the fact you are scared by it.

Is there anyone who could look after Bungle for a while to see if it helps with Strawberry's behaviour?

sounds like a nightmare.. hang on in there hun, it will get better, he cant be a grumpy git forever xxxx

I was going to say do you think it may be worth taking Strawberry to the vets for a check up, but you beat me to it :lol:

I think I'd get him checked over just to make sure he's not in pain or anything with his teeth or something else.

If not, then I'd be tempted to try what Davina has suggested & basically make sure you're wearing clothes / shoes etc that he can't bite through. Hopefully he will soon get bored & realise that he's not getting a reaction out of you.

Get him checked first
then just bite the bullet and spend more time with him
I very rarely wear gloves with aggressive buns..just confident with them..but if you are scared wear some...don't throw his food down as won't help his behaviour
Remember how Jai was when he came here from you..well he's a cuddle bun now..just takes time and the right signals from you..

Throwing food at him when he's naughty is just going to encourage the behaviour. I would feed hay constantly as normal and use the rest of his food as reward for good behaviour or to encourage good behaviour. You don't say what/when you feed but I would do something on the lines of veggies in the morning fed in a way that encourages foraging eg hung up, in boxes, wrapped in paper etc. that will help him burn off energy. For pellets you should feed these one at a time in a controlled way. If you won't hand feed then put them in a specific place eg Scamp soon learned that my dad would only give him a treat when he jumped in the washing up bowl, so when he saw my dad he jumped in the bowl in anticipation. That's a much more reasonable response than chasing your feet in anticipation. To achieve it all you have to do is only ever give him a pellet when he is in the bowl. You can throw it in if you want.

In the meantime, put on some wellies and stop moving when he attacks so the behaviour becomes pointless. He will get bored and move away.

simplifying the diet also worked for tabitha - though as you know i had a 'naughty step' too. i have recently increased the pellets because of the cold weather (they are indoors but not heated) and noticed tabby is more 'nippy' with her brother but she is still polite to me. i can hand feed her, though. i don't know if i taught her the error of her ways or if she just grew up...she's a different bun now, so there must be hope for strawberry!

Thanks guys. Will get my wellies on and sit with him tonight. I have been in to feed him this morning and he didnt go for me.

I know everyone thinks it is Bungle that is causing this but it is something that has been getting worse for a while now, since before Bungle even came here. Strawberry has not been allowed out of his room since the fight as he has plenty of space in there and that way all the smells are confined. Bungle has never been out of the attic room. I dont want to remove Bungle from the house until Faye has tried to bond them.

I will try and get him in the vets tonight but I am tutoring so it may have to be tomorrow. Hopefully they will be able to fit me in. He has had small spurs before but wore them down himself so maybe they have started up again?