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Aggressive bun

Domino27

Domino27

Mama Doe
Ok, I am currently looking after next door's rabbit. She is very unpredictable. No way of even touching this rabbit as she will immediately lunge for you and I, alas, do not have the time to sit and get her to start trusting humans and stop defending her territory. She isn't neutered either which doesn't help.

I have given her fresh hay and a bowl of pellets which she has wolfed down. She isn't afraid of coming up to you at all but constantly tries to get at the back of your legs, which when she does, her owner says she bites.

So, there I am with gloves (and shorts on) and a brush to stop her from getting to the back of me (not using it to hit her with it btw just there for her to lunge at rather than me).

Now I have never been scared of rabbits but this one makes me feel relatively uneasy as I'm not sure what she will do - again obviously as she isn;t my own doesn't help.

Any tips? I have two weeks to go.... :shock:
 
Ah yes, sorry. I think just damage limitation and then education of the owners is probably all you can do.

Also, it may be made worse by you smelling of your rabbits (if you have rabbits, I'm guessing you do), so if you could minimise how much you smell of your bunnies, that may also help.
 
Sky-O said:
Ah yes, sorry. I think just damage limitation and then education of the owners is probably all you can do.

Also, it may be made worse by you smelling of your rabbits (if you have rabbits, I'm guessing you do), so if you could minimise how much you smell of your bunnies, that may also help.
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Hmm well that's going to be a bit impossible but I see what you are getting at. I do have bunnies (see my sig :))

I have suggested to them to get her neutered but I think this may fall on deaf ears. The bun has already attacked her youngest child on a number of occasions but as the rabbit is 3 (and she thought they only lived til 3/4 anyway) she has never bothered to get her done. I doubt she will do this on her return.
 
Wear thick denims and possibly leggings underneath so you know she wont get your flesh :)

I used a cat tickle stick (stick with feather on the end) to befriend an aggressive foster i had. Just a couple of tickles a few times a day.

If she has not bitten you yet, try not to fear her, just be aware of her. Not as easy as it sounds, none of us like getting bitten :oops:
 
ShazzaBunny said:
Wear thick denims and possibly leggings underneath so you know she wont get your flesh :)

I used a cat tickle stick (stick with feather on the end) to befriend an aggressive foster i had. Just a couple of tickles a few times a day.

If she has not bitten you yet, try not to fear her, just be aware of her. Not as easy as it sounds, none of us like getting bitten :oops:
Click to expand...

:thumb: yeah, she is such a big bunny though in comparison to my two so I know a bite from her will be nasty. Think I'll get my work boots on and jeans :)
 
Poor baby, bless her. Can you feed her her favourite thing (probably pellets) first and do what you need to while she eats those? I find this works well with Nutmeg.
 
Schuette said:
Poor baby, bless her. Can you feed her her favourite thing (probably pellets) first and do what you need to while she eats those? I find this works well with Nutmeg.
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Her favourite thing is banana, I did this at first but they give her a whole one each day so I've cut it down to a quarter in the morning and 1/4 at night. She nearly ripped my hand off for it.
Anyway I did that but she finished it pretty quickly so the next thing was dried food. They don't give her dried food as she "eats grass" all day...
 
Have you had a tenanus booster? I had mine updated when Spenser bit me earlier in the summer. :shock:
 
One of my buns used to be quite aggressive. I found that she hated you coming from either side of her, but if you were to nose rub and come from the front, that seemed to be ok. In the early days, I used to put one hand gently on the back of her neck to hold it in place so she couldn't turn her head, while I used the other hand to grab her food bowl :oops:
 
Hc1 said:
One of my buns used to be quite aggressive. I found that she hated you coming from either side of her, but if you were to nose rub and come from the front, that seemed to be ok. In the early days, I used to put one hand gently on the back of her neck to hold it in place so she couldn't turn her head, while I used the other hand to grab her food bowl :oops:
Click to expand...

This is also true with Nutmeg. Approach from a certain way and she doesn't seem to see you coming which surprises her and she lunges. I never approach her around the eyes unless I'm sure she realises I am there.
 
Hc1 said:
One of my buns used to be quite aggressive. I found that she hated you coming from either side of her, but if you were to nose rub and come from the front, that seemed to be ok. In the early days, I used to put one hand gently on the back of her neck to hold it in place so she couldn't turn her head, while I used the other hand to grab her food bowl :oops:
Click to expand...

Sadly I can't even get any where near her for a nose rub she will literally attack anything in front, side, back of her and the GRUNT that comes from her...wow.

Day two has gone relatively well, I left her with fresh hay and some pellets last night which she was happily nomming on. This morning she was at the front looking for food like mine do, I made sure there was a 1/4 banana outside for her to grab as soon as she came out and she ran off with that into the garden. She's not grunted at me today, she now associates me with a bowl of food twice a day but she still tries to get to the back of my legs - work boots are working a treat!

Gave her a good clean out...

The back gate, whilst I was stood in her hutch, then popped open and I very nearly had to spend the whole day chasing this darned rabbit around the estate and back into the garden. My heart bounced into my mouth as I saw her creep towards the gate, luckily I managed to get there before she did....*phew*.

She's been out all day today so I shall see how long it takes me to get her back in the hutch this evening.... :?
 
Sound like you're doing pretty well with her.:thumb: Good luck getting her back to base - I hope you have another banana to hand! ;)
 
hahah there are LOADS of them in the shed for me :D

last night I made sure she could see it and then tossed it into the hutch...however 10mins later she's still outside and trying to get round the side of me... *sigh*
 
Domino27 said:
Her favourite thing is banana, I did this at first but they give her a whole one each day so I've cut it down to a quarter in the morning and 1/4 at night. She nearly ripped my hand off for it.
Click to expand...

That's far too much sugar for a rabbit. She's probably bouncing off the walls, which for an unspayed doe is likely to show up as aggression. I mean, look what a diet of sugar and junk food does to children. She definitely needs weaning off that banana.
 
AnyBunny said:
That's far too much sugar for a rabbit. She's probably bouncing off the walls, which for an unspayed doe is likely to show up as aggression. I mean, look what a diet of sugar and junk food does to children. She definitely needs weaning off that banana.
Click to expand...

I know this, she was on a full banana a day and ive cut her down to less than that. I posted up a similar thread a few weeks ago. People advised me not to cut it out all together but she is getting weened off it.
 
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