Where did we go wrong as parents?

Pippin was hand reared in a nice middle class home, we gave him all the advantages of good food, we were stay at home parents, his Papa was there every morning and evening to do lots of bonding with him, we kept him away from rough bunnies, we gave him all his vacs and vet checks, . . . and although we did debate it we didnt even send him to boarding school . .

Now he is past puberty (and had his plums off) we have started trying to introduce him to some nice girlie buns . . last week we 'suggested' he might like to live in an independant group of buns of both sexes in rent free accommodation . .


But he has turned into a hooligan - a street fighter.

His idea of 'fun' is running up behind other rabbits and biting their bottoms and running away again. He has alienated two nice girlie buns, terrified all the male buns, and actually caused physical damage to another staid and quite elderly nethie girlie (with no teeth) by biting and scratching her rear end .

He even bit the lovely young girlie wildie we got specially for him . .

Seriously - where did we go wrong???? And what on earth do we do with him now?

Your post made me laugh, sorry :lol:

I think, really, he doesn't realise he is a bunny and so doesn't have the necessary social skills and has developed maladaptive strategies to get them to 'play' or give him attention.

I have had bunnies with maladaptive social skills be bondable, but it's taken the right kind of bunny (often a very tolerant bunny) and more a 'dating' approach than a 'put them together' approach, so that the other bunny doesn't get distressed or stressed and so that he ca learn his skills gradually over time.

Really, you did a sensational job as parents because he has forgotten he is a bunny and is very happy being a little furry person with long ears. I had one of these too, but with some time he has turned into an amazing bunny friend and just spends his time grooming the others very happily. I also had one who had a thing about chewing eyes, which also provoked fights because, funnily enough, the girlie didn't like it. They are very happily bonded now too. Just took some time and patience on all accounts.

Sky-O said:

Your post made me laugh, sorry :lol:

I think, really, he doesn't realise he is a bunny and so doesn't have the necessary social skills and has developed maladaptive strategies to get them to 'play' or give him attention.

I have had bunnies with maladaptive social skills be bondable, but it's taken the right kind of bunny (often a very tolerant bunny) and more a 'dating' approach than a 'put them together' approach, so that the other bunny doesn't get distressed or stressed and so that he ca learn his skills gradually over time.

Really, you did a sensational job as parents because he has forgotten he is a bunny and is very happy being a little furry person with long ears. I had one of these too, but with some time he has turned into an amazing bunny friend and just spends his time grooming the others very happily. I also had one who had a thing about chewing eyes, which also provoked fights because, funnily enough, the girlie didn't like it. They are very happily bonded now too. Just took some time and patience on all accounts.

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Pippin spent time with his baby "cousins" when they were all young as they were only a little older than him, so he at least had some one on one bunny contact.

I don't know what to say Twigs....he's had a wonderful life with you. Maybe a little sit down talk is needed. He might have gone off the rails because he's starting to wonder whether you're his real parents! He might have heard rumours through the runs. :shock:

RubyTed said:

Pippin spent time with his baby "cousins" when they were all young as they were only a little older than him, so he at least had some one on one bunny contact.

I don't know what to say Twigs....he's had a wonderful life with you. Maybe a little sit down talk is needed. He might have gone off the rails because he's starting to wonder whether you're his real parents! He might have heard rumours through the runs. :shock:

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Because the 'babies' (our 6 accidents) were born two weeks ahead of him, and are also x-giant size he actually spent very little time with them - as they sometimes knocked him over by accident . . but he did spend a few hours as often as we could -


I feel such a rubbish parent . . .

parsnipbun said:

Because the 'babies' (our 6 accidents) were born two weeks ahead of him, and are also x-giant size he actually spent very little time with them - as they sometimes knocked him over by accident . . but he did spend a few hours as often as we could -


I feel such a rubbish parent . . .

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You're awesome. What you did was raise him despite the odds, give him a life, a home, happiness and a future. Yes, sometimes with stuff like that things don't go to plan further down the line but that doesn't mean it's not fixable or sortable. It just means you need to be creative.

(plus, even if he had spent time with them, they can still 'forget' skills- my 'eye chewer' had lived with his siblings for 7 months but forgot very quickly when he became so sociable with people. Once he remembered he wasn't a person, but was a rabbit, he did fine).

:lol: Nothing constructive from me I'm afriad, but that's really made me laugh!

Sometimes we do our absolute best as parents but the kids just go their own ways. It could be because he is in his teenage rebellious stage and just wants to be in his room with loud music and junk food. He will come out of that stage eventually but till then I think you have to be patient. Maybe try not cleaning his room or doing his laundry until he understands that you mean business. He definitely won't be happy going out in dirty undies.

Good luck and hopefully soon he will realise girls are to be treated gently and with respect instead f teased and bullied.

I think it's because he should have come to Somerset and been Pilot the puppehs best friend, he adores bunnies, even the rough ones

I gather from Sky-O's post he was handreared?

When I was younger my mother had to hand rear one of the baby buns, Scamp (we thought she was a boy when we named her), and she never quite fitted in with the other buns, I couldnt put my finger on it but I would spend hours just watching them, and she didnt seem to interact with them the same as other rabbits, she seemed almost clumsy with her socialisation skills. I'm sorry its not any help, but I think that sometimes if animals dont spend their early weeks amoung their own kind they dont turn out quite the same as normal ones.

And is this the rabbit that hasnt been neutered? I imagine there are reasons why you havent/cant (I dont know his history sorry), but hormones may go part of the way to explaining his behaviour.

You've just found out the truth about wildies I'm afraid...they turn into horrible little hooligans as soon as they reach sexual maturity :lol: Sorry I shouldn't laugh

He is neutered - but he was hand reared (from 9 days old)

he is just over 8 months now . .

Pippin is now 'staying' with a more mature and independent minded lady bun (a sort of great aunt figure . . ) who we are hoping will hlp develop his social skills . . if not its boarding school for him :shock:

parsnipbun said:

Pippin is now 'staying' with a more mature and independent minded lady bun (a sort of great aunt figure . . ) who we are hoping will hlp develop his social skills . . if not its boarding school for him :shock:

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Fingers crossed that the great aunt works her magic. If not I am happy to act as boarding school for wayward teens!

parsnipbun said:

Pippin is now 'staying' with a more mature and independent minded lady bun (a sort of great aunt figure . . ) who we are hoping will hlp develop his social skills . . if not its boarding school for him :shock:

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At least you have just about every category of bun to try him with! :lol: