ASBO bunny

We've had a foster rabbit with us for a couple of months now. The owners gave her up because she reached maturity and started thumping, grunting and thrashing out and it became impossible for them to get her out of the hutch. When we went to collect her, we discovered that the hutch was tiny. She's a medium sized lop and the hutch was only slightly bigger than her.
We've since had her spayed and 3 weeks have now passed and she's all healed. Bunny still likes to trash out (the backs of our hands get the worst of it) and we get the worst of it when we have to put our hands into the hutch to feed her. She also thumps and grunts and is still almost impossible to pick up. (Although her new hutch is MUCH bigger.)
It's coming to that time when she should be adopted to her forever home but I don't think anyone would want her Imagine if the new owners arrived to collect her and she shredded up their hands!
Is there hope for her? Would bonding with another bunny show her the error of her ways? I know that some extra space would be beneficial but our garden recently had fox intruders and isn't pet proof. We don't have a run for her because we only have what the charity can give us.
Any help on this matter gladly accepted and appreciated!

Do you know why she is aggressive? Is she anxious? blind? Deaf? in pain? do you smell of other bunnies when you go to her? Has she been abused? Was she taken away from mum too early?

What's she like out of her area?

With any potential adopter you need to be completely honest with them about what she is like. Some people thrive on taking special needs bunnies, and many more can't cope, so you're looking for the right home for her.

A friend can help, but doesn't always. The most important thing to do, first, is work out why she behaves as she does. Then you can work out how to help her.

Aggression

Thanks for your reply. We assumed the aggression was because she was so territorial about her tiny space. When she's out of the hutch, she starts off really docile and still and ends up running around and exploring but occasionally thumping and grunting. When we try to catch her to put her to bed, she'll grunt, thump and try to get us with her front claws. She also really flips out when she's being carried and yesterday she bit me (softly) when I was trying to carry her to her hutch. We have found it impossible to train her because she's not interested in food when she's out and about and when she's in the hutch she'll eat from our hands one day and scratch us the next.
I just hope I can do more for her so she doesn't end up being neglected.

Territorialness (if that's a word) is created from anxiety about invasion into the rabbits 'safe place' (hormones or no hormones). If she is territorial, then it may be because she is anxious.

So then you look at why she is anxious.

I would be testing her sight and hearing if you can. What marking and breed is she?

It sounds like whoever has her is going to have to wind her trust and be able to accept her qith quirks and all. Her set up will need to have a large area of permanent space so that she doesn't ever feel scared and enclosed again.

She's a French lop I believe. http://www.flickr.com/photos/debravdoherty/6915537745/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/debravdoherty/6915557245/

I'll make sure the charity is clear in their description when they're rehoming her, I don't want anyone to be misled.

Our bun was the same, my son spent hours sat next to the cage talking to him until the bun got tired of thumping and growling and realised that no one was going to hurt him. After that we let him out while we just sat around on the floor, no one went near him we just did our own thing and then after a couple of weeks he threw one of the toys right at me so I threw it back at him and he looked at me like I was stupid and ran off. Day after that though he climbed up on my son's knee and let him stroke him and then he slowly turned into a cuddly bun that would happily hop over for a snug. However, he never stopped thumping when he was cross, if you didn't feed him dead on time he would thump and when I worked he would thump and expect me to thump back or else he'd get cross and come over and nip my foot! If you had to pick him up you always had to use a towel because he would always scratch and get frightened but other than that was a really loving bun.

Just have some patience with her, she'll settle down with you but because she learnt to be scary she doesn't know how much fun it can be being friendly, she'll get there and someone will love her so long as you let them know all her quirks!

OMG She's adorable, if only I had space.

I agree with the sight/hearing test. I have a bun with poor eyesight and at first he was extreamly nervy. His response was more a flea than fight but equally distressing. Once we were aware of his problem we could work with it and he's much happier.

Tests

Her sight is definitely fine. She turns around to stare at me when I go to the window! I'll test the hearing later on. If it is her hearing, I can't see how that would make her attack us when she can see us. Why do they have to be so mysterious!!

DeevDee said:

Her sight is definitely fine. She turns around to stare at me when I go to the window! I'll test the hearing later on. If it is her hearing, I can't see how that would make her attack us when she can see us. Why do they have to be so mysterious!!

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She is unlikely to 'stare' because sight is their least active sense. Most of mine when they look like they are staring are actually smelling. If you make a noise going over to the window then she might turn towards the noise and then smell to work out what is there, for example, or she might be able to smell your arrival.

Can I ask, what colour is she?

ETA- just seen her photos. It's not a colour stereotypicall associated with eyesight issues unless she also has vienna there that isn't showing, maybe. Do her eyes ever have a ruby glow?

Shes ever so pretty.
It doesw take a while for the hormones to die down I must admit.
I have a little growler...a wriggler too.Shes been here 5 weeks now.
Sometimes it just takes time, but do just eliminate eyesight/hearing probs first.
Best of luck with her.Im sure the next time we hear from you, youll have joined the failed fosterers club cos you cant bear to be apart from her!!!!

No ruby glow in the eyes. Lovely and brown and black
We've done some tests on her and spoken to the vet.
It's looking very likely that she is deaf.
I was waving veg in front of her today, totally in silence, and she was following it around wherever it went, and like I said, she sees me in the window and watches me.
We put her down facing away from us and clapped our hands - nothing.
The vet said that it would explain a lot!
So...now we have an explanation we can put that in her description and hopefully her new owner will work out how to work around it.
In the meantime, is there any info out there about working with deaf bunnies? I can't find anything. It's super hard to train a deaf bunny!

I would be careful to stay in sight of her, ie don't creap up behind her where she can't see you as not being able to hear you coming it could be a bit frightening and account for her anxious behaviour.

I'm glad you have an answer!

I agree with staying in his eyesight. If he is indoors you can do things like a quick flick of your light switches before you approach. That way he will learn. You can use a torch outside.

I have a Dopey who is partially deaf and partially sighted. Thankfully she is bonded with two buns and relies heavily on them. A friend and a slow bond might make things easier.

*lily*'s Louie is deaf so she might be a good person to talk to.

Sorry for using wrong gender. I'm in my phone so it's hard to change it. I'll do my best to do it later.

Sky-O said:

Sorry for using wrong gender. I'm in my phone so it's hard to change it. I'll do my best to do it later.

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Funny thing is, when we got her the owners thought she was a he, and she has still got a boy's name!

We're trying to be more careful around her but the aggression is still there. Hopefully that'll wear off with time. I think it would benefit her to have a friend too.