Nipping - ? mistaking for food

I will apologise firstly for asking lots of questions in different catorgories!

I have just got a 4mth old male dutch rabbit from a well known nationwide chain of pet stores. He had been for sale since July & no-one wanted him. The store had been told to sell him on his own because he didnt like being with his bunny friends.
He was sold to us warning that he may bite, although he didnt do it to everyone and didnt seem to do it at all if you avoided his mouth.
This seems to be true, it is easy to stroke him on his ears, neck, shoulders and back. He will take food out of a flat hand (Havent tried to pick him up yet, only had him 4 days!).
However if you feed him holding something in your fingers, he may bite you on his way to picking the food out of your fingers. Also if your hand is going near/past the front of his head (as if you were reaching past him to pick up his bowl) he sometimes reaches up and bites you as if he thought you had food.
Am I reading this correctly? That he is mistaking for food? Or is he being aggressive about food or territory? He is happy for you to stroke him whilst he is eating his pellets etc. and it is more of a sharp nip rather than a bit.
Thanks a lot, any advice would be very welcome as we would like to make him as comfortable as possible.

Hannah4 said:

I will apologise firstly for asking lots of questions in different catorgories!

I have just got a 4mth old male dutch rabbit from a well known nationwide chain of pet stores. He had been for sale since July & no-one wanted him. The store had been told to sell him on his own because he didnt like being with his bunny friends.
He was sold to us warning that he may bite, although he didnt do it to everyone and didnt seem to do it at all if you avoided his mouth.
This seems to be true, it is easy to stroke him on his ears, neck, shoulders and back. He will take food out of a flat hand (Havent tried to pick him up yet, only had him 4 days!).
However if you feed him holding something in your fingers, he may bite you on his way to picking the food out of your fingers. Also if your hand is going near/past the front of his head (as if you were reaching past him to pick up his bowl) he sometimes reaches up and bites you as if he thought you had food.
Am I reading this correctly? That he is mistaking for food? Or is he being aggressive about food or territory? He is happy for you to stroke him whilst he is eating his pellets etc. and it is more of a sharp nip rather than a bit.
Thanks a lot, any advice would be very welcome as we would like to make him as comfortable as possible.

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Biting in rabbits can mean a variety of things. If he bites you if your hand is near his head, he might feel threatened by it. If he nips, gently tap his nose and say 'no' firmly. This should help reduce this behaviour.

When he reaches out and nips you, what are his ears doing? Buns display how they feel in their body language and their ears are the easiest indicators. Catching your fingers when feeding him is just him snatching. He most likely does this because he'll be used to having to "fight" for his food when with so many other buns in a pet shop. Or he might just be greedy. :lol:
Rabbits nip for lots of reasons. Maybe he is mistaking your hand for food, I doubt he'll have had much attention in the pet shop apart from being fed and so associates hands with food. He may nip if you startle him, do you think his eyesight is ok? He may nip for attention or maybe he is being territorial.

He is 4 months old and will be hitting sexual maturity so neutering him is a good idea. He can be neutered as soon as his "plumbs" show providing he weighs enough. Many male rabbits will start to get a bit nippy at this age and also start spraying and humping. I wouldn't listen to what the pet shop staff say too much, most have no idea about rabbits or their behaviour. I would pop him to a vet to check that he is definitely a he and get him vaccinated. :thumb:

When stroking him only stroke his nose and ears for now, until you get to know him better. Some bunnies get quite insulted if you touch their chin because you are actually saying "groom me!" to them...and that is rude! :lol: Fiver (my dutch x) will nip if I touch his chin or mouth because of this.

This is a very useful website. http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

WelshieBun said:

Biting in rabbits can mean a variety of things. If he bites you if your hand is near his head, he might feel threatened by it. If he nips, gently tap his nose and say 'no' firmly. This should help reduce this behaviour.

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Please don't do this. Rabbits aren't dogs and won't understand what you are trying to tell him to do. The best way to stop nipping for attention is to simply ignore them or move away from them/turn your back on them. This is "bunny language" and ignoring a bun is letting them know that you are displeased with their behaviour.

Vegan_Bunny said:

Please don't do this. Rabbits aren't dogs and won't understand what you are trying to tell him to do. The best way to stop nipping for attention is to simply ignore them or move away from them/turn your back on them. This is "bunny language" and ignoring a bun is letting them know that you are displeased with their behaviour.

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Thanks for the tip though, haven't had a lot of experience with nipping since my bun doesn't seem to bite unless he's annoyed.

Bunny biting

Hannah4 said:

I will apologise firstly for asking lots of questions in different catorgories!

Also if your hand is going near/past the front of his head (as if you were reaching past him to pick up his bowl) he sometimes reaches up and bites you as if he thought you had food.
Am I reading this correctly?

I know this is an old quote but didn't think anyone had commented on this specifically. Putting you hand in any rabbits face wether it is an accident or not especially a new rabbit is a sign of aggression by the rabbit and they will bite if bitting is in their nature. I had a very feisty miss Mini rex and learnt this the hard way. Another thing that she keep biting my hands were when I was wearing hand cream or perfume she didn't like, or if I had olive oil one my hands which she loved. To minimise the biting I made an effort not to accidentally put my hands in front of her face and stopped wearing anything on my hands. We also had a hutch that was up off the ground and she would bite when I got her out in the morning. I now know that it is her space not mine to go into so we made ramp for her, we just opened the door and she let herself out. I used to turn my back on her a bit as well, this does work. They will sometime come around to apologise to you.

P.s. She has now been spade and never really bits anymore.

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