My rabbit lunges at me but then licks me after why?

Hi i have a 3 month old mini rex she was hand reared so she is really friendly all she wants to do is lick me and my parntner, the problem is now shes lunging at me when i lift my hands up but as soon as shes nere she starts licking me? is this aggression,fear or both? there have been times when she has been climing all over me and has scratched me with her claws ive reacted by moving her out of the way and sometimes i have to move her away because she's distracting me from my work could this be a reason of her lunging thinking she will be picked up?

Hello and welcome to RU :wave:

It is quite probably hormones that is causing this behaviour - lady buns can go from being the sweetest little darlings, to absolute horrors - and then back to sweet darlings in the space of a minute when their hormones kick in (just like human PMS:lol...my Cheyenne was like this, happily being stroked by her slave (me) and then suddenly lunging at me with her mouth wide open. I learnt very quick reflexes then :lol:

The only way to 'cure' these hormone is to have her spayed. This will calm her right down again - and she will revert back to the friendly girl she naturally is. The average age for spaying is 6 months old - but I've had 2 of my girls done at about 4.5 months and they've been fine. The MOST important thing here is to find a Rabbit Savvy vet - that is the most invaluable thing you can do - you will get great advice, and can be confident your bun is in the best hands. If you have a look at RWAF website - you will find a list of rabbit savvy vets there.

Best of luck with your rex - she does sound like a darling despite her naughtiness.

Oh and by the way - us lot on RU LOVE seeing photos of buns (just a wee hint there )

Can you video it? It's tricky to tell if it's aggression from your description. They can certainly ponce quite excitedly over strokes or food without it being nasty. Or the other hand, as Fellie say's her hormones will be kicking in around now and that may also make her defensive of her space.

sorry for the very very late reply i didnt save this website or my login details so ive been painstakingly trying to find it again lol and thank you for getting in touch with the advice it is tricky to tell but its becoming much more common now with her nipping us if we dont do something quite right with her so bossy she is lol so putting up a video might work but not too sure how to add them to this site, inluding the pics so any help on that would be great

If you upload to a photo sharing site eg photobucket you can then link to them.

It does sound like she's using nips to train you to do what she wants, so becareful not to let it work. You might find some thick boots handy!