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Please help! Sex mad bunny; terrified owner

Coral

New Kit
I know this probably sounds really silly. After all - who would be terrified of a small fluffy animal with floppy ears?

Well, it's not a joke. I'm heading for terrified, but maybe I just have a bad disposition or something... :?

To explain:
I got Blackberry - a dwarf lop - from rescue last September. He's approximately seven years old now, and he used to be a stud male used for breeding.

During the time I've had him, he has been a flat bunny, with complete freerange around my flat. He's also taken to following me around, and generally getting underfoot, no matter how hard you try to avoid him.

More recently - for the past 2 weeks at least - he won't leave me alone. He even follows me to the bathroom! And if I set foot in the lounge, which is the room he spends most time in, I can't begin to avoid him. He keeps trying to grab my leg and really goes for it. I don't like it, and have a bad instinctive reaction to him trying to do so - my leg flies out, and he ends up moved away from me, even though it's only gently.

When I'm watching TV, if he's not biting around my ankles, he is trying to hump my leg, and when I move my legs up and away from him, he'll nip any part of me he can get to in order to get me to do what he wants. It's become so bad that he'll even try to hump my knee when I'm kneeling on the floor, and will nip me if I move him away.

I can't walk sedately through the lounge, as he grabs me, but when I move fast, he narrowly avoids getting nudged by my feet. I feel like I'm being pursued all the time, and it scares me.

I have considered having him neutered, but I'm worried about his age. Would this be a good or bad idea? He's very lively still, and in incredibly good health.

Or if anyone has any other suggestions, they would be incredibly welcome. I've started closing doors in my flat now just to keep him out. I've never shut the doors before. I just can't handle much more of Blackberry like this. He's driving me crackers. I wish he would leave me alone.

I'm sorry if this sounds melodramatic, and I'm sure plenty of you would be able to deal with this fine. But if you could humour me in my newfound terror of rabbits, I'd be very grateful, as I really don't know what to do about him.
 
The poor boy must be so frustrated - it's mating season and he has been a stud buck for all that time - how sad for him :(
I can understand that he is scaring you but he will also sense that fear and will be very confused.
If he is in good health then there is no problem about him getting neutered - it will help him as some bucks get so bad that all they can think of is mating - and it drives them mad as they stop eating and sleeping :(
Get him booked in with a good vet - be prepared for his neuter to take a little longer to get out of his system with - in other words, he will still be horny for a longer time than a youngster who has his bits off and then settles quite quickly.
In the meantime, can you get him a couple of larger teddies to "play" with - remember, it's not his fault - it's what buns do and more so now with the spring here and the fact that he was a stud buck.
Give him a cuddle from me :D
Our oldest buck to be neutered was eight and a half and came through the op with flying colours :D He is now twelve and a half :D
 
It could be a dominance behaviour - the living room is his territory so that's why he reacts so much in there. I guess you have to show him that you are top bunny - not quite sure how. Humoty did this when I first got him - I know what you mean about being scared - I was jumping up on the sofa and sitting on my feet so he couldn't get me! In the end I didn't let him chase me around and I didn't run away from him. If he was being too puchy I would just put a firm hand on his back so he couldn't jump up and gently move him away. On another thread someone mentioned that if you give them a gentle tap on their rear (obviously so as not to hurt them) then that signals in "bunny language"" that you are in charge.
 
By the sounds of things the little guy needs the "chop" to ease his own frustrations! Let alone spare you from his venting those frustrations!

Good luck!

AMETHYST
 
Smudge had a habit of 'humping' my head which was a pain to say the least. I gave him this to play with and he left me alone after that!!!

smudge063.jpg
 
Sounds like he needs the chop poor bun! I also gave Jack a soft toy bunny about the same size as him to ease his "tension"!! Worked a treat! :lol: :lol:
 
Spacegirl said:
It could be a dominance behaviour - the living room is his territory so that's why he reacts so much in there. I guess you have to show him that you are top bunny - not quite sure how. Humoty did this when I first got him - I know what you mean about being scared - I was jumping up on the sofa and sitting on my feet so he couldn't get me! In the end I didn't let him chase me around and I didn't run away from him. If he was being too puchy I would just put a firm hand on his back so he couldn't jump up and gently move him away. On another thread someone mentioned that if you give them a gentle tap on their rear (obviously so as not to hurt them) then that signals in "bunny language"" that you are in charge.

I do the tap on the bum thing with my rabbits all the time. I do it if i need them to move out my way if i am cleaning or something and to get them into their hutch at night. I heard that when a rabbit nips another on the bum it means get out of my way, so by tapping them on the bum you are telling them to move. It works wonders - they move every time. You dont need to do it very hard, just a really gentle tap. In a way that is telling them you are boss too, cos I imagine if a boss rabbit was in the way of another rabbit, then the boss rabbit wouldnt be asked to move but the other would jump over him instead. Its quite good for when they are being naughty too, quite often by tapping htem on the bum, they will stop what they are doing, unless of course they are really determined, then you have no chance!
 
Thank you for your help and suggestions :) . I felt a lot calmer after reading them, and reassured that I could at least ask the vet about neutering Blackberry.

In the meantime, I have given him a toy :wink: . He took rather well to it, and, at least temporarily, my leg has been left alone.

I have also tried gently tapping him when he starts nipping my ankles too, to try to discourage him from that pursuit.

He still follows me around, and is a constant tripping hazard, but there you go :roll: .
 
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