Right or wrong??

Well as you all know our boys are now all seperated and some of them are showing signs of agression.

Dave in particular is being very agressive towards us and will lunge, scratch, growl and bite anyone who goes near him, even when it's to feed him or clean his cage out.

What is the correct way to deal with this situation because I have read conflicting information on different sites.

Thanks in advance for you help.

Tracey x

Are they neutered? If not that's the first step. Unfortunately even neutered boys will sometimes fight amongst themselves.

Are you certain they are all boys? It's unusual (though not unknown) for males to be territorially aggressive, which is what you're describing with Dave. It's more common in females.

Tam

All the boys are neutered yes so defo all boys! Dave and Roger were done over 2 months ago but Dave has only just started this aggression towards us since the fighting/seperation.

Currently got him in the lounge with us and is showing no sign of aggression at all so it must be territorial.

This could be understandable because he used to 'rule' the roost of the shed and now he's back in the shed but on his own. Could this be the reason he's aggressive?? He is also being protective of a wound which he suffered in the fight which we think they have put atleast 4 stiches in.

Tracey x

Are you handling the Bun he had a fight with before you try to approach him?
If you SMELL of his enemy he will think you are his enemy.

Janex

No not handling them before hand. Like i said he seems fine in the lounge with us here albeit very nervous with sudden movements and hands approaching but no sign of biting/lunging.

Tracey X

www.houserabbit.org.uk have some useful info about dealing with aggression.
One thing my hubby does with Billy is to press his head to the floor when he's getting carried away and biting, its apparently bunny talk for 'i'm the boss!'

Nicola

thanks Nichola, will try that!.

Tracey x

When we 1st got Mr Sniffs, he was very protective of his little hutch that he came in. He would go for me when putting anything in his hutch but now hes been done and has a bigger space, he is fine and even will eat out of my hands.

Is Dave's eyesight ok? He looks from your sig that he might be a red eyed bun, and I think that poor eyesight is much more common in those. Sometimes aggression can be due to not being able to see properly what is coming :?

RUSSIANBEAR said:

When we 1st got Mr Sniffs, he was very protective of his little hutch that he came in. He would go for me when putting anything in his hutch but now hes been done and has a bigger space, he is fine and even will eat out of my hands.

Click to expand...

Thats the most frustrating thing, he used to be friendly etc just since the big fight he has become like it, the other 3 are just timid now.

Tracey x

Is he a nervous rabbit? It might be that he isn't confident with you, and has now resorted to aggression to keep you away from him. Might be worth sitting in his shed with him (if he isn't so bad that you can't get in!) and try hand feeding + building his confidence. Perhaps try a hands off approach for a while, always rewarding him with food when he comes up to you and taking it from there. Introduce a carrier so that if you do need to move him, he will run in there and it avoids you having to catch him, especially if he doesn't like it.

I have a generic rabbit handling behaviour programme, that I got from my rabbit behaviour course which I could write up for you.

Nicola

Never used to be nervous.

Like I have said before, we got roger and dave first then 2 months later introduced blue and billy. They all lived together for a couple of months, happy and friendly.

roger and dave were castrated back in August before the other 2 arrived and things were fine.

Then the fighting started. So we seperated them all as they all seemed to be fighting, couldnt find out who started it etc.

Dave had to have stitches following one of his fights.
Now none of them seem to like each other but we will try again at a later date as they look fairly fed up and lonely, apart from Blue who is living indoors at the moment, ran out of room and places in the garden!.

Blue and billy have also been castrated.

I just find it confusing why all of a sudden they started fighted and now dont like each other.

Probably all trying to be the "boss" now they are all grown up

Tracey x