Adopted Rabbit Drawing Blood

[sophieali92]

Good Morning,

We are new to the forum but need some advice.


We have a a 6 month year old and nearly 1 year old mix breed. The 1 year old was adopted him as he had a previous owner who we were told had mistreated him. Because of this he has some behavior issues. For example, he is quite food aggressive but we have somewhat solved this by scattering food rather than using a food bowl.

But the main issue we have is biting. He goes for our ankles and hands. He has bitten us quite deeply, drawing blood. This behavior is getting worse and we do not know what to do. We have tried contacting the vets but they haven't got back to us. On 'good' days he is a lovely rabbit, but he has 'bad' days which we think is from his past home he quite aggressive. We do not see this in our other rabbit who hasn't got a previous owner.

We are running out of ideas. He is a lovely rabbit and we do accept that it isn't his fault but we can't go on like this.

He is not neutered at the moment but not sure if this is behavioral or hormonal

Thanks in advance,

 

[Shimmer]

Neutering may help with the unwanted behaviour, although it may be a few months for hormone levels to drop.

Are the rabbits living together? It may help, as the nippy bun may settle better with a companion. At least it will be a distraction.

The other thing to consider is space - he will be more stressed if he sees you as invaders of 'his' space. You may have to find a way of leaving him an area that he feels safe in. For cleaning, etc, devise a way of distracting him elsewhere (eg scattering food). Don't go into areas he considers 'his' without expecting to be warned off (eg nest areas). Let him be, or wait until he has hopped elsewhere. Forcing him to do what you want may just aggravate the situation.


If you can't pick him up, train him to follow food into a carrier with the door permanently open. It makes it easier when you need to transport him.

Food is often a good way to make positive associations. If you enter his area, take something nice. Maybe have a bowl of food handy, so you can just pick up some and get his attention on that, rather than your ankles - not just pellets, but eg dandelion leaves, grass, dry forage, fresh green willow twigs, apple leaves, etc.

Sit in his area (with food) and just let him come to you - it helps to build trust. Maybe wear thick trousers, or have a towel over your legs, just in case.

 

[dollyanna]

Good advice from Shimmer - you don't say how long you have had him, but rescued/rehomed animals can take a few months to settle in and feel safe, and if they have been mishandled previously they will be expecting the same from you. This doesn't need to be harsh abuse, but simply things like picking them up too much, taking food off them, generally being disrepectful to them and their needs.
I'd back off as much as you can, give him space or encourage him elsewhere when cleaning out etc so you are not at risk. But then at other times try just sitting nearby, don't interact, just sit, read a book or something. Let him come and explore you as he is ready. Gradually you could start taking small goodies in and offering them, but don't approach him with them, and don't move your hand towards him with them - just let him come and take them from you and then run away if he needs to. Try to be totally hands off and not invasive at all until he has had time to settle and feel safe around you. Gradually you can teach him to maybe jump up on a small platform or something similar so that when you need to move his food, clean him out, you can ask him up on there and put a pile of yummy stuff for him to munch so he doesn't worry so much.
And get him neutered, at least then you won't be wondering what his hormones are causing and you can start to bond him with your other one assuming that's the plan?

 

[sophieali92]

Thanks for the advice. Just to expand on my first post, we have had him since August 2020 and he is nearly 1 (he was 14 weeks when we adopted him). He is already in with our younger rabbit and has been for a good few months now and they get on really well.

To give you some more information about the biting. For example he hides under the sofa and then as we walk past darts out and bites, like he is lying in wait. Or we will walk past him in the hallway (so an open space) and he will dart and go for our ankles/legs.

We allow them to free roam somewhat regularly and their cage is big enough. Your advice on what he considers 'his' space is quite helpful, so thank you for that. I hope this gives more info on our rabbit. We don't want to give him up but we obviously want to sort things out.

 

[dollyanna]

Ok, that's quite a different scenario to what I expected!! I'd go down the neutering route first because my understanding is that it can help to reduce territorial issues considerably. That would be a very obvious thing to change.
But other than that, try tossing goodies to him when you are walking past, or just dropping it behind you, so that rather than feeling concerned enough to attack he associates you with bringing good things and doesn't get chance to practice biting.
There are rabbit behaviourists, I follow one on fb "Small Animal Training Resources" who posts some excellent stuff, so it might be worth getting in touch with someone like that to help understand this more. But behavioural issues are most often either an animal behaving like the animal they are which happens to be undesirable as a human, or an animal who is unwell or in pain. Understanding WHY he feels the need to do this as a rabbit will help you to change things for him so he doesn't need to do it any more.
You could also look at actually training him, doing something like clicker trick training, which can do wonders to strengthen the bond between you, and also teach beahviours like moving him around without touching him, putting himself in crates for vet visits, that kind of thing.

 

[tonibun]

Neutering will definitely help with his behaviour. Is the other Rabbit also male? It could also be caused by fear - fear aggression as it is called. Is the other Bunny neutered?

 

[sophieali92]

Neither rabbits are neutered but it is something we have been considering. Would it be worth getting both neutered? (the younger is about 6 months) Is the younger rabbit potentially going to learn the aggressive habits from the older one?

 

[dollyanna]

Goodness yes - not because the younger will learn aggressive habits (because I'm not convinced this is actually aggression rather than simply an entire male being an entire male) but because before long they are likely to fight if neither are neutered. I don't think it's possible to keep two entire males together happily, and if they do fight you could have an even bigger problem on your hands.

 

[Zigzag]

Agree, I’ve had two males and you need to neuter both. In fact if you have pet rabbits you should always neuter, unless there’s exceptional circumstances.

 

[Shimmer]

Definitely have both rabbits neutered. It will inevitably cause problems if one or both are entire. Both are old enough to be done. Then see how things go over the next few months.

It's good that the rabbits are OK together at the moment, but this may not last much longer if they remain un-neutered. There may be fear aggression, full on fights, territorial behaviour, etc. and the bond they have may break down irretrievably.

 

[sophieali92]

Thanks for all your help. The older rabbit has been booked in at the vets for neutering and we will also be getting the younger one in due course. You've all been really helpful so thanks again!