• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

He's so aggressive.. I don't know what to do :'(

Ok but it sounds like you both go & yet you are the only one who he grumps at.
I can't really suggest anything else at this point & can only reiterate what others have said.
Try more hay & vary his toys. Organise a larger living environment, which you would need if you get a wife for him anyway. I suspect a wifebun may solve things for you.
I will say that animals do seem to have preferences for 'their' human. In our house they do any way! I have heard other RUers mention this too.
I'm sure you will get this solved, try not to feel too despondent about it.
 
River said:
That's another thing, I have never left poo or wee in the cage after i clean it. I take out the bottom of the cage(it's removable) I wash it, I clean out his litter box and wash it, I wash out his food bowl, I wash his towel, i put them all back in nice and neat, with a big pile of hay and a full water bottle. Should i save some poops and put them back in his cage?
Click to expand...

When you clean him out I would take the poo and the bedding he's weed on, and keep putting it in his litter tray until he learns to use it. If you leave it just in the hutch he will think he can still go there. and never scrub his litter box with disinfectant or he might forget.

Is he a lop? Because if he is (and in fact with most rabbits) make sure you arent ever putting your hand right in front of his face, or moving things in his hutch that are right in front of his face?

Does he get plenty of exercise? Because that might chill him out a bit. Or you could get him a bigger hutch? (sorry if you've already answered these questions :oops: I've had a quick scan through the thread but I might have missed them!)

Good luck with finding a job and with your rabbit!
 
It sounds like there is some improvement already! Maybe just ignoring him until he realises he isn't going to get a rise out of you will be enough.

Do you ever sit on the floor with him and let him explore you?

And I'm sure you are already doing this but...

When you see other rabbits are you picking them up and holding them? If so do you change your clothes when you get back in?

I have two pairs and if I clean the lops out first and then go and do the lionheads Nutmeg will try to attack me because I've been kneeling on the floor on the lops' things. Just simple transfer from the vetbed to my trousers is enough for her to go for me or her husbun Smudge because my trousers are at her level.
 
Norty bunneh :no:
It sounds like he's trying to bump his social status up by bumping yours down! It's no laughing matter when they latch on though is it?
I'm sure if you follow the advice here and don't react to his attempts to drive you off his behaviour will improve. I'm pretty sure a ladyfriend of his own will help keep him occupied too when you are ready :)
 
I think if you neuter him, get him a spayed female and bigger accomodation you'll have a different bunny. He just sounds hormonal and territorial, Teddy started lunging at me (big french lop!) when i fed him and he was originally on his own in a hutch/run, since moving him next to my other buns hes much happier and my plan is to bond him with them :)
 
Thank you so much you guys, you're all so supportive. I'm not entierly sure of his breed. The best myself, you all, and the vet can assume is hes dwarf/lop. Though last time we were at the vet their records said mini lop. He's not a full lop however, he has the longer ears, but they stick up, or one falls over, or they both fall over but they dont go straight down they stick straight out ect.

I'll admit I have put my hand down in front of his face, but usually i go to to the side. And I do sit on the floor with him often. I do this at dinner time and feed him a few pieces from my hand then let him run off with the rest. I will often lay on my back or stomach and let him run around me and onto me.

I think I might head off to the other rescue in town, see who they have, if they still have that rex girly.
 
I dont know iif this will help but............

My bunny, from when we first got her, was always aggressive, like you i was nervous getting things in and out of her hutch. She would attack my hand, i felt silly and stupid constantly having bite marks and scratches all over my arms and occasionly my face, but then after 9 painful months she changed, she became a little calmer and slowly se began to trust me, daily things to get her to get used to me, twice a day i would feed her a little out of my hand so she new i didnt mean harm and like you i held her tummy out and back on my chest,after 2 weeks of her change i began once a day turning her over and putting her tummy onto my chest. I would have to twice a day lay with her let her explore me let her climb over me, and now she trusts me totally she doesnt bite but the occasional nip, but i am sure she will stop because she is getting better and better. I suppose they decide when and who they trust i'm sure he will learn to trust over time (and it might take a long time)but he cant resent you forever

Bye
 
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this but they can get territorial over their bowls. Hate them being touched or moved or anything. Nutmeg hates it when I touch her bowl or litter tray and will go for me on occasion. When I have to move bowls or give food I try to distract them, either with some hay or some headrubs.
 
My bunny Norris is very agressive and to be honest I didn't really realise just how aggressive he is until I came on here and found out that not all bunny pairs have one super aggressive partner.

It does sound like territorial behaviour to me. Norris is still very aggressive over food and knocked the pellet bowl clean out of my hand the other day when I picked it up. I have had him and his wifey Narla for two years and he is now greatly improved. When I first got them I was so frightened of Norris that I had to shut him in the back yard before I cleaned the litter tray. Nowadays I have no such problems, although I did wear a pair of high heels one morning and found that he went for me because he did not recognise me. Overall nowadays I find that he still goes through the motions but we both know he doesn't really mean it.

They are free ranging house bunnies and I think that space is a real issue with your little bun. I've had a glass of wine and I don't mind saying that that hutch is tiny compared to the space my buns have. He may get to spend outside the hutch, but that is not 'his' space and he feels very angry about that. If you live in a tiny appartment you are more protective of your space and less willing to share it than if you live in a rambling hall.

I found this website amazing when I first got my buns. It really helped me speak their language. I hope it helps you too.

http://language.rabbitspeak.com/
 
I think neutering and a bigger hutch will really help. Our males got very aggressive around 4/5 months, plus they lost their litter training and started spraying urine everywhere. We had they neutered and they calmed down. They are not cuddly bunnies like some on here, and one is still very timid, but they aren't aggressive.
 
TinTin, he's almost a year old and has been neutered since last november. That's not his issue anymore. It's possible that he doesn't like his hutch but he's always seemed very happy about it to be honest.

I hand fed him some rasins yesterday for the first time, that went over well. So far today he's been good. Hasn't done much, ran out of his hutch into his cardoard castle and now he's napping. This afternoon I'm going to do some cleaning, including his cage, so I'll use some techniques you guys have suggested and see what happens.
 
great progress

It sounds like you already made lots of progress. And yes, like someone on here said, buns do often prefer one of their pair of humans. In our house it is definitely my OH! If he's away and I'm on duty I wear the 'rabbit coat' but Buffy doesn't really accept me. No aggression, but a withdrawal of co-operation! Sausage doesn't discriminate between us, but Buffy does. It may be TinTin will always be a bit moody with you, but hopefully if you follow the tips on here it will settle down so that he is a 'character' rather than a 'monster'!

Choosing his wife will be important. It really will be worth being sure of temperament - calm and accepting. Perhaps a slightly older bun, well adjusted post-spaying (no hormonal turmoil). Of course, he needs to like her too! But it's my guess that after so long on his own he will be mega-glad to have company. If he sees her reacting well to you, it will help him to follow her pattern. You may need to handle her first at each stage, so he always sees her calm reaction immediately before he has to decide how to react himself.

Are your hand-movements slow and deliberate? When an animal reacts aggressively it tends to make us jerky or hurried, but this adds to their sense of threat and invasion. The eye position on lops (slightly more to each side of a broader head) makes them more nervous about front-on approaches, too - someone else on here hinted at this, but because buns are widely preyed upon, they are VERY pre-programmed to react defensively to any movement that worries them. Slow and deliberate movement from the side while talking reassuringly and slowly in a low-pitched voice is the best way. Try not to change the voice-pattern or speed of movement even if he lunges at you - hard I know!

Reading this thread will help lots of people with 'tricky' buns, so well done for raising your worries so openly, and keep posting your progress.
 
I'll have my hand in his cage, petting him, slowly show him my hand, he sniffs it, is fine with it, then i go to do something, pull my hand away, put more hay in, and hes biting me.
Click to expand...

I have a similar prob with a bun I've just took on. I use my left hand to stroke her head to keep her calm and then use my right hand to grab any food bowls etc. I can be a bit awkward sometimes but it seems to be working. She actually likes people (tho prefers men it would seem) but is super territorial over her hutch.
 
Sorry Im not really a user but just felt compelled to reply since I was reading on aggressive rabbits. Your story is almost wordperfect the same as mine. Bought rabbit early, neutered ASAP, tried EVERYTHING. Dwarf hotot.

In / Out of cage (cage is a big 2 m open top one in the house). Cant touch anything in the cage, cant walk around with him out of it. Just so nasty aggressive, grunts all the time. Leave tv on when Im not around. God forbid my daughter stays (its her rabbit) she actually wants to play with it - it tears her apart.

I think the solution is in the oven with it. It still gets talked to, stroked. It does calm down eventually if you dont give up but move away for 1.5 seconds and its back to biting, lunging, scratching, grunting, kicking - you name it. I think its on drugs!

Just to let you know you are not alone. I had rabbits when I was a child kept in hutches in the garden. They were never like this - not a bit.
 
DWARFLOVER said:
Sorry Im not really a user but just felt compelled to reply since I was reading on aggressive rabbits. Your story is almost wordperfect the same as mine. Bought rabbit early, neutered ASAP, tried EVERYTHING. Dwarf hotot.

In / Out of cage (cage is a big 2 m open top one in the house). Cant touch anything in the cage, cant walk around with him out of it. Just so nasty aggressive, grunts all the time. Leave tv on when Im not around. God forbid my daughter stays (its her rabbit) she actually wants to play with it - it tears her apart.

I think the solution is in the oven with it. It still gets talked to, stroked. It does calm down eventually if you dont give up but move away for 1.5 seconds and its back to biting, lunging, scratching, grunting, kicking - you name it. I think its on drugs!

Just to let you know you are not alone. I had rabbits when I was a child kept in hutches in the garden. They were never like this - not a bit.
Click to expand...

You WHAT? I really REALLY hope you are joking!

Have you thought about whether he is blind?
 
Would probably help to stop referring it him as it. :roll: Maybe an attitude change on the part of the owner is what's needed.
 
I'm not even commenting on the post above:roll:

I've a few rather aggressive rabbits here.

The most important thing I had to learn was not to take it personally.
~I remember shedding tears when one of the little blighters bit my face, and they weren't tears of pain, but out of "how could you?"

Sometimes we just have to accept some character traits, and I don't believe you can "train" a bunny not to be aggressive.

With time and patience I've found that they start to mellow a little over time, and we start to work ways around their behaviour that makes life simpler for everybun

I quite like the naughty buns, and I haven't met one yet that I couldn't work with one way or another.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Lord Trellis
Am I a terrible pet owner
Replies
17
Views
484
bunny momma
bunny momma
J
Bunny playing up
Replies
2
Views
84
Shimmer
S
KCG
Spoiled cookie
Replies
12
Views
315
KCG
KCG
Back
Top