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So, why did he bite me???... making progress

Bunny Buddy

Bunny Buddy

Wise Old Thumper
Having had the care of over 20 bunnies over a period of 10 years+ I feel I should be able to read bunny body language but I'm bewildered by this one.

'Little Skunk' joined me on the Saturday and I tend to keep my distance, feed, keep clean, observe but not much hands on. This is fairly usual for about 2 weeks during the quarantine period. I always feed newly acquired bunnies last so I can wash my hands immediately after handling them/their set up and not go handling the established bunnies in an amongst.... this being particularly so in his case as he is one hell of a sprayer!

So, LS lives directly outside my back door and the other outdoor bunnies across the other side of the garden (two bonded pairs). LS was clearly aware I was feeding other bunnies before him and would stamp his feet and race around whilst they were getting food/attention. But when I attended to him he was just excited about food, I didn't read him as aggressive at all, he had the usual 'unneutered buck' demeanour but nothing untoward. I was careful about putting my hands in his hutch purely for fear of the 'food excitement' potential for biting, not aggression as such, though I was wary of that possibility as I hadn't got to know him.

So, on the Wednesday, 4 days after his arrival, I opened the 'dark' side of his hutch to put in a handful of new hay. He was way over the other side of the meshed side of the hutch, nowhere near my hands. I was spreading the hay out and faster than I could cope with he raced into this side of the hutch, latched on the skin between my knuckles and stayed hung on there for about 30 seconds ... even if I lifted my hand up he was still attached I just couldn't shake the little *** off me. When he did eventually let go I just quickly shut the hutch door and attended to my wound (via nurse at GP practice!!) I had scratches all over the other hand/arm but have no memory for how I got him off/tried to get him off just the panic that he would do serious injury to my hand that I need to earn my living!!!

So - was it food aggression? Territorial aggressions? What triggered it when he has shown no real aggression otherwise? I don't know if he misread me for some reason or if I misread him??? Was the hay so precious to him and he thought I was pinching it that he felt he needed to attack me in such a manner? I'm wondering if he has been neglected a bit in the past due to the previous owner being scared of him? Therefore the hay needed to be defended.

I feel I need to understand what I got wrong so that I can learn to trust him. He's 9 days post-neuter now and I stroked his back a few times over the last few days and stroked his head briefly yesterday - although he isn't enjoying this he doesn't seem in the slightest bit bothered. I reached into his hutch in his vicinity yesterday to remove his water dish and replace it, then pour water into to it, again putting my hand near him... I swept the poop from around him yesterday and he didn't even attack the brush/dustpan let alone me. I'm just really puzzled by the serious attack that day and not reading any such behaviour at other times.

Any insight welcome.

Thanks!
 
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That's a Tabby bite - my Tabby Rabbit was a devil for it. Also watch out for the skin between the thumb and forefinger - it looks like a throat to them, I think. The bite and hang-on there is terribly painful. I think its territorial.
Tabby was better after her spay, but I don't think it was the hormones so much as the horrible time she had. We had to go back to the vets again and again, and both realised that we were important to each other. That looks ridiculous in writing but its how it happened.
I'd lock the bun in one part of its quarters while you mess around in the other, for your own safety, and work on some bonding.
 
Does he have 24/7 access to a run? Sometimes rabbits get more territorial if they are in smaller spaces.

Hopefully neutering will sort him out. Are you keeping him or is he a foster rabbit?
 
Food? If you smell of food he might bite in anticipation of food or anger that there is none even though he can smell it. I can't eat anything before stroking the buns or they will try and nibble my fingers. My two feisty girls will actually lunge and chomp as well. They are nice otherwise but if I smell of chocolate in particularly they become aggressive and jealous.
 
Fifibutton said:
Food? If you smell of food he might bite in anticipation of food or anger that there is none even though he can smell it. I can't eat anything before stroking the buns or they will try and nibble my fingers. My two feisty girls will actually lunge and chomp as well. They are nice otherwise but if I smell of chocolate in particularly they become aggressive and jealous.
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Could it also be referred aggression? If she is attending to the other rabbits first and handling them she will smell of rabbits.
 
It's tough to give a definitely answer, all the suggestions so far could certainly fit.

My guess would be defence, it might be obvious to you that as you were clearly visible outside the hutch and therefore it must be your hand in the hutch, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is to a bunny. As he came from the other end of the hutch at speed I would guess he heard something rustling around in his bed/warren that shouldn't have been there and attacked it all out because that's the only way a bunny could win. You might have been a weasel or a rat or just an invading rabbit, and he was trying to put on a show of strength. I very much doubt he realised it was your hand he was latching on to.

Best way to open a bunnies mouth is to put your palm over the head/eyes and thumb and first finger one each side of the mouth. There is a gap between the incisors and the start of the back teeth so you can get your finger/thumb in without them getting chibbled and just the thickness of your finger is usually enough to open the mouth. You can try it gently on a rabbit you're more comfortable with not getting eaten by to work out the position :) It's also handy for when you are fishing around in their mouth to remove the thing they're trying to eat that they shouldn't.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone, very much appreciated. Most of the issues such as food and territory I had considered but it just didn't seem to fit what I had experienced. I've had food anticipation bites before (always very wary with Rudy and Esme, I never give Rudy treats 'in the air' I always past treats to him through the cage bars so that he can't snatch my fingers as well as the treat!). None of this just seemed to fit, though I can't be certain I'm wrong. It's just the determination with which he attacked me that didn't fit my past experience/ knowledge.


tulsi said:
Are you keeping him or is he a foster rabbit?
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I've adopted him, he's mine for better or worse. The only thing that would lead me to rehome him is if I felt he was better off with someone more confident who could manage him but I'm now getting past that and think he's just been misunderstood by me.


Tamsin said:
It's tough to give a definitely answer, all the suggestions so far could certainly fit.

My guess would be defence, it might be obvious to you that as you were clearly visible outside the hutch and therefore it must be your hand in the hutch, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is to a bunny. As he came from the other end of the hutch at speed I would guess he heard something rustling around in his bed/warren that shouldn't have been there and attacked it all out because that's the only way a bunny could win. You might have been a weasel or a rat or just an invading rabbit, and he was trying to put on a show of strength. I very much doubt he realised it was your hand he was latching on to.

Best way to open a bunnies mouth is to put your palm over the head/eyes and thumb and first finger one each side of the mouth. There is a gap between the incisors and the start of the back teeth so you can get your finger/thumb in without them getting chibbled and just the thickness of your finger is usually enough to open the mouth. You can try it gently on a rabbit you're more comfortable with not getting eaten by to work out the position :) It's also handy for when you are fishing around in their mouth to remove the thing they're trying to eat that they shouldn't.
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All of this, the bolded bit especially makes perfect sense. He's never shown any aggression at other times. The hole in the divider is small as it has been adapted to be snug for a mini lop, he wouldn't have been able to see my hand from the angle he started from, by the time he arrived his vision of my hand was probably obscured by the hay I was so carefully arranging for him (!). I really do think this is what has happened and I had added the attack to the fact he's so hormonal and spraying everywhere and 2+2+2 = a lot more than it probably should!

Thank you for this. I think I might just be able to trust him a bit more if I can blame myself for scaring the wits out of the poor lad. I had been messing about earlier in the morning attaching insulation to his hutch too so *maybe* he was already a bit freaked out by strange noises/movements etc and defensive.
 
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I'd go with defence / surprise... Binks isn't normally a biter but broke the skin on my knuckle the other night and drew blood. It was 4am in the morning and and I was trying to shove her chill and chew mat into her hidey bed box in my bedroom in the dark, as she was tearing at the cardboard so noisily after I woke her by getting up to go to the bathroom. As soon as I put the light on she came out of the box and licked me. :D
 
Bunny Buddy said:
Thank you for this. I think I might just be able to trust him a bit more if I can blame myself for scaring the wits out of the poor lad. I had been messing about earlier in the morning attaching insulation to his hutch too so *maybe* he was already a bit freaked out by strange noises/movements etc and defensive.
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Glad you're feeling a bit safer. I expect he does feel a bit unsettled generally, he's so new to you and all the different sounds/smells he probably doesn't know what the signals for danger are so that probably makes him more reactive too.
 
Well, I'm making really good progress with the Skunk now :D Today I dared to sweep his hutch without shutting him in another part away from me. I swept the poops and even dared to give him a little shove to move him to a swept area, he was totally unperturbed by this... he didn't shift mind you but didn't respond badly!! I even dared to reach right over him to 'surround' him as I leant over the hole/ramp to sweep the poops off the ramp into the run. It all seems a bit of a waste of time because he was popping out cannonball poops as fast as I was sweeping them away, there was a 'ping' every five seconds or so :roll: More good news in that his hutch doesn't stink to high heaven, I never even thought about wearing a mac for the eventuality of being sprayed... and he's now weeing in a litter tray for all his wee :love: Just need to encourage him to poop in there too ... I swear I've never known a rabbit produce so much pooh!

So, I'm now convinced that the bite was him being hugely scared, not realising it was me he was attacking and that he's not aggressive as I assumed. ....'spose I'd better start looking for a companion for him then ......
 
Aww, that's great :D He sounds much more settled too so I expect he's pleased with the progress too.
 
I've progressed to stroking his head today:love::love: Well, I've given his head the odd stroke here and there before but whilst doing a big clean out today I stroked his head and back quite a bit, I've normally done that when he's eating as he's occupied but today I did it while he was begging (which he does continually if he's not actually eating!!).... getting very fond of this little chap :D

He manages most nights to move his heat pad out into the open bit of the hutch, goodness knows how he does it because the hole to the sheltered bit has deliberately been made mini lop sized to kept it as sheltered as possible... even diagonally it's a squeeze to get it through.... I wonder if he spends all night working on it to achieve his goal ... like a Bunny Krypton Factor Challenge :lol::lol:
 
I used to have one that was as soft as anything but if you moved the straw/hay around in her bed area she used to go mad and grunt at me. Occasionally giving the odd nip. It just taught me never to do it when she was in the hutch!
 
I'm pleased to say that I don't have any worries about Skunk biting me now. We have a routine at feeding time of when I open the hutch door I pass him his greens, which he snatches, runs off down the ramp, does a few laps of the run by which time I've filled his dish had changed his water.... sometimes he brings the greens back up with him, sometimes he trips over them on the way back up the ramp, but he's hilarious either way. Last week when snatching the greens off me he caught my finger but realised straight away and let go of the kale the grabbed it further along ... which was lovely :love: It improved my trust of him even more.

And the really, really good news today I adopted his hopefully-to-be-companion :love::love: She's so perfect. I went into P@H to look for Bunny Mad magazine and found 'Lola' she was hiding away being unsociable, took no notice when I tried to engage her. They said they wanted her to have an experienced home, she's not overly cuddly and they prefer her to go to an adult home. She's already spayed and vaccinated and was given up because she didn't get on with her neutered female companion. I just loved her from the moment I saw her. She's grey with fox markings. I've weighed her and she is 2kg, just the same as Skunk. :D:D
 
Sounds like you're both very happy now, sometimes I think the ones that are little extra work can end up as the best relationships afterwards. I hope the intros go well :)
 
Tamsin said:
Sounds like you're both very happy now, sometimes I think the ones that are little extra work can end up as the best relationships afterwards.
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Definitely. Having an understanding what went wrong made a massive difference though as it stopped me assuming he would have another go!

Tamsin said:
I hope the intros go well :)
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Thank you.

tulsi said:
She sounds lovely. Look forward to pics (hint hint)!
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I'm rubbish aren't I? :oops::oops: I really, really need to take pictures. I nearly did but I felt bad that I haven't taken ANY photos of Benji and Betsy yet and they've been here since August and September... then Olly joined us in December and he's just stunning and still no pictures :oops: I really must try harder. 'Lola' as she is currently called is very much a Sox look-alike but more dwarf lop looking, she's a real beauty.
 
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