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Please help - my rabbit keeps attacking me

starfish

New Kit
I have had Rio since April when he was 9 weeks old. He is now 5 months. He will be neutered when he is 6 months.

He is a lovely house bunny and gets lots of attention but at the moment he is causing me a lot of distress. He jumps up on my knee, runs up to my chest and scratches me and bites me all over my chest and arms.

I have no idea what to do about this. He doesn't do it to anyone else. I am so gentle to him -please please give me some ideas of how to deal with this. I am at my wits end.
 
I suspect this will ease when he has been neutered. It could be sexual frustration, it could be him trying to dominate you, it could be you smell 'bad' and he is angry, it could be many things.

Why are you waiting until he is six months for him to be neutered?
 
My vet said 6 months was about right.

I'm having a really tough time. He wants to be with me all the time but then he's so aggressive. He is only like this with me. He DEMANDS to be on my knee for strokes and cuddles, then immediately i stop he attacks me.

I am becoming scared of him.:oops:
 
If you are scared of him, then he will pick up on that and be even worse with you. Stay calm.

It sounds like he is using his aggression to dominate you (i.e. get you to do what he wants you to). Maybe try just having him in a pen area for a while, so that he can still run, but you don't have to worry about him all the time?

A healthy rabbit can be neutered as soon as his testicles descend. Are you sure your vet is rabbit savvy?
 
Thank you for the advice

When he went to the vets for his Mxi an VH jabs? the vet said they weren't there yet but bring him back at 6 months. To be honest i haven't looked to see if they are there yet as he won't let me.
 
Hello

Some male buns can be neutered at 4 months but as already mentioned, when their bits appear they are ready to go. I would suggest that it is almost certainly this that is the cause - he is wanting to be top bun. Following neuter you should see this subside after about a month or maybe earlier.

He will be a lot happier when he's sorted out.:D
 
Sounds like he loves you - he thinks you are his mate but wants to show you he is top bunny. Are these nip type bites, as opposed to ones that break the skin? I reckon he is doing that to get your attention - one of ours occasionally nips me if I pick him up. Personally, I would put him back in the pen as otherwise he is learning that nipping gets him what he wants. I don't put ours down if they nip me, I hold them a bit longer then put them down and give them a food treat. I think neutering will sort out a lot of the problem.
 
I'm in a similar situation

I have a black Lionhead and he only attacks me at certain times... It's not all the time, and it's only when I reach in his cage. Or it is when I am holding him he nips my arm and wants to get down. I was afraid that it is because I play with him by letting him attack this stuffed apple toy and he pounces on it. Could you suggest any toys or dietary things for a two month old lionhead? I wanted to buy the salt and mineral wheels for him, but I didn't know if that would benefit him, please reply.
 
If you are scared of him, then he will pick up on that and be even worse with you. Stay calm.

It sounds like he is using his aggression to dominate you (i.e. get you to do what he wants you to). Maybe try just having him in a pen area for a while, so that he can still run, but you don't have to worry about him all the time?

A healthy rabbit can be neutered as soon as his testicles descend. Are you sure your vet is rabbit savvy?

Dear, Sky-O

I'm not scared of my bunny, yet he still bites me when I reach in his cage to refill his food. It doesn't break the skin and cause blood but it worries me more than it hurts me. He is two months old and I take him outside to play every now and then, I also let him run around my room everyday. I hold him and let him know that I love him, but when he gets out he just hides under the bed. He will occasionally come to smell me while I play my game, but if I so much as scratch my nose he will run away from me and hide in a corner or under my bed/desk area. What can I do to stop this from happening.:?

Sincerely,
InZaiN :wave:
 
Dear, Sky-O

I'm not scared of my bunny, yet he still bites me when I reach in his cage to refill his food. It doesn't break the skin and cause blood but it worries me more than it hurts me. He is two months old and I take him outside to play every now and then, I also let him run around my room everyday. I hold him and let him know that I love him, but when he gets out he just hides under the bed. He will occasionally come to smell me while I play my game, but if I so much as scratch my nose he will run away from me and hide in a corner or under my bed/desk area. What can I do to stop this from happening.:?

Sincerely,
InZaiN :wave:

Hiya, I'm not sky-o and nowhere near as experienced as her but I hope I can help!

A bun attacking in the hutch is known as hutch aggression and is really common, short term don't reach in his cage when he is in there, do all of his cage stuff whilst he's out in your room. Once you have earned his trust and he is old enough to get neutered that should get much better anyway!

I think you need to go back to basics, remember that a rabbit is a prey animal so someone coming into his/her space is quite threatening, also being picked up would only ever happen in the wild if a predator got bun! :( so although your bun will not think that they are about to be eaten it is very unnerving. If your bun is only 2 months then I assume you can't have had them more than a few days as they shouldn't be leaving mum until 8 weeks anyway.

Try just sitting with your bunny and talking to them with no threatening movements, don't pick them up, don't stroke nothing. You are trying to be part of the furniture. Read a book or something to keep yourself entertained (reading out loud is a great way to get bun used to your voice) pop a treat on your knee and wait. Rabbits are curious little guys, they will come if on their own terms, but when they do don't try to stoke them straight away, it'll just scare bun and make bun think you are scary, let bun sniff you climb on you ect ect. This may take a large chunk of book, these things take time.

Make sure bun is comfortable with you before you start trying to stroke them, make sure that bun is comfortable with strokes before moving on to picking up... But bear in mind that many bunnies do not like to be picked up, and that you may have to just spend time with bun on their level. My Loki for example goes bonkers if I try to pick him up, yet he'll hop up on the sofa flop out next to me and we'll watch a film together :love:

It takes time, but once you've earned a bunnies trust they are the best pets in the world :love::love::love:

Just remember that your bun is just a nervous baby and needs some gentle understanding treatment!

Good luck! :wave:
 
I had a very similar problem with my male rabbit, Ginger, around the time he was neutered (at 6 months, also on the advice of my vet - although I think if I had a baby rabbit again I'd think about getting him neutered sooner, as I think 6 months is quite late).

He's a house rabbit and has always been very lovely and friendly, even following us around, but from about 5 1/2 months until about four or five weeks after he was neutered he started displaying behaviour very similar to that described. He'd jump on my lap (literally every time I sat down) or put his nose down for a stroke then as soon as I stopped he'd lunge forward and bite me - and I mean a full-on bite, not just a nip. He'd also scrabble at and nip my ankles when I was sitting down. He only behaved like that with me, not with my husband, but he also became aggressive around his house and would even lunge at a brush if we put it near there.

None of the advice I was given at the time or the information I found really seemed to fit the problem, but I'm now convinced it was related to hormones/ sexual frustration, as it eventually died down and he's now back to his lovely self again. He hasn't bitten now for over a year, and I'm quite comfortable putting my hand right inside his house. The thing that really changed his life and calmed everything down though, was getting his companion, Hettie. Before Hettie came, Ginger was totally reliant on us for company and I think he needed more than we were able to offer him. He doesn't follow us around now like he used to (although he's still very friendly), but he's so much happier and more relaxed.

I can only speak from my own experience, but for us the most important thing was to get Ginger neutered as soon as possible and find him a friend once we'd allowed time for his hormones to calm down (this didn't happen like magic straight after neutering, but took a few weeks). Necessary practical steps in the mean-time included keeping bare skin out of his reach, wearing long trousers and socks, avoiding reaching into his house with my hand when he was there, and trying to remain calm and affectionate with him all the time.

Amy.
 
Thank you

Hiya, I'm not sky-o and nowhere near as experienced as her but I hope I can help!

A bun attacking in the hutch is known as hutch aggression and is really common, short term don't reach in his cage when he is in there, do all of his cage stuff whilst he's out in your room. Once you have earned his trust and he is old enough to get neutered that should get much better anyway!

I think you need to go back to basics, remember that a rabbit is a prey animal so someone coming into his/her space is quite threatening, also being picked up would only ever happen in the wild if a predator got bun! :( so although your bun will not think that they are about to be eaten it is very unnerving. If your bun is only 2 months then I assume you can't have had them more than a few days as they shouldn't be leaving mum until 8 weeks anyway.

Try just sitting with your bunny and talking to them with no threatening movements, don't pick them up, don't stroke nothing. You are trying to be part of the furniture. Read a book or something to keep yourself entertained (reading out loud is a great way to get bun used to your voice) pop a treat on your knee and wait. Rabbits are curious little guys, they will come if on their own terms, but when they do don't try to stoke them straight away, it'll just scare bun and make bun think you are scary, let bun sniff you climb on you ect ect. This may take a large chunk of book, these things take time.

Make sure bun is comfortable with you before you start trying to stroke them, make sure that bun is comfortable with strokes before moving on to picking up... But bear in mind that many bunnies do not like to be picked up, and that you may have to just spend time with bun on their level. My Loki for example goes bonkers if I try to pick him up, yet he'll hop up on the sofa flop out next to me and we'll watch a film together :love:

It takes time, but once you've earned a bunnies trust they are the best pets in the world :love::love::love:

Just remember that your bun is just a nervous baby and needs some gentle understanding treatment!

Good luck! :wave:

Thank you. I have actually had him for a few weeks, so I guesstimated his age. He is near 3 months, but not there yet. What kind of treats can I give him, being that he is only 2 ish months?
 
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