Snorts and tries to bite for no apparent reason

My boy bunny, Aiden occasionally snorts and threatens to bite for no apparent reason when I am petting him. We have a very good relationship (I'm on the floor next to him and he just flopped over on his side). It seems to happen when my hand is near his face, which makes sense, but once it happened when I was stroking the tip of his ear.

What worries me is how unpredictable his snort-charge-threaten to bite sequence is. I don't see why he does it. It confused me but it wasn't until a few minutes ago that he actually drew blood from my hand, so I decided to post this. I must have bumped his nose when petting his face, and he did the snort-mock attack thing, and I felt bad so I waited a bit, then offered my hand about a foot away from him, fingers pointing down and bent at the wrist. He "attacked" with his mouth open (he's never actually bitten) and his tooth hit the top of my hand, making a little cut. Now he's acting like nothing happened.

I don't know what sets him off! He is not aggressive in any other way and otherwise loves to be pet. What is going on here?

Is he neutered?

What do you smell of? any other predators like dog/cat?

What's his hearing and eyesight like?

What's your mood and emotion like?

There is always a reason for seemingly volatile behaviour, so you're doing the right thing for looking for the reason because that will help you understand him more.

Is he neutered? He may also just be telling you he's had enough of being petted in the only way he knows how.

I agree with Redfraggle. One of mine loves being stroked but after a while he flaps his ears to let me know when he's had enough. I quickly learnt that if I carry on stroking after the ear flapping I get a nip then he will lunge and scratch my hand!

It's always a bit difficult to comprehend that they love us but at the same time they seemingly think nothing of biting us quite hard, especially when we could never imagine ever wanting to hurt them. I think it's just a way of communicating. Is it possible you could have missed a subtle sign that he's had enough petting? Maybe your bun just has an extremely short temper :lol:

Thanks for your replies!

Yes, he is neutered. We don't have any other pets, just him and a girl bunny, Nyxie (spayed). I don't smell of predator animals (or any other animals at all).

When I pet Nyxie and she doesn't want to be pet anymore, she just moves her head away from me or hops away. Aiden is less shy (not shy at all really) so maybe he is being more direct than she is. Aiden doesn't just do this thing to me; he does it to my boyfriend too.

Aiden is only a year and a half old and his eyesight and hearing are good. I always pet him in a friendly/loving attitude.

It seems he only gets upset when we pet him on the head, especially near the face. My boyfriend thinks it happens when his hand gets fur stuck to it (Aiden sheds a lot) and then he pets near Aiden's face, as if Aiden were aggravated by the fur.

Sheesh this behavior is so weird. It happens, very roughly, with a frequency of once a week, but when it does it hurts my feelings and leaves me confused. Sometimes Aiden even feels sorry afterwards because he licks the ground in front of me. Something really does bother him, but I can't figure out what.

I figured out what was bothering him! It really was the fur. If your hand is sweaty and you pet him you tend to get fur on your hand (he's a Holland lop and sheds a lot). The only time he ever "attacked" is when one of us had a substantial amount of fur on our hands. Imagine that!

I don't know why his own fur bothers him (lol) but at least I know what not to do - I've made sure to not put my hand by his face when there's fur stuck to it.