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Naughty bunny

Tidgy

Warren Scout
I am now fostering for the RSPCA in my area and currently have a bunny that has temperament issues.
Here are some of the things he does:

Circuits of his run.
Twitch does circuits of his run when someone comes near. Even when he is given pellets to eat upstairs in the hutch he will have a few then run down, do a circuit and go back up.

Possessive over toys.
Twitch loves his toys so much that he charges you if you move one. He once stacked them all up into the center of his run. If you keep moving his toy he will charge, box and bite.

Newspaper shredding.
Twitch tears newspaper up into chunks. When i placed a little tray in the run lined with newspaper and straw he ran straight to it. Dug the straw, found the newspaper and then bunny flopped in the tray. His legs were up in the air and he scrabbled at the air for a moment before righting himself and continuing to dig at the paper.

He's such a cutie and i'd love for him to behave better so that he can find a forever home. Here he is
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I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has had experience with this sort of behavior?
 
Surely not... Not with that sweet, bunny smooshy face... :love: he's adorable. :love::love:
I'm really interested in what it's like to be a foster/how it works etc. Would love to do that for a rescue one day... Parting with bunny when they find their forever home must be hard though... :? Would I give the bunny up? ... :oops::oops: Hmmmm... :lol:
 
Sounds like a normal bunny to me too!

Doing circuits is good - shows excitement/happiness!

Digging is good - it's a natural behaviour and it's good that he has a chance to express it.

The possessive behaviour over toys is normal, but you may find that it calms down once he is neutered if he is not already, or once he trusts you more.

It is great that he will dig in appropriate places like newspaper filled trays and that he will play with toys - plenty of bunnies won't do so and can be a nightmare to keep entertained! I'd love for my buns to show that much interest in easy activities!
 
Circuits are excitement, but sometimes excitement can turn into aggression if the bunny gets over excited eg they are excited about food and go OTT on your hand.

He sounds like he might be quite a clever energetic rabbit and maybe needs a little more stimulation. You could try things like scattering/hiding his pellets for him to hide and making up things like parcels for him to chew.

With the aggression, make sure it never means he gets his own way so don't let him learn if he's aggressive you'll leave his toy alone. Easiest way is to not put him in the situation that causes the aggression, but if it's unavoidable then things like wearing boots/gloves so you can avoid reacting works too.
 
Circuits are excitement, but sometimes excitement can turn into aggression
Indeed! I got a nip last night while giving him nose rubs. He runs around his area between rubs and when he returned he caught my finger. It wasn't feeding time, I was just giving him some affection. :shock:

Thanks for the tips :thumb:
 
And he looks like such a little angel. Best of luck working with him and I hope he gets a lovely forever home :) is he neutered ? He sounds a little hormonal.

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How big is his enclosure?

Nipping can be excitement. You just have to teach that nipping is NOT a "good" behaviour. :lol: Generally dominant bunnies nip; I have two dominant buns and they will both nip me, especially if I ignore them or don't feed them quickly enough. :roll: They are much better now because I shout "NO" and then ignore them when they do nip. They will run off and sulk under my bed, but it doesn't take long for them to slink out and apologise (usually by asking more politely for nose rubs) :lol: It's just the way they are, they are very "pushy", "in your face" bunnies, and they are very norty, but also very loving. :love: If my buns are sat by a toy, I'd NEVER risk trying to pick it up, I'd lose a finger. :lol:

Make sure he has LOTS of stimulation, as others have mentioned. He certainly sounds like a right character! :love:
 
Oh he is just adorable!!! I am sure LOTS of people can forgive his energetic behaviour, what a cute wee boy he is!! :love:

I can't add much more to what's already been said but he maybe being like this as he has a lot of energy to burn, hiding treats/pellets, making up toys etc etc for him to find/dig may help with the over excitement

I DO wish my wabbit would take an interest in toys, every time he gets one he looks at it as if to say WTF is that and what do I do with it.. He's a ****** to entertain sometimes.. Apart from when he chews my carpet, he seems pleased with that.. lol

I hope you find him a forever home soon, i am SURE it won't be long ;)
 
How big is his enclosure?

It's just short of 6ft with a 6ft x 4ft run attached underneath.

He has a house in the run which he likes to jump up onto and bunny flop on. He has a large green tunnel, a tray of paper and straw to dig in, a willow chew toy and a seagrass ball, but his fav toy seems to be his egg carton :lol: Touch that and you're dead :shock:

If anyone is interested in adopted him then please do let me know :thumb:
 
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