suggestions and tips for 'bringing round' rescue rabbits? particularly biters!

Hi all,

I have been fostering a bonded pair of rescued rabbits for roughly 7 or 8 months now. I also have 10 buns of my own, so Im reasonably well versed in rabbit behaviour Although every bun is different so despite having 10, I am still baffled when it comes to this problem as I havent experienced it with any of my others!

Acorn and Silver are the bonded foster pair. They are both neutered, this took place whilst they were still at the rescue. They have been with the rescue for 2 years now and have had no interest, despite being a very handsome pair. The female is a silver lionhead with a very interesting face, the male looks like he might be a lop mix. He is brownish and very cute. They were rescued from quite miserable circumstances: a tiny hutch (probably a 2 footer or 3 footer at most) where their heads touched the ceiling and they were crammed in with 5 other rabbits! They had been bought as entertainment for a young child, so had been treated like toys and not had a good time. The rescue stressed to me that they would need to be in a large shed as they get very stressed in closed surroundings, even a large hutch. So they have a nice big 9ft by 5ft shed at my place, which I've customised with mezzanine levels and tunnels and hides and so on. They were previously at another foster home where they were also well taken care of and had a big shed to live in.

The difficulties Im having with them are that, despite spending a fair amount of time trying to bond with them and bring them out of their shells, I havent had much luck! The female (who I think had the hardest time prior to being rescued) has never been at all keen on people, which i hoped to improve upon but so far havent. there have been times when there has seemed to have been a breakthrough, where shes accepted a piece of veg from my hand or has accepted a head rub. But currently she hides whenever I come into the shed and if I try to coax her out with a nice piece of veg or something similar, she either ignores me or bites me. I've more or less concluded that its better to leave her alone and let her seek me out if shes interested, which she occasionally is.
Im more concerned about the male (Acorn) because I had made good progress with him (he was definitely the more laid back of the two to begin with) and for a long while we had a bond where he would have strokes and fuss each time I came in and was happy to take food from my hand and generally spend time around me. But in the last week or so hes started biting me! Its usually when I'm returning the food bowl having filled it up. Hes also hiding from me and stamping his foot and seeming very cross about my presence. I know theres no sense in taking it personally, but Im quite upset about this. I had been on the verge of considering adopting them, as Ive gotten attached to them over the past 7/8 months. But I must admit the sudden biting is giving me second thoughts. Nothing has changed, they have a similar routine with the exception that I have been working on their diet recently, which has basically meant more hay and veg now that they dont have access to grass as much. Other than that I havent been doing anything differently.

My only ideas so far are that they are either bored with the shed and need more toys, and/or I just need to go back to square one and start trying to gently acquaint myself with them again.

Does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance

Are you wearing different clothes to see them, have you changed your perfume, shampoo or shower gel? You haven't taken them to the vets recently or any other bad experience?

If no, then yes I think it is just time to go back to basics - just sitting in there ignoring them, that sort of thing. Sounds like some of the biting is food defensive behaviour so scatter feeding may be worth trying, too.

Some buns will never like human attention. My Annabella has never been mistreated in her life (born in rescue and came straight to me) but she doesn't like being touched. She'll come over to me in hopes of food, she'll hand-feed from me (albeit warily) and give me the odd nose bonk, but she very rarely accepts any physical contact. It's not a fear of me as such I don't think, she's scared of physical contact and particularly being picked up, so if there is any chance I'm going to do those things she hides. She was a bit friendlier when she was a house-bun though, she used to jump and climb on me when I was asleep.

I dread to think what a bun like Annabella's personality would be like if she had been mistreated - she'd be completely wild.

I don't have much experience other than lots of forum reading, but bunnies getting territorial about food is a thing.
So might be worth scatter feeding him and eliminating the food bowl or feeding them in different bits of the shed?

My guess with the male would be that he has become more confident and his true defensive/cheeky/food aggressive personality is coming out. It can take a very long time for animals to feel comfortable, especially when they've had a bad start. So though it's undesirable behaviour, I would take it as a compliment! One other possibility though is that his sight could have deteriorated, but I think it's unlikely from what you've said.

With both of them I would be sitting in there with them as much as I could, allowing them to hop around me and trying to ignore any nips as much as possible, but going back to doing whatever I was doing before they grumped and repeating until they were ok with it. So with the food I would be touching it with a brush or something that wasn't my hand (to avoid injury), and just repeating that until they were ok with it. I know it's a bit controversial with bunnies, but I've done a lot of work with rescue horses and when we got ours, especially Martha and Bugsy who were both "aggressive" when handled (read terrified), I would pick them up at least once every day until they were comfortable with it. I personally think this is important as it means that medicating is so much less stressful for them. To start with Martha in particular found this scary, but I would just hold her gently and stroke her until she calmed down, then I would put her down. Once she got more used to it I would mostly pick her up, hold her for a couple of seconds and then put her back down. Now, she's a right snuggle-bun (though the process is not for the faint hearted, and I still have the scars from those first few weeks). If it was me once they were more used to being touched/handled, I would also be working on their claustrophobia with a carrier in their shed that they can go in and once they were happy with that shutting them in with treat food until they were calm, then letting them out and once always calm building the time up gradually. Then practising being carried in it.

I have found with the aggressive rabbits I've worked with that rabbits pick up on fear or nervousness. If you're worried they're going to bite you, wear gloves, boots, and heavier clothes. If a rabbit bites you and you quickly leave then the rabbit gets what s/he wants. When you're in the run/shed with them, sit there ignoring them with vegetables next to you/in your lap. This way they'll realize that you're not going to leave, you're not going to bother them, and if they want to be near you there's something positive that will come from it. This is the approach I use on the rabbits I work with at the local shelter/my own rabbits and they all have become very sweet rabbits besides the occasional grunt or box. One of these rabbits is now mine and sleeps in my bed at night :wave:

I hope this helps. Remember that it takes patience and time!

These replies are reassuring, as I've been doing these things already! I have a seat in the shed so I can easily sit with them and spend time in there, so today after getting nipped I sat their for a while ignoring them and the female hopped around my feet and gave me a couple of nose bumps, whilst Acorn hid in his sleeping area. I will try scatter feeding and also sitting and waiting for them to approach me rather than the other way around.
They are not scared of carry boxes, they love them! They have a number of hides and playboxes that they use, and I sometimes put the carry box in there for them to play with just so they get used to it. I think the confined spaces stress is more to do with having a permanent home that is small.
I havent changed anything about my appearance, I wear the same large unflattering outdoors mac everyday and I dont use perfume or anything of that kind.

Guess its best to go back to square one and reacquaint them with me slowly!

That's great Glad they like boxes - interesting what you say about it being their permanent space as Martha was the same. She originally had a cage and pen set up but she kept escaping until we gave her the hall/spare room when she immediately became as good as gold. And if she ever did need to be shut in then she would become distressed, I think before she came here she was always shut in and got into the habbit of digging and biting at the sides of the cage (though that may just be a side-effect of being in a tiny box at P@H :evil. She's better if she ever needs to be shut in now though as she trusts that she'll be out again.

Good luck with these two, I'll look forward to updates

when i did my 'bedtime' rounds this evening, i brought some hay for their hay basket and sat on the seat quietly holding some cabbage leaves and they both came and nibbled them and seemed quite calm (no stamping and no biting!). im going to be sticking with this approach for the time being they had also been out in the run which i think helped. they dont always go out these days now that its gotten colder, but i think they feel better for some fresh air, even if there isnt much grass around these days!