Bonding a really mean/agressive rabbit with a pair of super friendly ones???

I am currently fostering a rabbit for Essex Rabbit Rescue. She is MEAN. Like... bitey and lungey and awful!!! We've had no real progress with her behaviour in the few weeks she's been here and I am at a loss at what to do.

The only glimmer of light is that when she is in the run in the garden and my friendly bunny beatrice is free ranging they always spend ages smelling each other through the bars and Pepper (mean bun) puts her head down for grooming. I was wondering if trying to bond her with Beatrice and Karl could soften her??? Or would I just end up with a girl who is super possessive of her friends???

I'd love to have her stay here because I doubt she'd find another home willing to put up with her :roll: but she's a very clean bunny and has the funniest helicopter ears. She also does the best binkies in the garden and is generally full of mischief, especially if she can bother the cats!

My niece had a bunny like that which seemed to hate human intervention of any description. She bonded her with another girly and she has become less aggressive and more accepting of human touch.

I cant advise on bonding but i do know my niece had a great success and little bun is happier too...

Good luck!!
Fee x

Is she spayed?

Vegan_Bunny said:

Is she spayed?

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Yep she's been spayed a good few months now, so I would have hoped her hormones would have died down but she's still an ankle biter!!

Kavanne said:

Yep she's been spayed a good few months now, so I would have hoped her hormones would have died down but she's still an ankle biter!!

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What's her eyesight like? Is she only aggressive to you or to other rabbits? If she seems to accept the bun that you have hopping around near to her, can you not bond her with that one?

Vegan_Bunny said:

What's her eyesight like? Is she only aggressive to you or to other rabbits? If she seems to accept the bun that you have hopping around near to her, can you not bond her with that one?

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Yeah I'm not sure if there's anything wrong with her sight. Her eyes look fine and she's not a PEW/REW... Beatrice needs her jabs so maybe I will take them all to the vet together and get them to look at Pepper's eye at the same time?? They car journey there/back could be the start of the bonding!

Beatrice is the one who she likes in the garden and I'd be trying a trio bond though as Beatrice is already bonded with her husbun Karl. *gulp*

Kavanne said:

Yeah I'm not sure if there's anything wrong with her sight. Her eyes look fine and she's not a PEW/REW... Beatrice needs her jabs so maybe I will take them all to the vet together and get them to look at Pepper's eye at the same time?? They car journey there/back could be the start of the bonding!

Beatrice is the one who she likes in the garden and I'd be trying a trio bond though as Beatrice is already bonded with her husbun Karl. *gulp*

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A trio might not be the right thing for her. Tbh, I'd want to get tot the bottom of her aggression before thinking about bonding her. Usually aggression is either because they are in pain or it is a learned behaviour. If it is a learned behaviour, then it might be worth gaining her trust more. When you say she bites and lunges, is this when you enter her home? Or is it all the time?

I would be scared she might attack Beatrice. She sounds like she has "issues".

Vegan_Bunny said:

A trio might not be the right thing for her. Tbh, I'd want to get tot the bottom of her aggression before thinking about bonding her. Usually aggression is either because they are in pain or it is a learned behaviour. If it is a learned behaviour, then it might be worth gaining her trust more. When you say she bites and lunges, is this when you enter her home? Or is it all the time?

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Any time to be honest. From what I understand she used to live in a home with 4 dogs and I can only imagine that they sat by her hutch and barked at her a lot??