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Help: New Bunny

LoloFlan

New Kit
Hi, we just adopted a female dwarf bunny 5months old and we thought we had done our research ..... but we were not prepared for how aggressive she would be?!
She lunges if we come near her cage, grunts at us when we're re-filling the water/food/hay, etc

After looking it up it seems we should get her spayed? Can anyone confirm if this is beneficial?

Also we are trying our best to settle her in "by the book" i.e. leaving her alone, talking to her, no touching - the only thing is she is really messy (tiping her food bowl, tipping over her little house inside the cage and general destruction, pooping everywhere)
It says on every site never to clean her cage while she's still in there she is making it impossible to respect her space as she will not step out of her cage :(

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 
sounds hormonal and territorial, spaying is a major benefit it not only prevents pregnancy bit also prevents uterine cancer a major killer of does aged 5 and over, once done they become less so territorial in behaviour
 
I agree it's worth getting her spayed. Also does she have a lot of room to run around. Some rabbits can get aggressive out of frustration.
 
Hi guys,thanks for the replies.
She's in a large cage and we've left the door open when we're here so she can get out but she won't budge, even for treats.
We don't want her confined, we know she needs exercise.
Any suggestions of how to entice her out? Will she always be an ******* or is there hope?!
 
How long have you had her? Lots of rabbits need time to build up trust there is definitely hope! You could try adding extra hides/tunnes outside her cage so that if she does venture out she won't be so exposed. Once she is spayed you could consider getting her a friend to help her become more confident as bunnies do well in pairs. After her hormones have calmed down she should stop being so aggressive, at the moment she doesn't like you invading her territory. Do you have a good bunny vet for the spay?
 
Most bunnies are tempted by treats. You can put the treat outside her cage and then walk away and see if it's gone a bit later and then just move it a bit further away every day or put something exciting next to the treat like a tunnel that may make her want to run through! Once she's out and more confident you can lie on the floor and see if she comes over, rabbits are very nosy and if you have a treat she may be tempted. It's all about building up trust and some rabbits take longer. I'm sure you'll get there in the end.
 
Also just to add. Honey was really nervous and hand shy. We had to sit on the floor looking busy so she would slowly cone and see what we were doing. I also found she got very calm and confident when bonded with a neautered male. He was so placid it seemed to rub off on her. That with being neautered and alot of patience rubbed off :)
 
Does she have a safe place in her cage where she can hide away? Did she come with the cage as it sounds like she has got into this aggressive behaviour and it is now a habit.
 
Hi All,
Some progress was made yesterday so I think I may have been jumping the gun a bit. All it took was a cardboard box stuffed with hay :)
We haven't had her that long (less than a week) but as we've never had a rabbit before we were a bit unsure if her behaviour was normal.

She did move from the cage into the box but as soon as I tried clean up the cage she got straight back in - so how so I counter that? She still won't let us come too close. I'm not sure if her previous owners did a deep clean so I'd really like to get that sorted.
She tips her food bowl and tries to destroy the little house inside the cage and her water bottle - and now she's flinging poop out of the cage (but is that just because it's dirty?)
Also we got her an enclosed litter tray, will it be easy to train her? (as aggressive as she is) or will she have to chill out a bit first?

Answers to Qs - She's in an average sized cage but is in an area that has been bunny proofed and she can have all the space she wants there! If she leaves the cage.
She came in the cage, from a house with a small dog - but we were told she got on well with the dog and kids
 
If you can leave her cage open she will start to venture out when she picks up confidence. She is being cage aggressive but if allowed to come out in her own time should become friendlier. At least you are trying to see things from her point of view which is paramount where rabbits are concerned. I would give her time to settle in before you consider spaying her. Can you not take the top off the cage so she will then hop out making it easier for you to clean it?
 
You are obviously trying to do everything right for your little bunny. I do wonder whether you mean one of those cages sold as suitable for rabbits - but which are actually much too small. She also needs constant access to an attached run. If you take a look at the housing section you will find good examples. She should never be shut in her cage, whatever it is, and I think you said she is shut in at night.
 
I would personally move her from the cage to a puppy pen and leave one side open for her to venture out.

Cages sold as suitable for rabbits are rarely large enough. Could you rabbit proof your whole downstairs to enable her to freerange at all times?
 
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