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Jellybean - Destructive, Aggressive and Fearful Behaviour

Beapig

Mama Doe
Hi everyone,

Jellybean has been really hard work recently and I wonder if anyone might have any tips/insight into her behaviour.

Here's an overview - we were given her during December 2018 by a builder doing work on our house who offered her to us. She was a 'hand-me-down' to him and she had no name. She was living in a tiny hutch at the time and had recently escaped a fox attack, which I think may have given her the twisted looking front leg (you can see in this photo that it sort of faces inwards. no signs of pain/discomfort from her at all, it just looks different)

2019-04-11_06-00-31 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

Her previous owner warned us of aggressive behaviour, but when we first got her there were no signs of aggression, other than some slight grunting/lunging when you pick up her poops.

She's been living in her own bedroom most of the time, and during that time things were okay. Then we tried bonding her with Beatrice and Hamilton in April and Beatrice nipped her back leg, giving her a limp for a few days, so we had to split them up again.

We felt really bad for her and I didn't want her to be on her own, so I moved her into our bedroom where there is carpet. For a couple of weeks this seemed okay, but then the real behavioural problems started. Jellybean started to become really territorial of our bedroom, to the point that my cat was too scared to go in the room and she even went for myself and my OH, in my instance biting quite deeply into my finger. She also started nibbling everything in sight and ruined all of our duvets and some of my clothes that were folded on the bed.

We decided to move her back into her old room to see if things would go back to normal, and so that we would be less worried about her hurting our cat. But she has become very withdrawn/moody/depressed? This week has been really sunny and hot, so we've been putting her in a large run outside every day to stretch her legs, eat grass and sunbathe. She has spent most of that time digging huge holes in the lawn, in a really obsessive and determined way. Is it that she is letting out some frustration? I've never experienced this kind of behaviour in my other rabbits. She has also started lunging at me when I present her food to her.

We want to try and bond them as a trio again this weekend - I really hope that the company of other rabbits will help her to calm down. She is terrified of Beatrice but I hope that this time things might be better.

Has anyone had similar experiences in the past? I just really, really want her to be happy!
 
I was also going to suggest checking if she'd been spayed, if she was done by the previous owner perhaps it's worth getting the vets to check. They could shave/check for a scar/ultrasound. Beano was like this before she was spayed, it calmed her down but she still remained quite 'angry' at things. Bigwig will be very destructive and lunge a d nip if she doesn't get lots of enrichment, like various new things a day, usually just something cardboard stuffed with hay/forage etc, does she calm down with new toys do you think? I hope you both get some answers soon
 
She is definitely spayed, as we had her done a couple of months after taking her - around Feb time I think. I might try to get her some new toys/enrichment type things and see if that helps at all.

I'm pretty sure her eyesight is good, as when she was living in our room she would run onto the landing to greet me when she saw me coming up the stairs.
 
I'm sorry that you're still having behavioural problems with Jellybean. It might not be the whole answer, but the obsessive digging sounds to me like hormonal frustration. I've got a broody hen, who is doing something similar a lot of the time atm :) Even in neutered rabbits there is hormonal activity, which sometimes results in them humping other rabbits, especially in Spring.

I'm hoping that bonding her with Hamilton and Beatrice might cause her to modify her behaviour. It will certainly give her something different to think about. Sending lots of positive vibes for the bonding attempt.
 
idk if its of any use, but Luna was a bit similar, so maybe I can share what I did with her which might offer some insight?

Luna was extremely aggressive, similar to what you described to Jellybean actually. she used to lunge at me, bite me, she was very protective over her space and anything she saw as hers. like Jellybean, Luna wasn't from a good situation neither, 80cm cage, no hay, no toys, and locked in there. forced baths..it wasn't a good state for her.

Luna was extremely aggressive over food, toys, and her personal space. I could not put my hands into her cage to do anything; change water, refill hay. she would run at me and attack me, leaving me with plenty of bites. she also grunted plenty too.

I think, altho people look at me like I'm crazy, I think rabbits too can get resource guarding much like dogs. idk, I've only had one mistreated rabbit so I'm extremely biased I admit with little to nothing to base my information on :lol: but I think when they've come from poor situations, with little to no food, space, toys etc..they guard what is theirs. I'm not sure how complex rabbits emotions are or if they can even experience it. but they're probably thinking "this is mine, please don't take it away from me" (or similar; a basic form of it I guess?).

with Luna though it was really just..time. like honestly it just took time of working with her very very very slowly. I think it took me a good two years I'd say, of just working with her, and understanding her.

I also just basically positively reinforced her behaviour. anything at all, that was good, she got it. people thought I was mad and giving out treats too often but..I really think it helped! I just tried to apply what I knew about dogs and resource guarding and apply it to a rabbit..not all of it works of course but I don't think its too dissimilar. just anything that I wanted from her (or a lack of a reaction) and I tried to positively reinforce that.

I really tried to work on her 'triggers' - things that would cause her to lash out. I either wanted a good reaction, or a lack of one if that makes sense. for Luna the things that triggered her to act aggressively were:
being in her space
touching her food (pellet, hay)
touching her
walking past her

so whenever I got a good reaction, or a lack of one, I tried to reinforce that, with a high value treat or something. I do think she started to understand.

I think its also important to not give her what she wants. animals don't do things out of spite; I don't think they're complex enough for that. everything has a meaning behind it. she's attacking you for being in her space for a reason - resource guarding, fear, it could be anything really. by attacking you, and then you guys backing off, or removing your hand, she's getting what she wants which only reinforces that behaviour. its important not to give her what she wants because eventually she should give up.

for instance with space, I'd just wear thick gloves, and put my hand in her cage. she'd sit at the back, fearful, and I'd just ignore her. it was hard and I felt like a huge meanie. I did that multiple times a day for short spans. even if she bit me, and tried (or even did) hurt me, I couldn't remove my hand, as I'm just reinforcing that she will get what she wants by being aggressive. eventually she sometimes wouldn't attack me, so I rewarded her! I rewarded her for any positive behaviour, such as curiosity, or ignorance to me. slowly but surely she attacked me less and less. I started to reinforce that she'd get treats if she ignored or showed curiosity rather than aggression. maybe she didn't understand fully, but she seemed to catch on. eventually she started to mob me for treats instead :lol:

it took maybe a good few months of just doing that before I saw any huge amount of progress and sometimes it really felt like it went backwards.. I'd have a day where she would not care and then the next would come and she'd attack me to high end. but the important thing is not to give up and give in to what she wants.

but really it just took a lot of time, positive reinforcement and working out what set her off. I also had a huge disadvantage as Luna didn't even know what grass was, she was terrified of any noise (shower, cars, trucks etc) as she just hadn't experienced that. things we expect them to be okay with her have heard of before..she just didn't know. so I think a lot of it was fear too, as she permanently was stuck in a form of panic tbh.

maybe I am totally mad and its all just a placebo affect :lol: but really I'd suggest trying to find out what her triggers are..and then just working on that.

its frustrating upsetting and disheartening. many times with Luna I wanted to give up so badly as it was miserable. but really, it was necessary for us to coexist.. and I'm glad I did as she's become a very bomb proof rabbit who loves everybody. you wouldn't believe she was an aggressive, fearful bunny these days..she's always first up to people for some pets and nose boops! its amazing to think how far she's come.

I hope you can perhaps find some sort of work around or maybe even something that will help. I don't have any evidence to base anything on so its my own opinion and I might even be off my rocker...

sending good bonding vibes your way x
 
that's really interesting BC

I just want to send some happy bonding wishes to your three very handsome bunnies. Did I read somewhere you'll try bonding inside this time?
 
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