She bit me!!!

[Mandyaqui]

I was reaching begind the computer desk to push her out because she likes to scratch at the carpet back there and chew it. I just put my hand back there and she bit me!! I was thinking about putting a grassmat on the floor back there or maybe one of those plastic mats that go under computer desks for the chair to roll better. Hopefully that will stop her. My question is what should I do about the bite? I want her to know that it is not ok to bite her humans. And I want her to trust me and know that I’m boss.

[Stickerbunny]

When my female bites me I push her head gently away from me and say “no” – house rabbit society recommends gently holding their heads down in a dominance gesture for aggression.

For digging, plastic mat… the grass one if your girl is anything like mine she’ll just dig right through to the carpet.

Spaying (if she isn’t already) should help with both aggression and digging/chewing as well.

[Tate]

I usually don’t make any noise or gesture. It gives off the message that no matter how hard they bite or scratch me, it doesn’t bother me because they can’t hurt me. Remember that in her eyes, you impeded on her playtime… her “work”. Rabbits love projects and digging up carpet is one of their favorites, so she was just angry that you were trying to stop her. I think that putting a mat under the table that she can’t dig on is the best idea!
I personally don’t encourage any act of dominance or aggression towards them because you will be much more likely to be met with aggression. While some rabbits are very submissive, many aren’t and are willing to put up a fight for dominance.

[kralspace]

ouch, Manyqui, I know that hurts, I had one that was a constant biter. You don’t punish bunnies for a behavior like that because they don’t ‘get it’. They usually are doing it for a reason, like they want you to move,  get out of their territory or don’t touch that, etc. My Lola bit just for entertainment reasons also but I think it was just her….lol

If you haven’t had a chance to read through the site on bunny language, it’s a good place to start: http://language.rabbitspeak.com/   there’s a section on Anger and biting

There will be others along who can give you much better advice than I can because my bunnies pretty much boss me…lol

 

[Beka27]

It’s possible she was viewing that closed-off confined space as her “den”, and by putting your hand in there, she was biting to defend her territory. So in this situation, YOU were actually the intruder. Holding their head down firmly, but gently will help to establish yourself as the dominant person. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to do that with my female who was a big biter back in the pre-spay days. Now, it’s very rare that I have to resort to that.

Are all of the wires bunny-proofed back there? If not, I would recommend you just block off that space altogether.

[Author]

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