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Forum BEHAVIOR She’s hit puberty! Help!

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    • NewBunnyOwner123
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        Sally lunges when I’m doing cleaning duty in her cage. She still greet me for pets at the entrance of her cage but when I start cleaning her box and refilling her hay and food she lunges at me and it scares me! Please tell me this will go away when she is spayed next month. I do not want an aggressive rabbit attacking me when I’m trying to care for her. How do I handle the situation for the next month to prevent this from being permanent behavior after a spay. If I wait a whole month will it be already concrete behavior and never stop? She’s still using her box consistently but her sudden aggression really threw me off because she’s been so sweet. I really want to avoid being bitten and I don’t want to hurt our relationship between human and bunny. She really hurt my feelings  


      • CharleyBunn
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          Most rabbits hate when you mess with their house while they are in it. If you reach in and start moving things around or adding stuff, it can cause them to lunge or become angry. It may be that she feels more posessive of her home because she is settled in now and more comfortable rather than puberty hitting. But females tend to view their homes as nest and can be aggressive when you trespass. I woukd stick to the rule of removing her from her cage while you change it or clean it. This should keep her from becoming angry.


        • Monkeybun
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            Until she is spayed, you may want to consider cleaning her cage when she isn’t in it, that way she won’t get as cage aggressive. let her out to play, then do the cleaning


          • Sarita
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              There is no guarantee that this behavior will go away and it definitely won’t right away after a spay – remember that when you spay an animal there hormones get even whackier since really they are going through a full blow menopause and they are also going through puberty at the same time (a terrible combination).

              Whatever you do, don’t take any behavior personally – remember initially this behavior is hormonal. I find that rabbits just change alot the first year and they really mellow out as they age. And when I say “age” after a few years.

              I definitely recommend any cleaning when she is not in the cage.


            • NewBunnyOwner123
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                She is let out all day but when she’s sees I’m messing with her cage she comes back trying to kick me out.


              • Sarita
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                  LOL – oh dear – she is quite a character already – she may end up being a very bossy rabbit.


                • CharleyBunn
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                    Maybe put her in a separate room than the cage while you clean. I do this with charley while i clean her cage because she starts getting really nosey and wants to see what im doing with her stuff. She hasnt lunged or been aggressive though, but im afraid she will get into the vinegar and cleaning stuff. If she is out of her cage a lot to play during the day you could wait til treat or greens time or just sneak and do it. That way you she wont know what is going on. If she is a bossy bun she may realize when you are trying to clean her cage and may have more attitude.


                  • NewBunnyOwner123
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                      She absolutely hates greens! Lol I even tried giving her a carrot and she shook her head and ran away from it. She’s just hit 5 months. Even when I clean the same room her cage is in she gets mad lol like when I’m sweeping my kitchen she will chase and try and attack my broom lol another room might be a good idea but my living room and kitchen are connected. I have a baby gate but ill feel like she will blow up with anger seeing me clean it and not be able to reach me to tell me that’s not how it’s done lol I guess I’ll have to break my rule about not going in my bedroom… She’s got such a huge personality. I love her though. I’m ok with her being bossy. I mean it is HER space, her cage. I don’t let her in my room, why am I allowed in hers to do what I please? I just really really really want to avoid a rabbit who bites.


                    • CharleyBunn
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                        Have you tried to give her any fruit? Not in the place of greens, but to use as occasional treats? Rabbits LOVE fruit, esp. bits of bananas or craisins. A small bag of craisins is inexspensive and will last you a very long time (give 1 at a time and make sure they aren’t stuck together. dried food is more potent than fresh so don’t over feed them). You could try to get her a bit of fruit before a cleaning and right afterwards.
                        I would try other greens. Eventually something will smell appetizing to her. And don’t hesitate to try and re introduce things she has refused in the past. She may decide she loves them later.

                        I have a young female too, she is around 3 months old now. She just recently started eating fresh veggies. I started her off w/ kale. She also eats celery leaves and stalks. She took to them immediately. I let her nibble on a carrot as a treat, but she only ate a small portion of it and went back to her kale & celery. If I had given her the carrot first, she may have taken a few nibbles and snubbed it. From what I’ve read, some buns can be very picky eaters- esp. when introducing foods. So don’t give up, just try a variety. My bun goes nuts over craisins though. If you find that your bun likes a fruit, you could try to cut some into small bits and add it into some cut up greens like a salad. She may just forage out the fruit, but possibly she would take a nibble on some of the greens.

                        Im not sure why she would attack the broom though. Maybe she is fearful for some reason or like Sarita said, is just quite a character/bossy. I would not hesitate to use the baby gate. You don’t want her to reach you to tell you its not ok to clean this or that. You have to give her boundaries, or she will continue to try and dominate the situation. It may even be good for her to see you sweep the kitchen from afar and realize everything is ok and her stuff was not destroyed. If you are worried about her biting, don’t let her boss you around by being aggressive. Aggression can lead to nipping or biting. I would try to work with her gently, but let her know she is safe and you are the boss.

                        Maybe you could leave her in the kitchen w/ the baby gate up and carry her cage into the bathroom or outside to clean out of her sight. It may all be part of her horomones. But after a spay, it can take quite a while for them to settle down, so I’d try to work w/ her now.


                      • NewBunnyOwner123
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                          Thank you for the great tips! She has only lunged at me once and today she didn’t so maybe she was just cranky yesterday lol but today she seemed much better so maybe she was weary or frightened at something before I went in there yesterday. She is still on unlimited pellets so I’m thinking when we start limiting her pellets she will go for her greens her cage is not transportable unfortunately so the only option, if she continues to be bossy, is to move her to our living room while I’m cleaning. Yesterday when she lunged at me I just placed my hand on her head while I finished cleaning and she just sat there until I removed my hand and then I gave her some pets and she settled down.
                          Today, before I started my daily routine of sweeping, I just placed the broom next to her to let her feed her curiosity and smell it and such and waited to start sweeping after she seemed bored with it and she didn’t chase it! She watched me carefully from her cage but she didn’t actually pursue it this time so maybe she felt threatened or something by it? when I swept right by the entrance of her cage she lunged at it but at least she didn’t cross the whole room just to attack my broom lol I think the broom was her main cause of sudden aggression which is weird cause she never paid any mind to it before. But she could have just gotten comfortable enough to feel like its her official home that needed protecting from that horrible monster (broom) and I am going to avoid sweeping too closely to her cage and just get a tiny, hand held dust pan for that area.
                          My husband is allergic to fruit so we never really had fresh fruits around because they spoil too quickly before I can finish them but I will def look into those craisons! Keep hearing a lot about them
                          You have some really good tips, thank you!


                        • CharleyBunn
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                            Your welcome. Sounds like she was just freaked out by the broom. If you think about it, from her eyes the broom probably appeared to be lunging at her- going back and forth lol. So she was trying to defend herself. That’s good though because her smelling it and seeing it not moving let her know it was not so scary. And its good she quit lunging and relaxed once you placed your hand on her head. And maybe she isn’t so bossy as she is fearful. Maybe once she’s older and matures she will relax and her cleaning complex will go away completely.
                            And I didn’t think about the unlimited pellets. If she is eating her pellets unlimited she may just not have an appetite for the greens. Mine eats her pellets some, but she has always preferred her timothy hay (even over alfalfa). I always thought it was odd because I’ve heard most buns gobble pellets & alfalfa up like candy and you have to make sure they don’t over eat them. Charley has a small dish that holds about 1/3 a cup of pellets and I only have to add more pellets every few days. It seems like maybe once a week she’ll eat her entire dish worth in a day, but then she goes back to preferring timothy hay. & You’re right, once you decide to start limiting her pellets she will probably naturally start eating more hay and take to the greens.
                            You could try frozen & dried fruit. You don’t need much since they can’t eat a lot of it. Maybe frozen plain blueberries w/o added sugar, raisins and craisins. Just something special to give her as treats.

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                        Forum BEHAVIOR She’s hit puberty! Help!