Please help me!

[mattC]

Everytime I walk across my back patio or in my backyard at all my rabbit constantly charges at my legs and feet slamming into them headfirst seemingly on purpose. He also charges at things that are around as if he doesn’t see them and seems to be startled 2 find objects when he runs into them while charging around. He especially charges at me when I’m putting food or veggies in his bowl. He lives on our back patio but he also has access to the entire backyard which is fenced-in. He is actually bit my wife on the ankles while charging at her or so she says (she might have just got scared), but this has caused me to be scared of being bitten and yes it’s embarrassing to admit that. This is our first time owning a bunny and neither of us know anything about them. We found him in our neighborhood and no one claimed him. He had a bad ear infection and eye infection which we cleared up. He’s very sweet while being held so this Behavior doesn’t seem to really make sense. Anyway I’m trying to figure out what it is because I’d like to know if he’s unhappy about something or if it’s just him playing or what. Please let me know what this is about. Thank you for any help you can give me

[LBJ10]

Is he neutered? Is he a he? Sounds like dumb questions, but what you’re experiencing isn’t uncommon.

He was outside. Fending for himself. Food was scarce. Now he has a home but he is still dealing with all of that. What you’re seeing is territorial behavior and “cage” aggression. This is more common in intact animals, especially females. But it can and does occur in fixed animals as well.

[Bam]

Thank you for taking him in!

I agree with LBJ, he’s been living outside, fending for himself in a world that’s full of dangers. Almost all bigger animals wants to eat a rabbit, they’re near the bottom of the food-chain. They have to be tough to survive, even tougher than wild rabbits that live in colonies that offer protection and safety in numbers. 

One of my bunnies was living outside when I found him, and he charged at me for quite a while before we became really good friends (he’s sitting under my foot as I’m writing, because he loves being pet). He even bit me. He pummeled me and growled and the next second, he demanded pets by putting his chin on the ground. He can still growl, but he doesn’t charge or bite now (exept the broom, the broom is his sworn enemy). He’s a smart, curious and feisty bunny and those qualities were probably what kept him alive outside. 

Cage aggression or territoral defense is common in rabbits. They are territorial as a species, because they live in warrens outside and invest a lot of time and energy in creating these intricate warrens, they can’t just migrate away if there are intruders that want their space. So they stand their ground, and it’s surprising how belligerent such a crazy cute little animal can be. 

Some of it goes away with neutering, because territoriality is sexually motivated to an extent. The rest of it has to be dealt with by gaining the bun’s trust. They are very different from dogs and won’t respond well to punishment – in part because they’ve been domesticated for a very short time compared to dogs. Try and put his food-bowl down in a place where he isn’t, food aggression means he isn’t sure he’ll get to keep the desired food unless he fights for it. He will most likely find his bowl wherever you put it, because he’s had to find food for himself and rabbits have a very keen sense of smell. 

It is problematic that he’s bit your wife, but it’s not like if a dog bites a person. Biting should be bred out of companion dogs, but bunnies were never, until quite recently, bred for their capacities as companion-animals. I probably sound silly but I’d wear long (old) trousers and try to stand my ground (if he succeed in chasing you away, which is his intention, he’ll repeat the behavior). A bunny’s bite is not as bad as the bite of a cat or a dog, since rabbits are vegan, they don’t have the same nasty bacteria in their mouths as especially cats have. They can bite really hard though, so don’t try to fend him off with your hands unless you’re wearing gardening-gloves.

I sincerely wish you all the best with this, and we’d be really happy for updates. We have had cases of badly aggressive bunnies here before. 

 Here is an informative article from the House Bunny Society, not all of the info in the article will apply to your case of course, but it might still be useful: aggression rabbits

[LBJ10]

Thank you Bam for a more thorough answer. I was on my phone earlier and couldn’t elaborate much!

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