Usually aggression is fear. I guess my first thought is that since you know that the strong fragrance affect him in this way is to try to avoid using those around him as he finds those offensive.

Usually it is a matter of us changing our behavior around our rabbits to get them to quit their undesirable behavior.

Is this biting frequent or it just happened those 3 times?

Maybe try doing your cleaning with long gloves on so that you can take them off and have the smell be totally gone from you.

Rabbits don’t like you messing with their stuff :~) Best not to try messing with his stuff when he’s in there.

Also, he’s not really an aggressive rabbit, he’s just exhibited a bit of aggressive behavior and remember that aggression is fear, rabbits do not have the capacity to be mean. And size really doesn’t matter as far as fear aggression goes.

It sounds like he’s had quite a bit of changes and when you start changing their routines, they can become insecure.

I think of it like this: if someone came into your house, you would defend it, right? that is how a rabbit feels.

It sounds like he does not like to be approached in his cage- it makes him uncomfortable and fearful. My most territorial bunny is fine out of her pen- but in her pen she even growls as I drop her veggies in and she is eating already- she growls as the rest of the greens (or even rose petals) fall in. She is just that defensive of her pen.

Their sense of smell is much more keen then their sight. They recognise us by our smell too, I recently learnt. So when you approach with the cleaning smells on your hands, it’s very possibly he thinks you’re some strange intruder. I think Sarita is on the money in suggesting it’s fear aggression.

Gloves when cleaning sound like an easy solution. Be aware that some gloves can leave a smell on your hands also, though Theo mightn’t not react as badly to that.

If the changes you make don’t help this aggression, I’d take him in for a health check because unpredictable aggression can be because something is bothering a rabbit healthwise.

It sounds like your bunny could be a dominant one and he becomes an adult (8 month). The smell (cleaning) of your fingers could be responsible for his behaviour, as well. I would try to analyse the situations: fear, aggressiv ….

We say at home, that bunnies become aggressive when they live alone. May be he need a bunny.

 (I had a very dominant male-bunny (neutered). He found it funny to bite me. I try a lot and one day I was so bad about his bite, that I picked him with my fingernails in his back. He looked at me very surprised and he never bite me, again. But he was very dominant and he even fought against cats and dogs in his territory)

Hope you will solve the problem.

Kleo

Kleo, I wouldn’t even harm a rabbit. Even if your rabbit hurts you, scolding and hurting him will not resolve anything. in fact, I think it may have made him fearful of you. You cannot ‘show who is boss’ when it comes to rabbits, they will not understand. Rabbits have the mindset of a toddler and a firm “NO!” will be enough.

I agree with LoveChacha – rabbits act aggressive out of fear not dominance or spite. The best way to curb the aggressive tendency is to earn trust with them rather than physical harm. It’s really a matter of humans changing their behavior to understand their pet rather than the other way around.

It’s true about earning their trust to curb the aggression. It is in some ways almost counter-intuitive, since you want to scold a human child, but it’s even more difficult to recognize that a bunny will only learn a few words and just get your tone.
A terrific example of using softness and patience to curb aggression is BB’s Vivian. She was a tough lady, snarly and snapping, and still is with Steve. But BB would just sit with her very, very quietly and ignore her. Over time, she became curious as they all do. Got used to the fact that BB was NEVER going to strike her or harm her in any way, and could be trusted under all circumstances. And she got soft and loving to BB.

So I would hang in there, be consistently gentle and NOT aggressive yourself. If your bunny has some spots where you just can’t touch, well, don’t touch there. (Picture yourself with Great Aunt Erma who always says hello then sticks a finger up your nose. Help! Here comes Aunt Erma! Eventually, if you knew she was never going to do THAT again, you might not dread it when she comes near you. A strange example, I know, but makes sense?)

I also ditto not using aggression to scold a bunny. And even if they never bite again, that can make them fearful –which can either lead to insecurity, shyness or more aggression. And some bunnies will be bossy about certain territories and/or food. As Vivian is very sweet except she will be more likely to box me if she is in her lounge box or on her blanket in the sunroom. It may be that those places, like cages, are smaller and it may make a bunny feel trapped if a hand is coming into a space that they may not be able to easily escape and for some bunnies that may make the act defensively. Either way, I never punish. If I had a biter, I would wear gloves to let my bunny know that the bite has no affect, but if my bunny chose to then box, I would move my hand out of the way as I am okay with being boxed.

Vivian will always be a spunky huffer, growler, boxer….I’m okay with that and she is becoming sweeter and sweeter as I do the technique that Pam described above.

Also, Vivian is very sensitive to scents. It makes a big difference to her how my hands smell — I can’t have other animal scents on them, I have to becareful what I just ate and what my hands touched, cleaners can be an issue to. So she is used to a couple of soap cleaners I use to wash my hands that have mild scent (as I use only mildly scented soaps anyway). One is a papaya almond scent and another is a rose/lavender scent — but again — it’s not really strong. I just have learned to wash my hands more often — better for me anyway, maybe I’ll get less colds!

Steve has been with Vivian now for one week straight (as I am out of town) and only yesterday, did she FINALLY let him pet her. He took my advice and just hung out with her and with he hands her food, she may box, but as long as he doesn’t freak out and run away or something, she does just fine. So he has said he has been staying calm and now when he enters the room she no longer gives him the bunny stink eye (ears back), nor does she just run over and lunge at him. So with patience and kindness, he too is making progress with her.