Rabbit started to bite

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This topic has 5sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by Wick & Fable.

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- 10/22/2018 at 10:15 PM
  Loelia
  Participant
  3 posts
  My rabbit (Loelia) is spayed and is about 8 months old. She has never once bitten me or anyone ever before. Not even when we would have to try to get her into her carrier or when we were first starting out with her harness and she wasn’t too sure about it yet. She has been very upset with me before and has never even tried to bite me. She nips sometimes when she wants attention and I ignore her nudges.
  
  The other day I took something she was trying to get into away from her and when I came back I kissed her a few times and went to pet her and she bit my wrist. I dismissed it as her being upset about not being able to be naughty anymore and didn’t think about it too much. Later that night she was on my chest cuddling me (I don’t grab her or force her to cuddle I will lay on my back and she will come lay on my chest and give me kisses,”purr”, and “groom” my shirt or the blanket). Well anyways we had been cuddling for around 45 minutes and she randomly licked my neck twice and then bit me very hard (not like her little nips) and then just continued to lay on me. I said ouch loudly and dint think much of it. Then the next day she bit me three more times (every time we had been cuddling for a while and she licked the spot once or twice before biting the exact same spot). Since then I have been nudging her away with my chin whenever I feel like she is going towards my neck.
  
  I have been saying ouch and sounding super hurt when she does it, because I thought maybe she doesn’t know she is hurting me.
  
  PLEASE help I can’t find much on the internet at all. Any and all opinions are welcome.
  
  What should I do? why might she be doing this all of a sudden? why is she biting me in the same exact spot? should I take her to the vet? Is she trying to tell me something?
  
  Thank you!
- 10/23/2018 at 6:44 AM
  Muj Mom N Bun
  Participant
  352 posts
  Forgive me, I may be wrong and I hope that others do chime in on this one but from what you described, this does not sound like bites out of anger… these sound like “strong” grooming bites… or sort of like what cat owners would consider almost like love bites but when they go that one step further to where the kitty starts swishing it’s tail and you suddenly know that you’re in for it if you don’t move away quickly. I wish I could find better ways to say it and again, I could be completely wrong of course, but I see my bun doing this quite often to our sofa and chair. I know it is very different when it is you and not a piece of furniture, however. I really hope you find answers and peace restores between you and your bunny.
- 10/23/2018 at 12:26 PM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5813 posts
  I also agree that they seem to be more strong grooming bites. It could be my method of justification though with Wick, haha.
  
  I know Wick, and i presume many rabbits, groom adaptively to the surface. So if it’s a smooth, flat surface, he’ll only lick. When he senses there’s a bumb or something though, he goes for a nip. Thinking about rabbit grooming, they search for items to pull out of the fur. So a tendon popping up on your neck could have triggered your rabbit to try and cleanse your neck of that “dirt”. This always happens when Wick grooms my wrist. I’ll bend it to pet him, but then he sees my tendon pop out and go to nip it.
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 10/24/2018 at 10:57 AM
  Loelia
  Participant
  3 posts
  yeah I was kind of thinking that they were probably love bites but I don’t know much about rabbits this is my first one so thank you so much for your opinion this makes me feel better.
- 10/24/2018 at 11:39 AM
  Loelia
  Participant
  3 posts
  So im assuming this is just something I am going to have to try to get used to haha.
- 10/24/2018 at 12:02 PM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5813 posts
  More so work around it. So if Wick wants to groom my arm, I’ll position it in a way so he only gets a smooth side. So I dictate where he grooms so he doesn’t nip.
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
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