Aggressive bunny

[Heebgeeb15]

Hi, looking for advice. My boyfriend and I adopted A fixed female IMG_4297 8month old holland/french lop in January she’s about 12 pounds, she’s been with us for three months or more. It took about two months for her to seem like she’s bonded with us. Recently she’s been charging and biting us all the time. She’s not showing any signs of being in pain she had a uti a month after we got her and we got that handled pretty quickly. While at the vet they told us she is incredibly skiddish and hard to handle they said we have to work on picking her up- which we try here and there she really does not like it- the vet thinks she may have been handled poorly by whoever owned her before. We have not been trying to pick her up as much as we probably should be but we’re afraid of scaring her and making her scared of us etc. especially if she was treated poorly before. Nothing has really changed much since we first got her we changed up her room but she seems to like when we do that she gets all binky and curious when we change it up we only have done it maybe three times and the aggression doesn’t appear to coincide with any of the room changes. She also just doesn’t like toys and it’s hard to find toys for her in general because she’s such a big bunny. So we struggled for a while keeping her entertained and happy- she loves what we call “construction” we build her cardboard boxes and tubes she can explore and destroy and she hasn’t seemed bored in a month or so since we’ve given in and decided to go full cardboard box empire for her. She’s probably only ever stomped at us three times in 3 months and all of which we’ve backed off and given her her space. But now it’s just lunging and biting. It’s heart breaking because we had put so much time in effort into bonding with her on her terms and it felt like we bonded with her, but now we’re back to almost zero. She can be so incredibly sweet and so angry in less than a second. Today I pet her head like she loves (she loafed up and closed her eyes and chattered a little) then all the sudden my hand is getting bit and she’s lunging/grunting at me, I did The high pitch squeal and everything to show her it hurt (which it really does! She’s a huge bunny) then a few seconds later she’s letting me pet her again she put her head down and ASKED FOR PETS, so I obliged I did It very slow and gave her time in between each pet for her to leave if she wanted, then yet again I’m being lunged/grunted at I moved before I was Bit. Then I moved To the other side of the room and decided to just pick up some hair clumps because she’s shedding like crazy she watches me and eventually charges me again. This isn’t new exactly when we feed her pellets often times she’s been aggressive and even though she’s eating them out of my hand she bites the hand that’s literally feeding her as if she thinks I’m taking them away. I thought maybe she was thinking I found pellets and I’m taking them away so she lunged and I showed Her it’s hair and she sniffed and seemed satisfied, I move Farther away and just go to pick up the clump to throw it out and I’m lunged at and grunted at. She then jumped into her xpen area and I left. Usually when she bites me and I leave But this time I wanted To try and show her that I’m not a threat and I’m not leaving. I gave Up however because she got me pretty good the last two days and now I flinch Whenever this adorable little terrorist makes any movements. She’s been eating and pooping normal, drinking water and peeing normal. Sometimes after she bites us she flops over. She is such a floppy baby. So it seems odd that she does these aggressive or defensive things then flops in front of us. We’ve done everything at her pace and are constantly thinking of ways to make her happy and it feels like all the sudden past two weeks we’re back to the first day we ever got her… except when we got her she didn’t show any anger she just stayed scared of us for a long time with a food related bite here and there. But this anger is so new. We always let her come to us when she wants love we occasionally go read and hang out in her room for awhile her xpen is her safe place same with the dig box we made her. She used to sprint towards me and ask for pets because I give Her the best pets and now I have To go in the room and stay on the ground till she lets me SOMETIMES pet her. Anyways i dont know what to do, she seems healthy, teeth seem normal size, back nails might need a little trim but other than that nothing is different or seems wrong.

[LBJ10]

So she is spayed? Did you get her from a shelter that spayed before you adopted her? Or did you have your own vet spay her? And this behavior just started 2 weeks ago? Sorry, I’m just trying to clarify some things here.

I mean, it isn’t unusual for a bunny to feel possessive over their area and things. For some bunnies, this translates into lunging and biting. Does she only go for your hands? Or does she attack feet entering her domain as well?

[DanaNM]

Agree with LBJ10, it would be good to confirm she is in fact spayed, just to make sure that isn’t contributing. Also, the timing of the spay would be good to know! If she was spayed right before you adopted her, it’s possible she is going through a “post-spay craze”, although that usually happens between 4-6 weeks, so it’s probably a little late for that.

Have there been any new pets, people, or smells in the house? I remember some members reporting their bun attacked them from something as simple as a new hand soap. Buns are very scent oriented, and especially in spring time they can be extra sensitive to new smells.

Could you also describe her set-up? I’m curious because there have been some cases where free-roam rabbits become “cage aggressive”, in that they get very territorial over the entire room they roam in. Sometimes in those cases it actually helps to have the bun penned part of the day in a space that’s only hers, so she doesn’t have to feel on guard all the time.

Regarding handling, while it is important to be able to pick up your bunny, in many cases “trying to get them used to it” is counter productive. Since you said you haven’t been focusing on that I don’t think that’s the issue here, but when a rabbit thinks it’s going to be picked up anytime you come near, it will learn to fear hands, which can then lead to aggression.

As far as toys for her, I think the cardboard empire sounds great haha. My buns also really like palm plates and anything made of willow. Cardboard cat scratchers are popular with the buns that like to dig or chew on flooring and baseboards. Phone books are also good for shredding if you can find them. Baby stacking cups are pretty popular as well if you load them up with her pellet ration.

Sorry if I missed something you already wrote!

In the meantime when you interact with her, wear leather gloves so she can’t hurt you. When she bites you, hold your ground and react calmly. You don’t want her to think the aggression has “worked”, but also don’t want her to become more afraid of you.

Here are some older threads where members had similar issues, there may be some good tips to try (you can search for more as well!):

psycho rabbit – i need advice!

Growls and attacks hands when we try to give treats-

LUNGING AT ME?!

Territorial behavior in SPAYED female

Do rabbits get overstimulated? Please help with an aggressive spayed doe.

. . . 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.  

[Heebgeeb15]

Hi we adopted her already spayed by the MSPCA, we confirmed with the vet too. She only goes for hands. It’s new behavior. Her room set up is her xpen in the middle in a square then some room for her to run around it and on the out skirts around the room wall is a dig box, two litter boxes and cardboard boxes with tunnels attached. She goes in the xpen from like 10 pm-7 am ish other wise she has the whole room and we have a baby gate to her room that we typically leave open all day unless we leave or something that she can come out in the living area. When we tried to pick her up we always rewarded the attempt with some lettuce or banana, We only tried it a few times and that was kind of a while ago so I agree that’s probably not the cause. I think It could be smells, my boyfriends mom visited last week that might be contributing, she was in the apartment for long hours for 2 days, and she has a dog so she probably smelled like dog. Also with the nicer weather the windows have been open more so that’s more smells. I’ll have to try willow made toys, we have the baby cups she more so just godzillas them over much like most toys due to how big she is haha. I’m just over thinking I think, my biggest fear is potentially overlooking signs of her being sick or something. I think She’s just going through a teenage phase maybe? If bunnies do that.

[LBJ10]

Bunnies do go through an adolescence phase. It would be more pronounced if she was unspayed, but even spayed/neutered bunnies will try to test boundaries when they are young and energetic. The changing light can also cause them to produce sex hormones through their adrenal glands, which leads to what we call “March Madness”. It makes bunnies go bonkers for a bit during the spring months.

If it’s just your hands, then it could be triggered by smell. Or it could be triggered by eye sight. If your hand is coming from above or directly in front of her, she may not be able to see it well. So say you’re petting her, stop, and then go to pet her again but your hand is in her blind spot. This can be a trigger.

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