Aggressive Rabbit

[puddy123]

Hello! So I have an 8 month old rabbit named Puddy. I’ve had her since she was 6 weeks old and she is a female American Fuzzy Lop. She gets A LOT of attention. For the first 7 months of her life she lived in a large dog play pen because I didn’t want her to live in a small cage during the day while I was at school. The cage had a tunnel in it, two boxes that she could hide in, a bed, many toys, her litter box and her food and water bowls (so she was very spoiled). As soon as she was litter trained she became a house bunny and was out of her cage whenever I was home (which when she was about 2 months old). Her diet is mainly hay, with pellets. Everyday she gets about 2 cups of greens and a treat such as a few baby carrots or a piece of banana. 

When she hit puberty (about 4 months old), she started showing aggressive behaviour. Ex. she would bite, scratch, and growl when I would put food in the cage or clean it. I read online that most bunnies, especially females, become territorial when they hit puberty and could be fixed by getting her spayed. So I dealt with her sassiness and got her spayed about a month ago (when she was about 6-7 months old). After her surgery she healed well and I expected the aggressiveness to go away. However it did not.

I moved to university and brought her with me and I couldn’t bring her large cage with me so I only brought a dog crate, which is still larger than most rabbit cages. She still gets a TON of freedom and she is out of the cage running around my room unless I’m in class or if I’m going to bed. 

She is a very friendly rabbit but only on her own terms. She will cuddle, nudge me to be pet, binky all over the room, give me licks and will lay down with her tummy exposed and her legs out beside me (which I heard is a sign of trust from rabbits). However, sometimes she will randomly attack me out of no where. Mostly this is when I’m putting her back in the cage but other times it’s for no reason at all. When she attacks she will lunge at me, growl, scratch and bite. She is getting good at biting and will make me bleed. 

When she is aggressive with me I *lightly* push her head to the floor and make a “sssttttt” sound, and then I put her in the cage for a bit.

She’s been to the vet twice (once for a checkup and the other for her surgery) and all was fine with her so I don’t believe this is a problem with her health. 

Any advice helps! Thank you

-Emma and Puddy

[LittlePuffyTail]

She is a very friendly rabbit but only on her own terms.

You just perfectly described my bun Olivia. She has been this way for over 7 years now. And I also get beat up out of nowhere at times.

I think you have a Diva bunny. Honestly, some bunnies are just more territorial and moody than others. Each their own personality, just like us. While I don’t think you can change her personality (and in my case, I wouldn’t want to…I love her as is) but perhaps you can change your routine to suit her. Can you try to lure her back to her cage with a treat instead of the normal way. I’m assuming you are picking her up? Olivia hates to be picked up and I only do it when absolutely necessary. I originally lured her back to her cage with a treat and it evolved into me just clicking my fingers and saying “Okay, Olivia” and she will hop right back into her house.

[Philomena]

Philomena acts the exact same way. She’s not very cuddly though but will love to give attention on her own terms. However she will get very sassy when you want her to do something that she doesn’t want to do (like getting picked up). It sounds like your bun is trying to tell you “No Mommy! I’m not done with playtime!!”

You could try to make going back into her cage her idea. Like PuffyTail said, use a treat. I trained Philomena to go into her cage on command and she is more than happy to go to Bed Byes.

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