Bit me out of nowhere and drew blood…

[Fiona]

Ur…. things look like they are just going downhill and downhill for no real reason. I just held my hand out for him to sniff, and Moony bit me out of nowhere- the bite actually broke skin and drew blood.  I am truly at a loss what exactly has happened to that calm and sweet bunny that the breeder and all his visitors described. His personality literally flipped upside down EVER SINCE last night when I let him out for binkies around my room, and he has apparently tasted “freedom”.   ?

Neeeed help. I am probably going to schedule a vet appointment asap to get him neutered. But I need advice from you bunny experts on why his personality and attitude towards me and humans has flipped completely backwards within a few hours.

A bit of back info for those who didn’t read my past posts, I brought him home from a breeder only 4~5 days ago. I keep him in an x-pen with a hidey hole, litterbox, food bowls. The breeder calls him kind and loving, that his parents are also very kind, and that she guarantees her bunnies 100%… I met her and trust her honestly, so I don’t think she is at fault. He was very sweet and very tolerant when I met him at the breeder’s house, and very sweet with my parents, sweet with me. All the way up until I let him out for a good run for the first time in his life (probably) in a larger space in my room, he did a ton of binkies. Ever since then, he would not let me pick him up at all, and would run away when I try to pet him when I pet his head/back. This was all just last night. And then up to now, a bite that drew blood. 

I’m a bit afraid to handle him, because I’m new to bunnies and I am not adept at their body language yet. What do I do? What’s happening? I feel like he just suddenly discovered way too much confidence and that life is not worth interacting with humans. LOL

[Azerane]

I don’t think you need to panic. He’s only been home with you for 4 days. In that time, he’s been taken from a space with other rabbits and put on his own, with strange people and strange places that he’s not familiar with. He probably is gaining a bit more confidence which may mean he may temporarily give himself some distance from you before you really bond with him (bonding with a rabbit can take months sometimes, prey animals are much trickier to win over than cats or dogs). I would say it’s possibly a combination of him becoming more settled in the home, and his hormone starting to kick in.

That being said, there may be another cause for it. Has there been anything different on your hands before hand? A different soap or cream, perhaps another animal from visiting somewhere? Sometimes smells on our hands can scare or upset rabbits because it’s unfamiliar or smells very strong and unpleasant to them.

Thirdly, give him time and space, spend more time with him down at his level (lay on the floor and read a book for example). If you’ve been picking him up a lot I would back off from that, he needs to know that he’s not going to picked up or handled every time you come near him. Being picked up can be very scary for a rabbit. Let him approach you, but don’t react when he does. Just let him come close and ignore him completely. I had Bandit for three years and was confident with picking him up when I needed to. However, there were times when he just didn’t want to be picked up so often I just had to respect that and let him escape without chasing or trying to hold onto him. Then a half hour later I might go back and try again and he’d be ok with being picked up.

[Bam]

I don’t think you need to panic either. We have heard many similar stories here of sudden behavioral change in buns coming into puberty, but slightly more often with girl bunnies than with boys. It’s often described as if you’d flipped a switch. The sweet loving baby bunny suddenly doesn’t wan’t to be touched, growls at her humans, refuses to be caught, looses every trace of litter-box training etc – and that from one day to the next. People often think they’re doing sth wrong or have scared their bun in some way. But if the bunny is still eating, toiletting and binkying, it’s most likely about a powerful hormonal surge. BinkyBunny even has an info-page about “Young Bunny Behavioral Change”, here’s the link:

Bunny Gone Nutty?

Your breeder showed you Moony’s testicles, which of course means they have descended, and he can be neutered if your vet is ok with it (some vets want to wait until the bun has reached a certain weight etc, again more often with girl bunnies because that surgery is of course much more invasive and complicated). I’d say call your vet and make the appointment.

[Love4Bunny]

I can say that all of that sounds really normal for a rabbit, unless, like Bam says, they don’t poop or play, etc. My bun bit me, and it was cos he wanted more space and was settling in (and didn’t want me to give him meds). Rabbits do what they want to do, when they want to do it. Everybody I’d ever met told me bunnies were easy (hah!), but they didn’t tell me that they could be feisty one minute and uber-loving the next, and I think it’s because people don’t really think of rabbits as having different personalities or preferences (but they do). Dogs are wayyyy easier to please. But I wouldn’t have my bunnies any other way 🙂

[Q8bunny]

I forgot the one other possibility in the other thread: that he’s a VAMPIRE BUNNY! Muahahahahahahahaha…

[Mikey]

My newest bun bites fingers, but doesnt draw blood. He does cause bruises sometimes from the bites though. He doesnt do it out of spite or aggression, but rather he thinks fingers are food. We often give them greens by handing a few pieces to them to make sure everybun shares, so he associates fingers with greens and treats. It is possible too that hes mad at you for putting him back into a smaller space. A lot of bunnies like a lot of space to run, jump, binky, and flop. Even if they have a lot of space, some like to have as much space as they can possibly have. I do think neutering will help out

[flemishwhite]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1abIFF_fgpY

Here’s a video on rabbit aggression. 

[Fiona]

Thanks for the advice, guys- I did panic in the hour it happened.  I’ll definitely be giving him distance for a few days. I’m taking him today in for a pre-neuter checkup at the vet, in case hormones are kicking in… Which thinking back, is possible, because he suddenly trashed his pen with pee and poop everywhere the night prior, when he was totally clean before.

I’ll remember that the smells affects them too! Maybe he thought my fingers were food… who knows… And I also didn’t know that they could not see right in front of their noses, like dogs and cats can. I probably won’t be letting him sniff my fingers from the front anymore haha. 

It’s completely like a switch was flipped… so odd LOL.

[Love4Bunny]

All the best with it! I noticed a difference when my rabbit was neutered. He calmed down a fair bit. The mischeviousness never left but some other undesirables did.

[Author]

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