Bunny bites own nails!?

[Dee]

I was wondering if anyone else has a bunny that does this. The first few times I went to trim Luke’s nails, I couldn’t believe how short they were. I knew it had been a while since I had done them- I’m sad to say that I misestimated how short they were and cut his quick on TWO different occasions ?. As a result, if I even touch his nails, he begins to do a little bunny version of hyperventilating- very sad. Once I caught him in the act and realized he takes care of his own nail trimming, I have switched to filing the sharp or jagged edges off his nails. It is time consuming and hard to do since his paws are so tiny and he actually makes a sort of fist- curls his toes in as tight as he can, probably to avoid getting them chopped off by his clumsy oaf of a mommy ?. His nails are black, except for one or two, so that makes it even more difficult to check that he is biting them short enough.

So… anyone else with a nail-biting bunny?

[LongEaredLions]

I have never heard of this before! Very interesting.
My first reaction is that excessive self-barbering can be a stress response—is there anything that could be causing this?

[Dee]

He has always been a nervous bunny- not very unusual, I know- but he doesn’t do any other strange grooming . He just seems to take the excess nail off, and go on to the next. I just think its so sttange!

[sarahthegemini]

Strange indeed! But less stress for you

[Dee]

Lol Sarah- very true! I dread having to file his nails- he is so pathetic, the way he sniffles so frantically. The other bunny I had that hated being handled- Nelli- didn’t make me feel as bad. She would fight and kick and bite and snort, so by the time I was done clipping her nails, I had very little sympathy left for her- probably because my clothes were usually ripped and I was bleeding from various wounds ?.
Little Lukie tries to get away from me by running into his cardboard houses, which I then pick them up, one by one. Next he goes into his tunnel, until I tip him out of it. As his last ditch escape effort, he jumps in his litter box and huddles in the corner, perhaps hoping I somehow can’t see him. He also seems to roll himself into a ball- he draws his hind legs way up and makes himself as tiny as possible, like a little football. The whole thing is very guilt provoking for me, even though I know it’s necessary.

[Author]

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