Considering getting a rabbit, BUT

[watson]

Hello! I am 21 and an animal lover.

I have always loved rabbits. I used to show them as a teenager (though it was a school program so the rabbits lived at school)

A few years back, I got a rabbit of my own. I thought I did everything right. She had a giant enclosure in my room but was free roam most of the time. She got healthy treats and the best food and unlimited hay and toys and even a square of tile for when it was hot. She had a litterbox and used it, I cleaned appropriately etc.

She was very sweet and cuddly – at first. But then, she became aggressive. Territorial I guess is the right word. Soon I wasn’t even able to go into my room. She would chase me around and bite my feet and thump at me. The only living thing allowed in my room besides her? The cat. We kept them separate at first (and always supervised) but they were best buds, it was wild. They would cuddle on the bed for ages and play and rub heads and groom each other. After we were effectively chased out of our room she wasn’t allowed in there so much because things can go wrong in a second and all that, but they were still allowed to hang out.

Well, it got so bad that we ended up having to sleep in the living room. She figured out how to get out of her enclosure (XL dog kennel with the door removed attached to about 4 feet of chicken wire with a lockable door flap.) So she would get out at night and bite our toes and jump across our faces and try to get us to leave.

We rehomed her. We thought maybe her being unfixed was the issue but none of the vets in town would do it, the nearest one was 4 hours away. At the time we didn’t have the means to make that trip. I felt awful for rehoming her but she was so mean. She chased us and bit us for being around her. She was once cuddly and affectionate. This was all in the span of about six months.

It’s been a few years and recently I have been wanting a rabbit again. We have tentatively been making preparations and saving up and now would be able to get to the vet that will fix rabbits. But I’m terrified of a repeat, and I’m wondering if any of you could give me some insight. Is this normal? Was it because she was unfixed? Did we do something wrong?

Any questions about her living situation, food and general husbandry – any questions at all – are entirely welcome. I am going to be 100% transparent about everything because if we are going to get another one I don’t want a repeat of that awful time, so I want to set this bun and us up for success if we decide to proceed.

[LBJ10]

This is 100% normal for an unspayed female bunny. All babies are cuddly. Then puberty hits and everything changes – girl or boy. They become territorial and “aggressive”. Most of these behaviors are hormone-driven.

Can a bunny still behave this way even if they are spayed? Yes. However, it is much less likely. Spaying them often fixes the “problem”. But you have to remember that a bunny is still going to do bunny things. They can still feel territorial sometimes. They can still chew and dig. They can still not have the best litter habits. It really just depends on the bunny.

Do you have a shelter nearby that adopts out bunnies? Perhaps you would do better getting an already spayed/neutered adult with a personality that is already known. Getting a baby is a gamble. You never know what their adult personality will be.

[watson]

I don’t have a shelter nearby sadly ):

 

Yeah the territorial stuff I expected, but sleeping on the couch the few weeks leading up to rehoming her was… wow.

[DanaNM]

That’s a tough situation. Hormones definitely sound like they contributed. It also think that her housing might have be a part of the issue as well (or at least made it harder to deal with). There have been a few cases on the forum of free-roam bunnies (including castrated ones) that have gotten very territorial and aggressive. I think it is really important to have a secure area that is just the rabbits, that they cannot escape from, so they can be penned if needed. Having this area also seems to help with aggression because the rabbit doesn’t feel the entire room is their territory.

So for planning for your future bun, I would think about what type of enclosure you will use and do something more secure than what you had before. I like using NIC cube grids to build pens and condos because you can tailor them to the space and they can be made very secure. 🙂 There are some other housing ideas here: https://binkybunny.com/infocategory/house-rabbit-habitats/

. . . 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.  

[watson]

Thank you!!

I have a bun set up, and I will be getting him in early December. (:

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