Grunting

[sealyah]

I do not know what this is about, but last night my when I let my bunny out of his cage he grunted at me.  Normally he will honk/grunt to get out of his cage, but as soon as I let him out he is happy.  This time he grunted at me!  I tried to pet him and he jumped back and grunted again. Then when I picked him up, he kept fighting to get loose and grunting. What does all this behavior mean? It stopped after a while, but then this morning he did it again when I went to let him out of his cage.  Then as I was reaching over him to get something he bit my arm.  I immediately said “ouch” loudly and then made him go back into his cage (kinda like timeout). Once he was in there, every area I moved toward of the cage he would grunt and I’m sure if my hand would have been in his cage he would have bit me again.  Why is he so aggressive right now?  He is 7 months and he has been fixed for about a month.  Anyone have any advice about why he is doing this or what I should do to make him stop? Please help because I miss my sweet rabbit, I don’t know who this mean, territorial rabbit is.

Thanks

[Sarita]

Some rabbits just grunt to get a point across – it’s a way to communicate. Let him grunt – I wouldn’t worry – it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s grumpy or aggressive.

I will say that most rabbits (altered or not) are very territorial of their cage – it is their space after all. Also it could be that he doesn’t see your hand too – rabbits don’t have great vision and it could be startling him.

Also rabbits don’t really like being picked up either so that is why he is trying to get away – he wants on the ground where he feels secure.

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