Help aggressive bun

[NalaBunny]

Hello everyone, I have an issue. Just recently within the last week and a half, two weeks my rabbits has become more and more aggressive. She lunges at us whenever we get close to her hide or pick up anything that is hers. The only time she doesn’t do this is when she knows I have food.

Ok now for some background info. Nala is a rescue bunny that I got around a year ago. We believe her previous owner was a little bit of an animal hoarder, due to the fact that she was forced to get rid of some animals. She then had to give up Nala when Nala was pregnant by accident. This makes us believe Nala never left her cage and wasn’t given much attention. So I then adopted her and before I convinced my parents that proper rabbit care is important she lived in a small cage with only 2 hours of free roam time. I recently got her spayed a large cage and plenty of free roam time. She now is free roamed and has a home base spot. Currently though I am getting another rabbit so half of her stuff is in it’s cage and I can’t change up her cage very much.

All of this information makes me believe that she is very territorial. She has lived in a small cage most of her life so she’s probably very territorial over her cage. I kept this away by changing up her cage a lot so she couldn’t really get territorial. I have no more room for more stuff, so getting more stuff is not the solution for me. What should I do guys. I really want this to go away but I have to wait till the two bunnies are bonded to get her stuff back. Is there anything I could do to be a temporary fix.

[DanaNM]

It sounds like she is reacting to the smell of the new bunny? And possibly having hormone fluctuations relating to being spayed, depending on the timing?

Female rabbits can go through a post-spay “craze” around 4-6 weeks after spaying, but it should calm down after that.

Both things should get better with time. Rabbits that were overly caged can tend to get cage aggressive, it will probably help to not clean her cage or rearrange things while she is in it. So, if you can avoid messing with her “stuff” while she is in her cage, that will help. If you must mess with things, I find it helps to actually tell the bunny “excuse me, just going to grab your water bowl” or whatever. It sounds really silly, but I think sometimes they get startled by a hand reaching in, so saying something lets them know you are not trying to sneak up on them.

If it’s more related to a new bunny around, then that should also calm down with time. So just try to be patient and stay calm. When she lunges at you, try not to flinch if you can (wear gloves if needed). I’ve dealt with similar rabbits while volunteering at the rescue, and my strategy is to have my hand kind of mimic the shape of a rabbit head (make a little fist, so your knuckles face the bun). When they lunge, kind of curl your hand up and pet the top of her head. That mimics another rabbit grooming her. In time you might find she lunges at you for pets 🙂

. . . 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.  

[NalaBunny]

Thanks for the information, I will definitely try  the mimicking rabbit head thing.

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