Hissing Bunny

[JKurrle]

This is an odd one.  We picked up a new, year old tan doe a couple of months ago from a breeder and she has been acclimating to our apartment.  She is very smart and very inquisitive.  She learned her litterbox training within a few weeks and we rarely see a pellet when she’s out.  I am working with her on her occasional carpet chewing, but don’t see any problems there.  There is one behaviour she displayed last night, which caught me off guard.

She was in her favorite corner of the room and I got down to pick her up and put her in her pen.  She lunged at me and hissed.  For the last 15 years we’ve had boys and  this is my first girl, so it’s new for us.  I understand the lunging is territorial, due to her hormonal changes.  The odd thing was the hissing.  Has anyone experienced that before?  I’ve never had a rabbit hiss at me before.

It could be that she picked it up from the cat.  She wants to play with our cat, but our cat is getting old and doesn’t tolerate bunnies so well anymore.  The cat will hiss at her and bat at her with her paws (she’s declawed).  As fast a learner as our bunny is, I was wondering if she picked it up from the cat?  After lunging and hissing, our doe was immediately tractable and allowed me to pet her and pick her up without any fuss, so I think she was experimenting.

Every rabbit has their personality, but this new one is quite the character.  When she plans mischief her tail starts twitching left and right and often her tongue starts coming out, as if she’s testing the air or something.  She’s a very fast learner and can be very needy at times, incessantly begging for nose scratching and ear caresses.  Other times, I’ll open her pen door and she won’t be interested in leaving her pen, despite calling her and petting her in her pen.  I suspect it’s the whole hormonal thing…

[Sarita]

She does sound like quite a character! I’ve had rabbits kind of do a hiss/grunt type sound but not really a full on hiss.

[Author]

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