Houdini the Nipper

[GeorgieTheBunny]

That’s what I should have named Hazel.

I might have my grumpy pants on right now but that’s because it was 8am and I got biten to the point of unbridled’ loud “ouch!” that the neighbours likely heard!

I had the pellets bags out and was using the scoop the measure out her daily ration when she bit my finger. It still throbs.

She seemed unaffected by my Yelp and continued to covet the pellets. I used my hand to push her body away from what I was doing until I could finish. Then I picked her up, took her to her pen, and closed the door.

It’s taken 30 minutes to calm down, chat with the bf and write this; she’ll get given her breakfast after the post. (Don’t want to reward the wrong behaviour)

It’s been almost 2 weeks since the adoption. She has Hoodini’d out of 1. Her pen last night & 2. Her cage this morning. Now a nip that I would call more of a bite.

I built a simple c&c 42×42″ pen for basic containment/easy cleaning during litter training. Looks like a more permanent sturdy cage needs to be made.

Any extra advice on biting?
My Georgie never bit me, she would give warning nips if she was getting a nail clipping that’s it.

Thank you for listening, I needed to talk….

[ThorBunny]

Ouch! Sorry about your predicament, I know it can be very frustrating!

We went through a similar ordeal when we adopted Thor. She was fairly friendly from the beginning, accepted pets and such, but had a terrible nipping habit. I really think she just picked up the bad behavior while in the shelter or at her previous owner’s. She would nip so hard that she would elicit loud yells, nip hard enough to leave giant bruises, and twice even broke skin! Even though she broke skin, I still classify these as nips, in my understanding when a rabbit truly bites they will dig in and hang on for dear life (terrifying bunnies!). Thor was only doing nips, but they were HARD and it got to the point where we were scared of her. It is difficult not to take it personally.

We tried a lot of things to make her stop: Yelping loudly or shaking a noise maker, then leaving after a nip so as to not reinforce bad behavior. I also started to pick up on her patterns, so when I knew she was coming in for a nip I would either leave or just gently pick up her front feet and turn her face away from me. This 180 turn confused her, and prevented the behavior. We also did briefly try the advice to gently push her shoulders down after a nip (some say this is the way mother rabbits assert dominance over kits): I wouldn’t recommend this. Even though it doesn’t hurt them, I think any physical consequences just don’t get through to a rabbit and it seemed to make her nipping worse while we were doing it.

Initially I despaired because our interventions seemed to have no effect. When we would yelp or make loud noises, she didn’t seem to react at all! Over time however, I realized that the amount of times between nips got longer and the nips that did occur got softer. (we started one of those “it has been __ days without an accident” counters on the fridge ) It takes time, but training like this does get through to them. It could also be that over time she grew to trust us more and realized she did not have to nip to get her way.

Good luck! Feel free to vent here, I’m sure it helps. Just know she doesn’t hate you. And that from my experience, even a serial nipper can become the sweetest bun <3 Its now been 51 days without a nip

[GeorgieTheBunny]

Thank You

51 days without a nip counter is both a cute and practical idea. We might have to put that into action about boxing.

Hazel has some cage aggression (documented at the humane society)

She boxes if she feels threatened. We both got boxed once a piece for putting food in her bowl and me once for adding Carefresh to her litter box. I don’t fault her for this because it means that some human in her past likely didn’t respect her subtle communications, so she had to escalate to boxing and nips to avoid the “terror of the hoomin hands”.

Her sweet yet slow to acclimate nature and touch of cage aggression is why I was so compelled to adopt her so soon after Georgie’s passing. She wants to be loved – she’s just scared from her past experiences and her cage aggression would scare away most (at least fist time) would-be adopters.

We know first hand that a loving home can change the scaredy bunny behaviour into a content fluffster.

[Ryn]

This is all great to read! I am dealing with a nippy bun too. I just got Almond and she has a nipping habit. I have been yelping and turning away to try and discourage the behaviour.

She managed to break the skin on my knuckle. I don’t think she realizes quite how big she is! She really just wants to be pet and cuddled but is over zealous in communicating what she wants.

[Author]

Messages