How to Deal with an Aggressive Rabbit

[toyaB]

 Hi everyone,

Well this is one of a few places I am desperately trying to get advice through for my aggressive bunny. It is quite a long story so I guess I should start at the begining. 

We got Napoloeon a little over a month ago. When he came, he was shy and a little scared which was to be expected with a bunny who just flew on a plane and on a truck to get to me. He had a small house set up in the study but instead of us making him a closed off area, we decided we wanted him to have the whole room. As that day went on, Poe started to come out of his shell. He was sniffing and quite excited to hop around and explore. Then, later that night, he became very aggressive and angry. He was 4 months old at the time and hadn’t been neutured, so we assumed the move had put a strain on his little body and meant his hormones had kicked in extra early and extra hard. We couldn’t even get in the room he was so vicious. 

The next morning though, my mum came over to teach me how to be firm and dominant to him in a hope that he would back down, and he did for a little while. There were grunts and charges and bites galore, but nothing compared to his first night. He then got neutured and it kept decreasing. But, nothing ever stopped him from being overly territorial of his favourite place, and nothing will make him go in the litterl box. He will grunt and charge and bite at you if you try and get him out from my desk (his favourite place), or if you move anything on the desk, or if you put your hand in his general direction. Same goes if he is ontop of his cage, or on a corner of the room he doesn’t want you to come near. Sometimes he will even just run out from other the table when you walk past and attack. 

As this went on, it kept decreasing slowly, but I had eventually learnt that I was doing a few wrong things with him – Mainly I was pulling away everytime he charged at me due to fear of getting more gaping scars on my hands. I learnt this just encourages them to keep doing this, so I confidently put my hands on my desk with gloves and without, and let him bite and attack all he liked without moving to show him it wasn’t that easy to get rid of me. That seemed to work for a few hours, but then he just got angrier and would continue to attack my hand no matter how long it took him to get rid of it. He then got a little frightended I think that he could no longer be in charge, and lashed out at me even more than usual. 

Long story short – His tempremant is overwhelming and exhausting. I have spent an obscene amount of time reading up on rabbits, learning their behaviour, making sure what I’m doing is okay, as well has spending every second of the day since we got him with him making him feel safe and secure. He did show a few sings of being happy – he loves to lay down flat next to me and do lots of bunny flops, binkies around the room and even licked me a few times while I was nursing him. He doesn’t mind being picked up and cuddled and he even grinds his teeth, but when he is in certain territorial areas (the whole study), he is very defensive and aggressive. He also poos everywhere around the study and the apartment, which I think has something to do with that as well. He is barely littler trained and I think most of the time he does go in his tray is coincedence. He is TOO smart for his own good. 

Basically I was just after ANY advice possible. I was really hoping I could have a pet that would love me back and not attack me every chance he got. I’m too embaressed to even show my hands in public now they are so torn to shreds. Sometimes he is a sweetie, but other times he is just terrible to me. I just don’t understand – is it his nature or are hormones still in play even after he was fixed? It has been almost 3 weeks since he was neutured and his aggression has decreased since the first night we got him, but not enough to say it is consistantly going down.

I am just at a loss. We have read that sometimes animals can just have a bad personality and it just doesn’t work out. We don’t want to lose him or give up on him, but at the moment he is staying with my mum (who is an animal carer), and she is seeing what she can do with his attitude problems. We also thought going to a whole new place may help with his territorial behaviour, but so far he has been the exact same with her if not worse. We thought that he may become less attached to the study if he moved, and also we may change up the room a bit for when he comes back so it is all new for him too. We miss him so much, but we just don’t know what else to do. We have tried everything the internet has suggested – I have pushed him to the ground to get him to submit, I have held him under my chin after he bites, I have tapped lightly on his nose and said “no”, I have held him out from me until he stops attacking. We are just running out of ideas. We are not mean to him in anyway, if anything we love him too much and are too soft on him. 

 Hoping someone out there has some advice. We miss our Poe. 

T
 

[KytKattin]

First, the good news is that 3 weeks isn’t that long, so the neuter still has time to knock some of those hormones out. I would say you need at least 4 weeks, but 8 weeks is probably a closer guess.
Second, has he been thoroughly checked out by a vet to see if he is in pain? Particularly his teeth and ears? What breed is he? I wouldn’t normally ask that, but it sounds like he went through a lot to get to you so maybe he came from a special breeder. Is it possible he comes from a line of severely inbred rabbits? Was he transported in the cargo hold or cabin of the plain? If it was the cargo hold, his ears might have been affected.
Third, when you first brought him home did you automatically give him free run? If so, that might be part of your problem with litterbox training. One of the best ways to encourage good litterbox habits is to section off an area of the room with an expen. Make it pretty small for the first day or so, and then slowly make it bigger as his litterbox habits improve.
Fourth, are you going to him, or do you allow him to come to you? What if you just sit on the floor with a treat for him? Does he only attack your hands, or does he attack any part of you? Have you tried squirting him with a squirt bottle when he charges you (assuming he isn’t cornered)? Have you tried stomping your feet loudly and turning away from him?

My girl used to charge me when I walked around my room. Stomping my feet seems to work the best in order to get her to stop. Otherwise, I pretty much ignore her. I give her a treat after she lets me pet her nose, or if I do have to catch her to groom her. I also throw a treat in her cage when I want to lock her up. I try to do very little handling with her as it makes her less trustworthy of me. I never pick her up to cuddle, or just because, I only hold her because I have to do so.

Please remember that rabbits don’t respond to dominance or discipline like dogs. A rabbit would never pin another rabbit to show dominance, or for that matter, pick another one up. I am sure other members will come along to offer more/better suggestions and better rabbit language advice.

[toyaB]

Well he doesn’t seem to show any signs of pain (I know they are good at hiding it, but I have spent every waking minute with him and haven’t seen any tell tail signs of pain), and he has been checked by a vet when he got fixed. He doesn’t itch his ears or hide from us in pain or fear, and his teeth all seemed very good when he was under anesthetic. His nails need a bit of a trim, but other than that he seems in totally good health.

His breed is a Black Otter Mini Lop and I’m not sure how inbred he would be… I know he was kept with his mum right up until he was given to us (he was 4 months old when he came), so that may also be an issue with his aggression because he hasn’t been around anything else other than his mum. Also, I’m not sure about the Cargo hold but I know he got his own ticket on the plane (sorry, my mum did it all as a present so I’m not clear on details).

When we brought him home yes we gave him free run which I realise now is a mistake. We didn’t realise how big and scary this small room (to us it is small) it would be to him, which is why we think he turned around and tried to be overally dominant over it to ‘survive’. On the second or third day we put a nice cage together for him which is quite small (collapsable dog create with a little pen outside for his toilet and toys and then food and house inside the crate), but he is out most of the time. Since he has been at my mums though for the last night or so he has not gone in is toilet at all even though he is in a smallish pen there as well.

Yes he does come to us on the ground and I have even taught him to come to tapping on the ground with treats. He will come over to me, hop on me, sit on my lap, let me pet him and then trot off and explore some more. He isn’t scared of us or anything like that, but then in certain areas that he is really protective of he will lunge and bite with no hesitation.

Really!? Argh even more things to add to my list that I have been doing wrong I had tried everything and had read in a few places/got some other advice that other bunnies will often do that to show dominance. What else can I do though? When he lunges and bites I can’t just… accept that behaviour can I? Apparently it’s really important for them to know that’s not okay but I’m just not sure what else to do to get that through to him!

And in regards to being nursed, he actually loves to nuzzle up to my neck and grind his teeth, but then he is a devil in certain territorial spots AND he poops everywhere which I think is part of that.

We have been talking to some breeders today, and some think he hasn’t been socialised with other animals enough to know he is the bottom of the food chain and shouldn’t be acting this way (he was only around his mum before he came to us), so we introduced him to my mums cat with no problems. Hopefully we can then do our small dog and take it from there. He really can be an angle (grooming me, binkies, bunny flops on me, snuggling up next to me), but then he can go nuts and not let me near his space that he loves and he won’t stop attacking my hands when I have gloves on.

Other people have also just said sometimes animals will have personalities that aren’t always what we expect… so maybe he just has an aggressive/defensive personality.

Thanks for all the advice and help (:

T

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m sorry to hear you are having this problem with your bunny.

I agree with Kytkattin: Try making his area smaller. This will probably help with the litter training and may make him feel more safe and secure to have his own little area. Rabbits that attack are either defending their territory or are scared. What about making him his own little condo?

We have read that sometimes animals can just have a bad personality and it just doesn’t work out.

I’ve never met a rabbit that is just truly mean at heart. There must be a reason for the aggression.

Nose tapping or any physical interaction as punishment is probably making him more afraid (even though I know you are not hurting him). When my bunnies do something bad, I find the best method is a loud hand clap and a verbal “No”.

Don’t give up on him. I very much doubt he’s a mean bunny. You just need to figure him out and help him relax.

[Sarita]

I’ve had a very aggressive rabbit as well – he wasn’t mean, just aggressive from what I think was due to fear. Always remember aggression is fear.

I think that giving more room is one of the keys to stopping the aggression – it’s not a cause of it. These aggressive rabbits are extremely smart and they thrive in more space rather than being locked up in a cage that makes them more territorial.

What I used to do with Pepe when he lunged at me was to pet him and tell him what a good boy he was. He didn’t always lunge and bite me but when he did I would pet him.

When I got him initially he was in a 3 story condo and I was afraid of him because he would lunge at me. Pepe was much happier to have free roam of the house and he was an extremely well behaved rabbit – he didn’t chew on anything (of course he did have terrible dental problems).

[Sarita]

Here are some articles that helped me with my aggressive buns:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/aggression.html

http://www.wisconsinhrs.org/Articles/The%20Biting%20Rabbit.htm

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-2/mean-rabbit.html

[Stickerbunny]

Him marking at your mothers is perfectly normal, as it is a new space. Any change in habitat is going to cause marking, especially since his hormones are still active. Confine him to a smaller area as others have said. The problem is he’s claimed the entire room as “his space” – being cage territorial is normal for some bunnies and you just have to let them out to play with them, but since that room is his “cage” now, you have to get him to switch to a new space.

Regular animal training doesn’t work with buns, they are PREY animals so the training meant for PREDATOR animals doesn’t work the same. Best way to communicate with him is in his own language. Instead of nose tapping him (which is going to make a bun more aggressive, not less usually), or trying to dominate him (which, if he is really a dominant personality, it will just cause a dominance war between you) try talking to him in bunny. If he bites you, squeal and turn your back to him. If he’s nice, pet him and give him a treat (you can break up one treat into many pieces so you don’t over treat and give just tiny pieces throughout the day) or pets. If he’s too persistent, lightly tap the floor with your foot to give the “thump of disapproval”.

Also, if you litter train him at your mothers, he will still mark at home, you need to get him comfortable enough in his own space to stop the territorial marking. Likely that won’t happen until his hormones are all gone, which 3 weeks is not enough time after a neuter to get rid of hormones and often before they go away, there is a spike making the behavior even worse. Patience is key there. Also, when he goes on the floor, what are you using to clean it up? Anything strong smelling may make the marking worse, you want to use just plain white vinegar and water, or something made for eliminating animal smells like Natures Miracle if it is carpet and vinegar doesn’t work.

[LBJ10]

He sounds like a very scared little bunny to me. I agree with the others, this idea of showing your dominance is not the right way to go about things. I would listen to the suggestions above, it all sounds like good advice.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I don’t think its been mentioned, but I’m sorry if this is a repeat-
Rabbits ARE territorial. He needs to have a space that is his, that isn’t invaded by you ever while he’s in it. Set up an xpen with the door left open even, with all his stuff, hay, water, litter box etc. That is his zone, that you don’t go in, you don’t pull him out of, etc. Clean it when he’s out of it Its what gives them a sense of security and the confidence to build a bond with you.

Its seems crazy in all your research you’ve found stuff that educated you to “bop” your rabbit or try to dominate it like a dog. Rabbits are a prey species, dogs and cats are predators. There are completely different rules You could almost say they are opposite, for example, the alpha dog will groom lower dogs to show acceptance, an alpha bunny *demands* grooms by lower rabbits by putting its head all the way to the floor. Hitting, picking up, holding, etc, that will make a rabbit fearful, not obedient.

4 months is still super young, I wouldn’t worry about him having socialization issues.

Can you explain his setup? Does he have an area the cats/dogs/everyone can’t get to?

[RabbitPam]

Giving him a totally independent set up in an xpen with a hidey box inside it (a willow tent, or my Sammy’s favorite, an upside down big willow basket) provides a safe place for him to retreat to. Under your desk is the same principle in his eyes.

Since he likes it there, I would suggest putting a second litter pan under there as well, in a corner where you’re feet won’t accidentally go into it if that’s possible. He may use it more in a favorite and safe place.

His hormones are definitely still raging. Often a couple of weeks they even get a final surge at about this time and then the final calm down happens after 4 weeks. So wait him out for 2 more weeks at least for that to help.

A bunny will accept you as the dominant animal if you put your hand gently on his shoulders, behind his ears, and press down firmly. He should respond by holding still and crouching down a bit. It’s a spot and position that I’ve heard many shelter workers use to just gain a bit of control and calm in a bunny. Also, your hand is behind his head away from his mouth.

Positive reinforcement. Hidden treats in your hand while your lying down ignoring him, for him to sniff and find. Treats in your pockets. Soft soothing talk to him. Gentle pets where he wants it but don’t push into parts of his body where he doesn’t. It takes time, but he’s already shown you he is safe and comfortable and affectionate with you some of the time, so it’s a matter of degrees and you have much room for hope. He’s a lucky little guy to have you.

Oh, one other point: bunnies love routine. So if you can have a morning ritual (feeding time, play time) and an evening ritual you can stick to, he will like that. It will add to his sense of security in your home.

[Author]

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