How to make a bunny life better

[Hannasue]

Hi, i have a 18 week old un-spayed lionhead bunny (female). She is great i realy love her but she is cage aggressive. I’m thinking besides instinct it would help learning absolutely perfect care and how i treat her.

My routine is 7-9am let her out to 12-1pm then let her out again 7pm-10-11 pm
When i open the cage check the hay and feed her half her pellets for the day. Usually when i do this she lunges at me and growls when she sees the food on the floor.
I put her back inside 12-1 with some oats and training.
At night when i let her out again i feed her the vegatables and rest of the pellets. This time there is no growling and she usually comes out and wants pets/ runs around.
Then i put her back in the cage for the night. She loves to chew on walls which is why she isnt free roam. Right now i cant afford plexi glass so she has a schedule instead.

What do you guys suggest to make bunny less aggressive? She also doesn’t seek out attention pften and i’m curious if its because she doesnt trust me. Advice is appreciated thank you!

[Jazlyn]

Getting her spayed will usually bring down any agression but I don’t believe you are advised to do that until she is 6 months, though I could be wrong as I have 2 boys so I only reas up about neutering. It will also reduce her risk of cancer and reduce territiorial behaviours, which is what her problem sounds like to me.
I have one rabbit, Benji, and all he wants to do is cuddle and get pet. He is a huge attention hog. My other bunny Zel doesn’t normally look for attention, though he doesn’t deny it when I give it to him. They both certainly trust me so I think your bunny may just not be a snuggler. How long have you had her for? If it hasn’t been for long, it may be a trust issue but just showing her that you’re friendly may help that and maybe even reduce her lunging and growling.
Also getting her spayed may or may not reduce how much she chews on walls, I don’t know if you’ve tried this but you can try changing her attention to one of her favourite toys when she tries to chew on a wall. It works for my boys. Best of luck!

[Hannasue]

Thanks! I was told at about 12 weeks you can spay bunnys and when i told they vet they didnt seem to object.

I can try distracting her with a favorite toy but usually she doesnt like toys and like to explore and chew on new objects more

Thank you for your advice!

[Royal]

Yeah. Like Jazlyn said, it’s most likely that most of the aggression is coming from not being spayed. But it could be trust issues as well if you haven’t had your bun for long. There are lots of Youtube videos on bonding with your rabbit. I suggest watching some of those if you want your bun to like you better! (Btw, I am no bunny owner yet. So this is all based on the research I have done.) 

[Jazlyn]

Haven’t been on here for a few days but one of my bunnies is a big chewer as well and he loves these wooden sticks I buy from him in a huge bundle for like, 5 dollars. If you’d like, I can figure out the name tomorrow.

[Jazlyn]

Haven’t been on here for a few days but one of my bunnies is a big chewer as well and he loves these wooden sticks I buy from him in a huge bundle for like, 5 dollars. If you’d like, I can figure out the name tomorrow.

[Jazlyn]

Also, about the spaying thing, as long as they’re rabbit savvy vets, trust their word over mine. As I’ve said, I have two boys so I only know about neutering and just remember seeing that quickly a while ago. I also vaguely remember seeing somewhere that 4 months is fine too, so as long as you’re comfortable with it, I’m sure it’s what’s best.

[Author]

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