My bunny has gone crazy!

[jammyblue]

Hey everyone! I just joined binkybunny, I want to find out as much as I can about rabbit behaviour! But also I have a problem at the moment with my bun!

My bunny, Poptart, a 6 month old (approx) unspayed dwarf female, is suddenly grunting at me every time I put my hand in her cage, and lunging at me! Any time I go to pick up her bowl/put food in her bowl, she attacks me, and my boyfriend too. She does it when we try rub her too, or to pick her up to let her out. Yes, I know rabbits hate being picked up, but her cage is in our bedroom, where she’s not allowed run around, and if we let her out through the door on the side, she’ll run circles around us both – she’s impossible to catch! 

Literally 5 minutes ago I went in to let her out, and she ran away when I put my hand in to pick her up. Then she began grunting a lot and pretty loudly. I put my hand in through the door on the side just to rub her, and when my hand was just above her she’d grunt, as if I was about to hurt her. She lunged at me several times too, and I used just the sleeve of my hoody at one point just in case she attacked, and she did! Like a vicious dog or a cat chasing a toy! It was horrible, she’s never been like this before. I know she must be at sexual maturity, and we plan on spaying her as soon as we can afford it – it’s about 100 euro here in Ireland! We had two dwarfs before her, a male and a female, and they never acted like this. 

Both my boyfriend and I are pretty much afraid of her now. We can’t interact with her in any way, even when she is out she completely avoids us and runs away from us anytime we approach her. Before this she didn’t mind too much being picked up, the only time she really struggled was when she was being put back in her cage. She used to sit on our laps and on the couch with us, and come up onto our bed and lie down next to us. I hate her behaving like this. 

[LittlePuffyTail]

She’s definitely at the age when hormones run crazy. Unaltered bunnies, especially females, are very territorial. Until you get her spayed, there is really no way to change the behavior. You will have to accommodate her crazy hormones. Do things in her cage, while she is outside of her cage and instead of picking her up to bring her in and out of the cage, try luring her out with a treat. I know it’s frustrating, but she must be feeling frustrated too. Please don’t take it personal. Her aggression is not because she dislikes you or because she’s a bad bunny. This is perfectly normal behavior for a bunny with raging hormones.

[LBJ10]

Do you have a carrier? Could you lure her in with a treat and then transport her to wherever you need her to be?

[FooFoosMommy2]

Sounds like hormones are kicking in. You may have gotten lucky with you other two buns, not all buns get crazy during the teen years. My Foo never displayed any of the aggressive behavior, the most she would do is hump a stuffy once in a while. As far as transporting her, when we got her new carrier, we put it on the floor and let her play in and around it before we ever needed to use it so she’d get used to it, and not be afraid of being in it. She loves it now and will nap it in if we leave it out (she’s a weirdo though).

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