Nipping our clothes

[2rabbits]

Our almost 8 month old bunny who was neutered at 5 months old is just starting to become more and more social with us. However, the last couple of times my kids (7 and 9) have sat with him in his cage he is allowing some pets and nicely hopping over and nipping at their clothes. He has done this to me too. He doesn’t seem agitated and has plenty of room to move elsewhere, but chooses to nip. Like a nip here and there on different parts of their shirts or pants. The kids have been laughing at this, but tonight he got some bare skin and it moved to crying. There wasn’t even really a red mark left so it was a light bite, but how do we stop this?. What’s he trying to communicate? I’m wondering if he wants more “grooming” or if he is in fact irritated with them being in the pen with him? Suggestions?

Also should be noted he is housed next to his future (fingers crossed) bunny lady friend. She is almost 6 months old and gets spayed next week. We are planning to start real bonding a month or so later. He has really been interested in her more lately, but she’s not showing a ton of interest in him (they are too far apart to touch, but can see each other). She isn’t showing any different behavior to indicate hormones are happening, but definitely could be. Not sure if this is messing with him even though he’s neutered?

[Asriel and Bombur]

A lot of bunnies nip clothes. Some do it just because its there and others do it to communicate. If he’s being territorial, just have your kids play with him when he’s not in the pen. He could be nipping because he doesn’t want anymore pets (which he wouldn’t really look agitated for) or he could be doing to ask to continue. It could be related to your girl. I think the most likely cause is your girl. Even if she’s not exhibiting hormonal behavior he can still feed off her hormones which would cause him to act out hormonally. My guess is it’s a combination of your girl and territory. If you guys smell like her while you’re in his pen with him, he could be taking it as she’s invading his territory, which would cause him to nip.

[Dasher]

Dasher liked biting my clothes but sometimes she bit too hard. I told her no and gently pushed her head to teach her to stop. If she continued biting I would just leave and come back later. It’s just a process of trying to communicate to your rabbit and telling it that it hurts and you want them to stop. Bunnies groom eachothers fur but since we don’t have fur they bite our skin instead so your bun probably doesn’t know how hard he is biting.

[Author]

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