Pancake the Bold!

[Hermia]

First off, Hello All!

I am new here.  I am a new to owning rabbits too but knowledgable enough having done lots of research before committing. 

 

However, now that I have my two bunnies…

Pancake, a three year old neutered male is behaving very agressively.  When I reach in his cage, he lunges and bites and sometimes growls.  These are hard bites too mind you, and I have taken to wearing gloves.  I had him checked at the vet and everything seems normal.  His stress level is likely very high because we just brought him home a few days ago.   He does allow us to pet him and I even managed to pick him up and put him in a bunny trance.  But when I reach into his pen or try to give him food or rearrange his stuff it is a whole different matter.  Also, he is attempting to attack the other bunny, Waffle, a spayed female, through the bars of the cage whenever she comes over to politely check him out.

 

A few  extra details you should be aware of:

previous owners admitted that he had not been taken out to play for two weeks

cage wasn’t very clean, and it was very small

he had no access to hay

had a case of poopy butt, which I tried to correct(one reason I picked him up and put him in a trance)

the vet is very knowledgeable about rabbits and I trust her assesment in the facts that he is healthy and only having mooshy poos due to stress and a previously poor diet.  (most of his poos are normal)

I suspect that the rabbit is mad at me for trying to clean his butt when he was stressed about being in a new home.

 

What I am asking:

How should I curve his agression problem?  When and how should I start working on bonding the two rabbits? Also, how am I supposed to clean out the mooshy poops from his cage when he is behaving this way?

 

 

[Elrohwen]

Being territorial is fairly common in rabbits, so what he’s doing isn’t that unusual. It may go away with time, or you may have to deal with it. Wearing gloves and letting him attack while not responding is good – it can show them that their methods don’t work on you and you’ll do what you want. Some people will immediately start petting a bunny to catch him off guard. Clicker training could also be a good method – click and treat him whenever he is calm. You could also just avoid sticking your hands in there unless he’s out of his cage, but this can be hard since you do need to feed them, clean up, etc.

You can start bonding once they are settled in. I would also make sure they’ve seen a vet recently so you know they’re healthy. It sounds like he’s territorial towards the other bunny as well as you, but he may act differently when in a neutral environment.

[Monkeybun]

Clean his cage when he is not in it. Rabbits need alot of out of cage exercise, so take that time to clean his cage. My rabbits are housed in dog exercise pens, much better than tiny store bought cages. “Rabbit” cages are really not at all suitable for full time housing.

Alot of rabbits do get aggressive when you go into their space and mess with their stuff. It’s just how they are.

[Hermia]

Thanks for the replies!

Monkeybun, my bunnies are not in cages, the previous owners kept them in cages, but I keep them in “pens” made out of “cubes” from bed bath and beyond. Its the same idea as a c&c cage without the chloroplast. They are quite large and I let the bunnies have lots of exercise. But thanks for the good advice anyway.

Also both bunnies have seen the vet within the past week.

I’m glad to hear that using gloves and not responding or responding with petting the rabbit when he is aggressive is a good technique.

Anyone else have any behavioral knowledge to share with me? I was a little confused when he was aggressive towards the female rabbit, I thought males generally weren’t that way with females.

[Alina]

I JUST did the dreadful poopy butt situation with a stressed bunny who didn’t want his butt cleaned.

One member advised me to take him to the vet and has his butt shave.It’s called a hygenic shave, and that way the hair is too short for the poop to stick to. My bunny was previously on a horrible diet (before I adopted him) so he’s obese and can’t clean his tush.

It has been so helpful. While the hair grows back in, I can get him on a better diet.

Of course Pancake’s poopy butt might not last as long, once he calms down

[Sarita]

Based on his aggression and past home situation, it’s extremely possible his aggression is due to fear as well. He may calm down eventually or he may always be fearful and aggressive in which case, it’s possible a friend will help him be less fearful.

[Beka27]

Regardless of whether he is housed in a traditional cage or pen, it would still be a good idea to clean when he is out playing (not in the pen). Is the room the pen is in bunny-proofed so he can go out and run around? You could even close yourself into the pen while cleaning.

[Hermia]

I finally managed to get him to come out of his cage last night, he is such a scaredy bunny! I got his cage all cleaned up while he was out and now his mooshy poos have seemed to stop.

Thanks for the advice everyone. He seems to have calmed down some but is still behaving aggressively when I refill his food and towards the other bunny. I guess I will just have to take things really slow with him.

Oh and I also found out from his previous owner last night that the only time he was taken out of his cage at their house was when all of the children took him out to play with him and he was aggressive with the children. Poor bunny, he is probably traumatized. I can’t wait to show him a better and happier bunny life. Hopefully i will get some pictures up here soon and get to know you guys better.

[RabbitPam]

His aggression is definitely fear based and he will need time to learn how nice his new home and slave is. (and new bunny companion)
It may feel like a long time to you, but I give him about 2 weeks of adjusting to his new home to become much more comfortable and less aggressive. However, like my Samantha, if his way of communicating is growling, lunging and snapping with his mouth, he will probably continue to do that. I also would confine your cleaning time to when you have let him run around elsewhere, and fill his food dishes when he isn’t standing next to them.

But he will explore his new surroundings – cautiously at first probably – and find spots where he feels safe and can watch what’s going on around him. Once he sees that you are only going to ignore him at the worst, or pet, feed, treat or be calm with him at best, he will warm up to you. Lay on the floor when he’s out so he can explore you, possibly keeping a hidden treat in your hand for him to discover. Little children can be rough and scare a bunny, so your quiet gentleness will be a welcome change that he will get used to. It will gradually dawn on him that the days of constant change are over and no gangs of kids and moving around is happening anymore. Like I said, I give him 2 weeks and binkies will start being part of his behavior.
Oh,
We like pix.

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