Rabbit suddenly nipping & digging at leg?

[Noah]

Hi! I’m a first-time rabbit owner, and I’ve had my bunny Cinnamon for a little over a month now. We had one rough time where I had to take her to the vet and give her some medicine, and she was scared of me for a few days. But she got over it, and I’ve felt like we were bonding well. She’d come over to me for pets, let me pet her for a long time, climb on my lap for treats, and binky when I get up in the morning. 

But starting last night, she’s been acting strangely aggressive. Nipping me, digging at my leg. She’s never done either of those before – this is the first time. 

I have little experience with rabbits, so I don’t know what could be causing this. Any advice, guys? 

[Wick & Fable]

How old is Cinnamon now? Those types of behaviors typically come up as sexual maturity begins. Wick dug twice (I know, how frequent, haha) and began nipping me harder approaching his neutering.

Whether or not it is hormones, something you’ll want to consider is, if this is your rabbit being more comfortable and trying to be more playful, you’ll want to channel this behavior to human-approved activities, whether it’s making Cinnamon a dig-box, finding something she’ll enjoy chewing, etc.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Rookie]

hormones…your bunny is reaching sexual maturity. It’s courtship to circle the leg, nipping and digging at your feet soon humping or even pee spraying follows. depending how old the bunny is she may be old enough to be spayed if she is close to 6 months old. It’s a sign of love not aggression per se…take it as flattery. lol

you can let her know the nips hurt buy saying ow and squeak.

[sarahthegemini]

I wouldn’t classify nipping and digging as aggressive behaviours. Nipping is how bunnies communicate, and digging…well Peanut has occasionally dug at my feet, I’m not really sure why 

[Noah]

Thanks, guys! Cinnamon is spayed. She was spayed at around 5 months old (I adopted her from the shelter where I volunteer).

The “sexual behavior” angle is interesting. She has also been running around my feet more, which I hear is also a sign of sexual behavior. Is it possible that rabbits can have sex hormone surges even after being spayed?

[Noah]

Oh, and Cinnamon is 9 months old. She was spayed at 5 months.

[Bam]

Neutered boy rabbits can have sexual surges. This mostly occurs in the spring. The adrenal glands have some production of testosterone in both males and females. But I don’t know if girl buns get sexual surges. Theoretically they could.

[joea64]

Since Cinnamon has been spayed since 5 months and is now 9 months, I expect we can rule hormones out. My own first guess, which is stronger now, is that she’s trying to get your attention so you can show her some love. In bunnies that’ve been altered, running around their human’s feet is a show of affection (if she’d been unaltered, it’d have been a courtship gesture except that that particular behavior, or so I understand, is more common in males).

I have a 1+-year-old female (spayed) Polish bun, Panda, who does like the occasional nip as a way of putting an exclamation point on something. For instance, she nipped me last evening, not hard, when I was interacting with her bondmate/son Fernando and she wanted some attention of her own. Per @Rookie, the best way to handle an over-enthusiastic nip is to go “Ow!” in a high-pitched tone or make a little squeak or squeal. Cinnamon will correctly interpret that as a discomfort signal and will back off from nipping you so hard – you may have to do this several times for her to get the idea.

[sarahthegemini]

I believe it can take upto 6 months for a female’s hormones to disipate, although it’s rare. Having said that, if she was spayed 4 months ago then she is technically within the range for hormones to still be a little crazy.

[Noah]

I see. Thanks, folks!

What’s the best way to deal with this? Should I give her more space? Or more attention? Or approach her differently in some way?

[joea64]

Hmmm. I really didn’t know that; I thought females’ hormones dissipated at the same rate as males’ after fixing. I’ll have to go back and ask when Panda was spayed; I know that she was rescued in February soon after her babies were born, and best practice, or so I’m given to understand, indicates that does shouldn’t be spayed until their kits have been weaned completely and can be separated from the mother. If she still has a few hormones floating around, that might help explain that odd mounting behavior I saw Monday evening (along with the stress of moving and the new sensory environment). I’ve found at least one source online, http://www.curiousbunny.com/spay_nursing_mom_publish.pdf , stating that it’s very risky to spay a nursing mother.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By joea64 on 8/23/2017 1:40 PM
Hmmm. I really didn’t know that; I thought females’ hormones dissipated at the same rate as males’ after fixing. I’ll have to go back and ask when Panda was spayed; I know that she was rescued in February soon after her babies were born, and best practice, or so I’m given to understand, indicates that does shouldn’t be spayed until their kits have been weaned completely and can be separated from the mother. If she still has a few hormones floating around, that might help explain that odd mounting behavior I saw Monday evening (along with the stress of moving and the new sensory environment). I’ve found at least one source online, http://www.curiousbunny.com/spay_nursing_mom_publish.pdf , stating that it’s very risky to spay a nursing mother.

I think it’s rare and 6 months is sort of the maximum but it can take that long. I suspect the mounting you witnessed tho Joe was due to a change of environment. People are often warned to be fully prepared for a bit of humping when bringing bunnies home from a bonding place or when moving home etc.

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