Reducing excitement from food

[mia]

My male gets extremely excited from food. If I try to hand feed him pellets, many times he will accidently bite my finger. This gets in the way any training even though he is food motivated.. and only food motivated; 99% of the time, he is either trying to find food/eating or sleeping. I’ve tried placing food on the floor but he’s too excited to even be able to find it and climbs all over me instead (on that note, are bunny noses just sub par? neither of my buns seem to be able to sniff out food well). This behavior occurs ALL THE TIME, even right after meals.

It gets a little annoying too. After eating his veges, with his mouth is soaked and dripping with vege juice, he comes after me for more. I have green vege juice stains all over my clothes.

Is there any way to reduce this behavior? Or should I just feed him till he ballons up and is too heavy to act this way (jk of course)?

[Sarita]

Why don’t you just try petting him when he comes to you all excited. It may be that he is excited to see you and get attention and you think it’s food related. I would just calm him down and pet him – it may be that he just likes attention.

[mia]

When he finds out I’m trying to pet instead of food, he runs away and then goes back to sleep. He does not come to see me unless he thinks I have food (hears crinkling or see vege container).

I want to “train” him to tolerate pets like I did with my female. She was even more adverse to pets but after doing treat and pet at same time, she now asks for pets.

[Tate]

You could trying having some food in your hand and then closing your hand and letting him smell it. He will dig, scratch, and probably bite but the second he’s calmed down, open your hand and let him eat all of the food you have (should only be a small piece of a treat or a few pellets). You’ have to do this often… a few times a day, whenever you feed him. And you may want to get a think glove because bunny bites hurt! But hopefully this will help him realize that being calm=food.

[Dee]

LOL- Miaeih- I know this is a legit problem but the way you described it made me laugh. I can relate though- BunBun has always been pretty food obsessed too. It’s kind of a viscious circle- he begged for treats, so I gave him treats to make him happy and also to get him to come over to me for any reason (meds or butt baths usually), then he becomes convinced that every time I appear, I have food, so he begs more… he used to run straight to the edge of the kitchen table and nearly slipped off a few times, except I caught him. Then his wife, Nelli, caught on and started going it too. I couldn’t even open a bag or tupperware with bunnies either leaping at the edge of the table or chasing each other in circles around my feet. And although i agree that their little noses aren’t so keen, they sure can herar well- BunBun would come rushing in from 3 rooms over at the sound f a bag opening.
I did exactly what Sarita suggested- when they attacked, I would just lean over and pat them and made a big deal over them. They were pretty offended at first, but eventually they learned that they don’t get treats from that behavior- in fact, I stopped random treats altogether. BunBun has poopy butt, so it was neccessary. They’re much nicer to interact with now, and probably healthier. Good luck !

[Michelle&Lolli]

on that note, are bunny noses just sub par?

I think they just get so focused on food, it short circuits all their other senses. rabbits actually have excellent sense of smell.

Lolli never got really aggressive or anything, but she definitely would only be interested in me if I was feeding her. This started changing when I started laying/sleeping on the floor every night. It was hard at first, but I’d just let her check me out on her own. If I moved, she’d hop away, out of reach. But eventually she started letting me give her her nosepets and sometimes full body rubs. But it all had to be on her terms. So maybe this will work with him?

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