Sudden aggression towards me?

[Rabbitpossm]

I was in bed while Sully’s roaming around. He was chilling near my bedroom door when I got up to go to the washroom. As usual when I walked by he nudged me and put his head down for pets, so I sat down and petted him for a bit. I did my usual final pet and kiss on the top of his head before getting up to continue my way to the washroom. But when I got up to go he lunged at me and grunted. Which is so out of the norm for Sully. He has only ever grunted at me once before when I accidentally did something that I knew was out of bounds. (accidentally got him with the end of the brush when moving.) 

This was seemingly out of nowhere though. He was purring up until I got up. After it happened I was confused, so I put my hand a little ways in front of his face as I always do to ask if he wants pets. (If he does he lowers his head, if not he just continues on as normal or more often than not will lick my hand instead.) When I did it this time he lunged again and seemed to go to bite me. His teeth got on my finger but just a light pressure and seemed more so to just touch me than actually bite. But when I went to stand up again he lunged and grunted again, and when I finally fully stood up he lunged again.

I’m really confused? This doesn’t seem like normal behaviour at all and seems really out of character to just be grumpy that I stopped petting him. and i don’t think I did something he didn’t like while petting him, since he was purring up until I was going to leave. When I had finally stood up and after the last time he lunged, he turned and ran under the bed and has been acting normally since. 

Wondering if anyone has any possible ideas as to what’s going on with him. I’m more so curious about what could be going on, but also a bit worried since it seemed so random and not like him. We were just at the vet a week ago and he got a clean bill of health then. 

[Nutmeg]

Hi! I can’t remember if you said Sully was neutered yet or not – I wasn’t sure how old he was when you got him.

If he hasn’t been neutered it could just be his hormones starting to kick in… My boy would do that for no reason too (Especially the grunt lol) I just figured that he was a hormonal teenager who didn’t know how understand all of his new “Feelings” hahaha.

He hasn’t done it since he’s been neutered.

It honestly could have been that you moved your hand the wrong way when going to stand up. Bunny’s can be odd creatures sometimes haha

[Rabbitpossm]

He is neutered. I adopted him in March when he was about 7 months old as soon as he was neutered.

Yeah, it’s possible you’re right. I think I just had that bunny mom panic over it since it was so out of the norm for him. Ever since I got him he’s been the cuddliest most attached bun and this just seemed so out of sorts for him. He’s been acting normally since, so I think it’s like you said, he was just being an odd creature.

[Nutmeg]

lol – or maybe he’s trying to be the alpha all of a sudden…. “Excuse me Human… who said you could stop?!?!” lol

[Asriel and Bombur]

Asriel is a tad aggressive during pets. When he’s really into his snoot rubs he’ll ram his head under my hand until I pet him some more. If I still don’t then he gives me a good nip. The little twerp!

[ThorBunny]

Hm, it is odd that it’s out of character. But I can say that Thor absolutely does this, exactly like you describe! Especially if I’ve been gone for a while, or if I pet her for less time than she thinks she deserves, she’ll run after you grunting and occasionally nipping after a pet session.

I’ve found that it’s most common if I leave head on, like I walk away from her but I’m in her blind spot. If I walk away to the side it never happens. Mostly I just think it’s cute now and I’m happy she likes her pets so much to grump about them stopping

As with any sudden behavior change I’d monitor him more closely for a while, but if nothing else happens it was probably just a one-off

[Rabbitpossm]

yeahh I’m thinking now he was just crazy for more love and thinking he is dominant and thus can demand his pets. He is pretty spoiled when it comes to attention and pets, so it makes sense that he might aggressively demand them if he thinks I haven’t been around enough. He does get grumpy on days when I’m not home as much, so I guess that grumpiness is now extending into the length of time he thinks he should get pets.

Looking back I’m realizing I overreacted a bit since he was acting normally otherwise and aftrwards, and it definitely was the lightest nip over a bite. I can see it fitting in with the rest of his cuddlebun and attention spoiled personality. Just startled me and I did the classic bunny slave panic at everything they do!

But thank you everyone for the reassurances! (:

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