Why does he only nip/bite at me?

[Frapptastic]

Frappe has started to do a lot of nipping/biting at me. Most of the time I’m just sitting on the floor petting him and he will nip at my leg or something. If I’m sitting on the couch with him, he will crawl on me and let me pet him, but then he will nip. However, he very rarely nips at my 10 year old son(thankfully) and he has never nipped at my boyfriend. I’m the one who feeds/cleans and does everything for him. He’s 4 months old so I know he is starting to get hormonal but why is he only mad at me?

[bmt87]

If it’s just a real gentle (i.e. doesn’t hurt and feels like the bun is just setting their teeth on your finger nip) it is probably just a “hey! i’m here! pet my nose! pay attention! where’s my ear rubs!?”  lola does that to me and only me as well – not my boyfriend.  i think it’s her little sign that i’m her slave and she wants to “keep me in check”.  i don’t correct her because she has never actually bit me or hurt me at all – it’s always been just a friendly nip.  a lot of animals use their teeth to communicate (e.g. dolphins rake other dolphins with their teeth) so i have always chalked it up as a rabbits form of communication with me – so as long as it’s gentle i’d go ahead and assume that he is not mad at all…just trying to communicate with the one he trusts the most!

[mocha200]

Lulu does that too. She will be perfectly content with me petting her and she will all of the sudden turn her head and bite my hand (not nip! haha) but not hard enough to break skin. She will also do it if I am not paying attention to her and it gets really annoying. My sisters are afraid to come in my room because she runs up and bites their feet until they pet her. I think she gets bored and wants to be pet because at the moment it isn’t easy to let her run around the house a lot because we have stuff every where that they could chew (we are moving). Idk. I try to make say “NO” loudly in a deep voice so she stops and hopefully she will understands it hurts!

[Frapptastic]

Glad to know I’m not the only one with a feisty bunny!! Lol! Whenever he does it I thump the floor with my hand-hoping he’ll realize that it hurts and I don’t like it.

[Stickerbunny]

Yep, Stickers does that too. Buns use their teeth to talk and groom so it’s a sign of affection.. even if it hurts. Squealing like a hurt bun works for most bunnies. For Stickers, who doesn’t respond well to sounds (I dunno if she’s hard of hearing or just stubborn) I just gently push her mouth away from me to show I don’t like her biting.

[mocha200]

The squeal doesn’t work for my Lulu and if I use my hand to move her away she bites that too. I should take a video when she gets in her biting moods! Now I just keep a willow stick by me and hold it out for her to chew on. One night she chewed almost the whole stick! She wont chew them unless I am holding them, I think when I am not holding the sticks they just roll away and she can’t get a grip on it. Anyways, I would try to keep a chew stick like willow and see if they chew that instead. I also try thumping the floor too.

[Hunny's Momma]

Hunny just started doing that the other night too! She was laying with her head in my lap & I was petting her when my bf asked me a question… I stop rubbing & looked up at him & the lil’ bugga nipped me on the sensitive spot on my inner thigh… Man did I jump, lol! A lil’ bit later when I went to get up, I rolled to my side a bit & she got me on the bum… I was wondering the same thing “Why nip at me?? I’m I one who feeds you, cleans u & babys the crap outta you…??!!” I’m glad I now know why…

[Freyja]

Parsley reguarly ‘nips’ me as part of his grooming of me routine lol maybe its something along those lines? if he does it too hard i shout ‘no’ and clap my hands loudly and he usually gets the idea

[Elrohwen]

Otto was nippy at that age too. I think they’re just exploring with their mouth and they don’t realize that it hurts us. I would either do the high pitched “yelp” and see if he stops (if he doesn’t mean to hurt you, this might get the message across). With Otto, I would just get up and walk away – close enough that he could see me but not get to me, like right outside his cage. I’d stay out for 30sec or so, then come back in. Either he learned from this, or he just stopped being nippy on his own.

It could also be a hormonal thing, in which case neutering will help.

[BreakfastBuns]

Ugh my youngest does this. He is around 8 months old now. Fixed. He actually just nipped my boob a moment ago because I stopped scratching his ears. It is his sign of “I’m not happy, keep petting me”

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi, BreakfastBuns and Welcome to Binky Bunny!!! We ask that members please not reply to old threads (this one is from 2012) as it can cause confusion and some of these members may no longer be active. Feel free to start a new thread on the topic.

And that’s a normal bunny thing, btw. My current bunny doesn’t do the “I’m still here, keep petting me” nip but I’ve had bunnies do it in the past.

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