Aggression

[flopsy2]

Hi everyone, wondering if someone can offer advise on my aggressive bunny. She had babies in April and I kept her daughter as a companion after doing vast research on if it was going to work out. Since she has had a couple of phantom pregnancies and just has not lost the aggression. She grunts at us and her daughter sometimes (though the rest of the time they get on great and preen each other), she bites and scratches. Though we have learnt how to hold her without being bitten or scratched I want my happy friendly bunny back. She is also teaching her daughter to be aggressive who is a very loving friendly bunny since she has been held from birth. They have an aviary to live in so have plenty of space for if they dont want to be social and various logs and things to play on and jump on and they also spend time outside on the grass. She used to quite happily sit there while we rubbed her head but now even I am a bit intimidated by her which I know is not a good thing. I try the holding her head down like I know her mum would have done and she does respond well, but you never know when she is going to bit or scratch!ssd:

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

It sounds like she is hormonal. Getting her spayed should help and make her a calmer rabbit. Intact females can be grumpy, territorial, and even aggressive.
It would be a good idea to get the daughter spayed as well as she could get hormonal as well and show similar behaviours. If she was born in April, she is a good age to be done.

 

[Imbrium]

spays are definitely in order - hormones can make them crazy and aggressive... plus it's *much* safer having them live together without hormones to provoke fights and spaying removes all risk of cancers of the reproductive system (the risk of which results in unspayed females having half the lifespan of spayed females).

 

[agnesthelion]

Yep totally agreed!

You need to spay. And spay them both actually if you want them to live together. Hormones just drive nearly everything a rabbit does. You need to remove those hormones to get your happy bunny back. And be careful keeping them together until the spays. Bunny fights can be very dangerous.

Good luck!

 

[ladysown]

spaying will help.

BUT be aware that even spayed rabbits can develop uterine cancer (depends on how the spay is done).

But spaying isn't necessarily the only answer either.

The query I would have is...if you leave her alone does she chase you away? When does she act "aggressive"?

I find that often people will categorize a behaviour as aggressive when it might not be so. It might be the rabbit trying to tell you something (aka get me a man). Or a rabbit saying "you are in my space, be gone with you". They don't have words to tell us, and if one isn't adept at reading bunny language then the behaviours escalate until you are forced to pay attention.

So listen to your rabbit, what is she telling to tell you?

As to her "teaching her daughter" the same behaviour. I'm not so sure that is what is going on. Her daughter may simply be maturing and therefore is learning to exert her own opinion (and since her mom may have hormones causing issues for her, it's quite likely she'd pass that tendency along). Hormones may also be playing games with the daughter's mental make up.

So figure out just what your rabbits are saying and then make a decision on how you will proceed.

 

[Thumperina]

I also kept a female baby bunny. They getting along just awful with the mom (it started when the young girl was about 4 months old). The young girl tries to demonstrate her dominance (I think), mom has to fight in a reply. We don't have real fights but I can say they don't like each other.
They both just went through false pregnancies (when they were burrowing and nesting). Young girl found good hay in the hutch to take to the nest she was making pretty far from the hutch so she went out of the hutch holding bunch of hay in her mouth. Then she saw she needed to pass her mom on the way to her nest. She even changed her mind going there
My boys are so much easier (but they both are neutered)