Aggressive mood change?

[Breeing]

So to start, i adore my bunny, he is the most important part of my life, so insanely happy to be part of the rabbit world!

So i have had Pippen for almost a year now, he is neutered (2 months ago) and is the lone bunny in the house.
He is a 1.79 KG holland lop. (Broken charlie, magpie harlequin colouring)
He lives in a 3 story rabbit condo, 4' x 2' x 4' with lots of various types of toys and chews, baby blankets as a 'litter'.
For ATLEAST 8 hours per day and most of the night he gets freedom of a large room and his open cage of course.
I live in my room with him and every minute i'm home he gets all the attention he could possibly want. And adores every minute of it.
HUGE cuddler and VERY attached to me. Also loves to frolic around the HUGE yard with the 3 smaller dogs, he runs circles around them and cleans them till they start to play with him and they have a blast!

For the last week hes been digging digging digging, bouring through my covers and everything.
As of yesterday its taken on an aggressive nature, he will dig, rip and bite anything infront of him and growl.
I tried combing him (which he used to love) and he through his head back growling and bit my hand- lightly mind you.

Could this be a faze, time of the season or something i'm doing wrong?
Just had a vet exam this Monday and all checked out fine exacpt his one front tooth is a smitten large then the other. (For once!!)

:apollo:

 

[woahlookitsme]

It sounds like he has no boundries whatsoever and has taken over the house. It may just be me but i think he is given a little too much freedom and its getting to his head.

Although good thing you took him to the vet to rule out health issues. Discomfort could definitely trigger agressive behavior. I am not good at suggesting ways to reprimand bunnies for doing bad things. I always flip mine over until they calm down. Im not sure if when he acts like that to put him in a confined area or take away that thing he starts claiming would work. I really hope someone else can come in and suggest some things but that is what it sounds like to me. An over dominating bunny or the alpha in the house

 

[Breeing]

So basically I've made him a spoiled child? haha I suppose that seems right, hes my baby.
Well for sure he gets a little protective over his cage, he LOVES his cage, even though he is only ever confined to it for a few hours each day he will still hang out in there a lot.
I will change things up again, and purge his toys and what not as well for now. See how that works.

To be honest its adorable to watch as he gets fixated with digging, his little expression is just melts my heart when focused! haha
I mainly want to make sure hes not going to become distant or start to hate me or something. haha

 

[woahlookitsme]

Lol!

I was really hoping others could give insight into what they thought :/

 

[JBun]

It's a possibility some of the behavior has to do with the neuter, and will settle itself out over the next few weeks. But I still wouldn't let him get away with thinking that nipping you is ok. Different rabbits will respond better to different kinds of discipline, so I'll throw out a few ideas and you can try what you think will work best for him. There's positive reinforcement, using treats to reinforce desirable behavior. Then there is the other methods of discipline like pressing their head gently(but firmly) down like a momma/dominant bun would do, or making a squealing sound or loud noise and telling him 'no'. If one of my rabbits persists in being naughty, and after telling them no several times, I'll sometimes shoosh them back to their cage for a time out. So try one of these, but don't let the nipping become a habit. You can do the same for the digging if it's not something you want him to do. You can also redirect his energy to something that is allowed, like destroying a cardboard box.

 

[Acacia-Berry]

Yes, I was under the impression that a neuter will take a couple months to completely stop the sperm life cycle. He might be adjusting to this, and if so, it is a phase.

He might be a little bossy bun, like woahlookitsme suggested. As discipline, or boundaries rather, I used to snap my fingers and Acacia would militarily concede whatever she was doing for me. She obeyed the snap and a firm, "no" but as my household changed and I moved into a bedroom with my bf that had to change. For about 3 years she hasn't been on that form of "discipline". Now when she's out and if she tries to chew a wall or something (this is another apartment altogether) I will just say "ah! no!" and that's it. Behaviour modified. lol

I have a real rule follower

Keep your eye on him. Give him his space but when he is in yours put your hand over his head gently covering his eyes. If he bucks back and goes on, then wait until he comes around again and do it again. The dominant bunny covers the head of his inferiors. Not to treat him as such, but he will get the message Hopefully, it truly is behavioural!

 

[holtzchick]

I also agree that it could do something with the neuter and his behavior just has to get worse before it gets better. Just the hormones trying to balance themselves out... Although you never know...I still think that it's probably just his hormones! Stick it out!

My rabbit Hippogryff is 5 years old and he's been neutered for years, the vet gave him a very clean bill of health when he came home and it just happens that he's a grumpy rabbit! He will grunt at you and go to war on his toys (thank god not my furniture!) BUT he will never truly attack my hand. If he does not want me near him, he will grunt and simply bite it as if a dog play biting and saying, don't touch me if he doesn't feel like it. He definitely knows I'm top bun and respects that as much as he would love to be the dominant one