iš¤hollands
Active Member
Hello everyone! I'm new to posting on this forum, so I'll give you a bit of background to start- I've been involved with bunnies for about 10 years now. I had them as pets at fist, then 'backyard bred' Dutch until about 3 years ago. Now I've opened up a professional indoor rabbitry where I breed and raise pet Holland Lops. Throughout my years I've never had a biting problem with a bunny- until now.
Acorn is a male chestnut Holland Lop. I got him as a baby(8 weeks old). He was in his uglies, and I was expecting his type to correct itself enough for me to breed, but his head never changes and he still hasn't grown into his ears! So, I petted him out. One important thig to know before reading the rest(which if you do read, thank you for your time
) is that Acorn is one of the absolute friendliest bunnies I have ever owned. He literally canNOT get enough loving, pets, treats, snuggles, etc. He's overall just so exuberant with life! Very very smart as well, he does lots of tricks(spins, beg, walking on hind legs, kisses on demand, etc) as well as can open a cage or x-pen door with ease -_-
He went to his first home as a free roam(each of my bunnies lives in a large indoor pen so they are trained for free roam) support bunny for a collage girl. He was about 6 months at the time, and I recommended getting him neutered. She said she couldn't afford it at the time, and although she would keep it in mind, she didn't think she would need to. I was okay with this because he had never acted terribly hormonal, and I knew she wasn't avoiding it for any shady reason. I got a sequence of texts from her over the next month. I replied to each with advice I learned in my experience. The three main things she said were-
He is spraying pee and pooping everywhere! - I replied that the spraying was hormonal, and probably the only fix was nuetering. The pooping was fixed easily by a few litter training tips.
He is mounting everything! - Again, I told her this would be helped by fixing. I also recommended a stuffed animal for him to get out his excess energy.
He is biting me! - And this was a confusing one. Yes, I am fully aware that biting can be caused by hormonal/territorial reasons. But, he'd never ever bitten before, and it wasn't just little nips. In her words "It's like he runs across the room just to get a chunk out of my leg!"
So after this month of trials for Acorn, she sent him back. Which I fully respect. I started searching for a new home, and got a promising offer. Acorn was going to be a Valentine's surprise for someone! (No, not an impulse buy. Just a husband finally consenting after 6 months of his wife showing him the pros of having a bunny, lol) They couldnt pick him up for a while, so I had Acorn for about a month in between these homes. During which he showed absolutely 0 sign of aggression or territorial behaviors. He did mount everything, but that didn't bother me!
He went to his new home. I was super excited because they had his neuter scheduled before they picked him, and I was sure that was going to correct his potential behavioral issues! Well, they didn't have any problems within the first 2 week, got him nuetered the third week! I was super glad he had finally found his fur-ever home. Until they messaged and said they had been having bad allergies since they got him, and hadn't [put 2 and 2 together that they were probably allergic to bunnies until now. So I took Acorn back again.
My bunnies were in high demand at that point, so he went directly from his 2nd home to his 3rd home. He was going to be a 'class pet' for 3 homeschooled kids(one special needs). Everything she said pointed in the right direction that this was the perfect home for Acorn, right down to the fact they live very near us and I could visit him whenever I liked! They came and met him, decided he was perfect, and took him home. It hasn't even been 2 weeks since that time, and I just got an email from them stating that Acorn has aggressively bitten them a lot. He is also carrying on all 3 behaviors I mentioned first! He's been nuetered almost a month now, I know their hormones can take a while to settle but really??
So why I'm posting on here is to hopefully get some insight on the reason he's done this. I've come down to a few conclusions, but I'm not sure what the true reason is.
1. He's crazy confused and stressed by multiple homes in the past 4 months?
2 He lacks routine?
3. He was unable to bond with any person?
4. He misses me? He has always been friendly to everyone, but did always seem to be extra affectionate towards me.
5. Despite nuetering, his hormones are still raging? (he is almost 10 months old, which is young but not normally the peak of hormones.)
I'd also appreciate any advice on what to do next. Is there a point where a bunny is too aggressive to continue giving to pet homes? I wondered about letting him chill with me for about 4-6 months and get him into a set routine, and then re-evaluating the situation and seeing if he's ready for a new home. Does that sound reasonable, or what should I do next?
and for reference, this is him-
Acorn is a male chestnut Holland Lop. I got him as a baby(8 weeks old). He was in his uglies, and I was expecting his type to correct itself enough for me to breed, but his head never changes and he still hasn't grown into his ears! So, I petted him out. One important thig to know before reading the rest(which if you do read, thank you for your time
) is that Acorn is one of the absolute friendliest bunnies I have ever owned. He literally canNOT get enough loving, pets, treats, snuggles, etc. He's overall just so exuberant with life! Very very smart as well, he does lots of tricks(spins, beg, walking on hind legs, kisses on demand, etc) as well as can open a cage or x-pen door with ease -_-He went to his first home as a free roam(each of my bunnies lives in a large indoor pen so they are trained for free roam) support bunny for a collage girl. He was about 6 months at the time, and I recommended getting him neutered. She said she couldn't afford it at the time, and although she would keep it in mind, she didn't think she would need to. I was okay with this because he had never acted terribly hormonal, and I knew she wasn't avoiding it for any shady reason. I got a sequence of texts from her over the next month. I replied to each with advice I learned in my experience. The three main things she said were-
He is spraying pee and pooping everywhere! - I replied that the spraying was hormonal, and probably the only fix was nuetering. The pooping was fixed easily by a few litter training tips.
He is mounting everything! - Again, I told her this would be helped by fixing. I also recommended a stuffed animal for him to get out his excess energy.
He is biting me! - And this was a confusing one. Yes, I am fully aware that biting can be caused by hormonal/territorial reasons. But, he'd never ever bitten before, and it wasn't just little nips. In her words "It's like he runs across the room just to get a chunk out of my leg!"
So after this month of trials for Acorn, she sent him back. Which I fully respect. I started searching for a new home, and got a promising offer. Acorn was going to be a Valentine's surprise for someone! (No, not an impulse buy. Just a husband finally consenting after 6 months of his wife showing him the pros of having a bunny, lol) They couldnt pick him up for a while, so I had Acorn for about a month in between these homes. During which he showed absolutely 0 sign of aggression or territorial behaviors. He did mount everything, but that didn't bother me!
He went to his new home. I was super excited because they had his neuter scheduled before they picked him, and I was sure that was going to correct his potential behavioral issues! Well, they didn't have any problems within the first 2 week, got him nuetered the third week! I was super glad he had finally found his fur-ever home. Until they messaged and said they had been having bad allergies since they got him, and hadn't [put 2 and 2 together that they were probably allergic to bunnies until now. So I took Acorn back again.
My bunnies were in high demand at that point, so he went directly from his 2nd home to his 3rd home. He was going to be a 'class pet' for 3 homeschooled kids(one special needs). Everything she said pointed in the right direction that this was the perfect home for Acorn, right down to the fact they live very near us and I could visit him whenever I liked! They came and met him, decided he was perfect, and took him home. It hasn't even been 2 weeks since that time, and I just got an email from them stating that Acorn has aggressively bitten them a lot. He is also carrying on all 3 behaviors I mentioned first! He's been nuetered almost a month now, I know their hormones can take a while to settle but really??
So why I'm posting on here is to hopefully get some insight on the reason he's done this. I've come down to a few conclusions, but I'm not sure what the true reason is.
1. He's crazy confused and stressed by multiple homes in the past 4 months?
2 He lacks routine?
3. He was unable to bond with any person?
4. He misses me? He has always been friendly to everyone, but did always seem to be extra affectionate towards me.
5. Despite nuetering, his hormones are still raging? (he is almost 10 months old, which is young but not normally the peak of hormones.)
I'd also appreciate any advice on what to do next. Is there a point where a bunny is too aggressive to continue giving to pet homes? I wondered about letting him chill with me for about 4-6 months and get him into a set routine, and then re-evaluating the situation and seeing if he's ready for a new home. Does that sound reasonable, or what should I do next?
and for reference, this is him-
