Crying, I dunno what to do.

[Yield]

Sabriel is being TERRIBLE!

He always bites me. I dunno why. I don't do anything wrong, I know I don't. I stick my finger by him, he bites me. I lay down, he comes up, licks me a few times, then bites me.

Not only that, he'll lie next to Solara during a bonding session, and he'll lick her, then grab her whiskers and PULL them out. Not only that, he eats them. He SCARES me.

I want Solara to have a chance at bonding with another bun, but I don't want her to be with a bun that'll hurt her... And I can't deal with him biting me all the time.

I don't even wanna touch him I'm so horrified...

 

[Sarah93]

I dont know a ton about bunnies cause I'm a brand new owner.
But I dont think hes as evil as he may seem.
Sometimes my doe nips me.
Sounds like he bites cause he wants your attention, he wants something from you.

Was he raised with his siblings when he was little? or was he rescued?
Cause I know puppies learn a lot from their litter mates when they're young. And if they dont sometimes they're kind of off.
I'm sure its similar to rabbits.
Maybe he doesnt know how to act around other rabbits?

I'm not sure...do some research on rabbits behavior and dont panick to much :wink

 

[Yield]

Sarah93 wrote:

I dont know a ton about bunnies cause I'm a brand new owner.
But I dont think hes as evil as he may seem.
Sometimes my doe nips me.
Sounds like he bites cause he wants your attention, he wants something from you.

Was he raised with his siblings when he was little? or was he rescued?
Cause I know puppies learn a lot from their litter mates when they're young.  And if they dont sometimes they're kind of off.
I'm sure its similar to rabbits.
Maybe he doesnt know how to act around other rabbits?

I'm not sure...do some research on rabbits behavior and dont panick to much :wink

I dunno, cause he bites me all the time. I did at first feel like either he wanted me outta the way or wanted to groom me or whatever.. but idkk cause he bit my when my finger was by him. Which is irrelevant to any of that ):

I dunno where he came from. I adopted him from the humane society. He has a missing toe and everything.

I did some research on the whisker pulling and i guess dominant buns barber the submissive bun's whiskers to show them they're lower in status. I don't want him to do that though, cause it clearly doesn't feel good...

 

[Sarah93]

hhmmm...yeah.

Well he must have been abused or excluded.
What people have told me to do when my doe nips me is to squeal really loud in a high pitch voice.
That associates them with extreame pain and fear and it usually will make them stop.

And I dont know what to say about the whisker eating...you cant really stop animals from being dominate.
I suppose you could show him that your the leader, but I dont know how lol

 

[SnowyShiloh]

I don't know that I'd say he's been abused... It could be that he's simply learned that biting you gets him what he wants. If you're holding him and he bites (because he wants to get down), do you put him down? Move when he bites (which he wants)? Leave him alone when he bites (which he also wants)? How do you respond when he bites?

3 of my 6 bunnies have gone through biting stages. I was able to get all of them to stop without much of a problem. The first thing is I would NOT do whatever they wanted me to do. For instance, Tallulah took to biting when I was feeding her. I guess I wasn't putting the food in her bowl fast enough! What I did in that situation was say "No bite!" loudly, gently press her head to the floor while covering her eyes and hold her that way for about 15 seconds, then close her cage door (without feeding her), turn my back on her (which shows disapproval), and flat out ignore her for the next 10 minutes, no matter what antics she did. I wouldn't look at her. Then I'd try feeding her again. Repeat if she bit again. It took only a few days for her to learn that biting equaled no food (for a bunny, 10 minutes is a long time!) and extreme disapproval from me.

Also, I see he has a bunny girlfriend, so I'm assuming he's neutered. Is he?

 

[Yield]

Well, the thing is, we dunno where he's from. He's got a blank look in his eye most of the time... He just doesn't seem right. But anyways...

No, he's perfectly fine when I hold him. He loves being cuddled.

Well when he bites my finger, I go "CHH!" and he stops. When he's biting my leg or such, I jump usually (like when someone scares you) and I move, cause it hurts and if I keep myself there, he digs at me and bites me harder.

The thing is, he bites me when he's just hopping around and when i'm sitting or lying there. He doesn't bite at any specific time, and it's really sporadic, so it's hard to discipline him when it's not associated with anything.

And yes, he is neutered.

 

[Happi Bun]

I'm sorry, a biting bunny can be very scary. There is hope though. Many members have had success with letting out a short high pitched scream when a bunny bites. The reason is because rabbits do vocally scream when experiencing intense pain or fright. It also shocks the rabbit, creating a negative association to the behavior. It doesn't work on all bunnies and I could imagine if you do it too much the bunny will not take it as seriously. It's worth a try though.

 

[Inle_Rabbitry]

You may want to try spraying "Bitter Apple Spray" on your hands before you handle him. The smell and taste of it would quickly deter him from nibbling on your fingers. It may take a few tries, but I believe he would get the message fairly quickly.

Also, are you hands washed before you handle him? Even the smallest trace of food particles left on your hands can entice a rabbit into biting into you.

 

[butsy]

sounds like a frustrated bunny to me !!1

 

[Pipp]

He will calm down with time and patience, and I wouldn't worry about the whiskers thing, but if you really don't like this rabbit, you should look for other options before they do bond.

I sincerely hope there's an understanding rescue in your area that may want to take a 'trade in' and not be judgmental about it. They are usually willing to do so when bonding doesn't work out, but its a bit trickier if he's not adoptable.

But I really think that rescues are better equipped to handle, socialize and place 'difficult' rabbits and that they should actually encourage adopters in your situation, unfortunately a lot of them out there have the 'home for life at all costs' attitude.

If people are allowed or even encouraged to surrender a rabbit and adopt another one -- or maybe foster until they're sure -- it's honestly better for the adopter, the rabbit and the rescue. They don't lose any cage space, they get an adoption fee and in many they won't have a rabbit that may potentially be bounced around different homes, abused, neglected and/or turned loose and probably end up in their care regardless.

I fostered a little dutch that bit harder than any rabbit I've ever had through here -- she had a history of living with someone that always grabbed her pretty roughly, it was her defense mechanism -- and I do believe she ended up living a happy life as a free-run sanctuary rabbit because she really wasn't pet material. And it was a win-win situation for all.

Its worth checking out.


sas :clover:

 

[pla725]

My foster bun Peter is a nipper as well. I've been working with him to extinguish this behavior. He does it for attention.

I also had another foster who would bite because he could not see well. Neutering and having a cataract removed helped somewhat. He still does bite but only men. His adopter thinks he was abused.

Max, my dwarf, was a terrible biter. Again neutering helped. Also learning to trust me stopped the behavior. Max was neglected by his first owner.

 

[Pipp]

I should add that personally I LIKE rabbits that bite. I either like the challenge of socializing and calming them down if they're 'fear' biters, or I like their cocky attitudes if they're just aggressive.

But I also recognize that many if not most people don't share my attitude, although many of us involved in rescue actually do. I just don't think its a prerequisite for a standard guardian that didn't sign up for the task.

Darry, my very unsociable rescue who came here four years ago (as a two or three year old at least), has only recently decided that humans aren't so bad after all. Not only is she letting me pet her, she's giving me tooth purrs.


sas

 

[tonyshuman]

Lots of good advice here. I agree that he may have had a traumatic past and will need special care and time, time, time. My Muffin was probably abused and she would run away from any hand coming at her for 6 months after I first got her. She is no longer afraid of hands because they only come at her with food, treats, pets, or if to pick her up, it's a short holding session that ends with a treat (ie nail cuts). 2 years after getting her, she has started nudging my ankles looking for treats and pets, and that's the sweetest thing ever. With "problem bunnies" at the shelter, we have several important strategies. If they're very very scared, they really should be in a free roam environment. Otherwise, have the cage at ground level and let them come in and out of it as they please for exercise time. When you have to clean the cage, talk softly, open the gate and let them out if you can, then clean it. If you can't let them out, pet them on the top of the head with one hand while the other does things like rearrange dishes etc.

It sounds like he may take some time to trust you, and then may feel safe enough to trust Solara. Unfortunately, it sounds like Sabriel came with a lot of emotional baggage and needs some time to be comfortable before he can trust you or her.

 

[Yield]

Thank you for all the advice I'm not getting rid of him.. I could never! I love him and Solara loves him.. (After he pulled her whiskers out, I put him in the bathtub, while she was on the bathtub floor, and she jumped up into the tub the first time, and despite the fact she slipped a bit, she did it again, not caring if she fell.. she really likes him. He's just so indifferent.. I wonder if he was bullied by other bunnies?) just this all has me worried and overwhelmed! Anyways, I hope that me working with him will stop him from nipping..

I do feel like he might not see well, cause of that look in his eye. But I know he sees well enough to get around and cause i did the night test and he blinked.

 

[dixonsrabbitry1]

Is he attacking you? It sounds more it may be non agressive bites. Some bunnies will do that. But if he is attacking then thats a different story, and they can be harder to deal with. Biters that attack and bite hard are not fun to deal with.

Another thing, is he neutered?

I have a couple of does that are nice and loving one minutes, that is until they decide they want to give me a little nip.

 

[elrohwen]

Some great advice here!

Also, I would spend less time worrying about whether he was abused. All of his behavior seems pretty normal and personality based to me. I think worrying about his past will just give you unnecessary guilt and make it easier for him to get away with stuff. I think you will feel less overwhelmed if you just take his behavior as it is and think about ways to change it (make their bond stronger, get him to stop nipping, etc) rather than fret about his past. It's possible he had a fine life before you got him and is like this anyway.

Don't worry that he's indifferent to your other bunny either. My Otto was in no way abused or bullied by anyone in his life (I've had him from 8 weeks and he came from a reputable breeder) - he often has a blank look in his eyes (sometimes I wonder if he's blind or deaf, but I know he's not - I think he's just laid back and/or not very bright), and he was very indifferent to having a new bunny friend (despite his bunny friend loving him). Those things are totally normal and are just part of his personality. Some bunnies are just very overwhelmed by being introduced to new bunnies for the first time and it can take them a couple of months to really get used to it. Imagine if you had never seen another human - your social skills wouldn't be very developed either.

 

[golfdiva]

How are things going? Any progress yet?

He sounds like he is trying to be the top rabbit. He is trying to dominate the other rabbit, and he sees you as another rabbit to dominate. He is trying to make you his subordinate!

From a behaviorist stand point, and a rabbit's view, the routine SnowyShilohrecommended is very sound. The loud "NO" associates fear with biting. Putting you hand over his head/neck and pressing down gently tells him YOU are dominate. Turning your back on him and ignoring him for a few minutes tells him the boss (you) doesn't like that behavior. Returning to pay attention to him when he is calm, rewards calm, non-biting behavior.