Feeling discouraged about her temperament...

[Yield]

[align=center]I'm hoping you guys can give me tips to bonding with Solara (she's spayed), and/or lessening her cruel behavior... she's so mean.

She attacks me, bites me. I can just be sitting there and she'll bite and dig at me!

And I know it's in an aggressive way... I can tell, I've had her for a year and I know her behaviors...

I can't stop crying. I miss the sweet girl she used to be.

I mean I reintroduced her to Sabriel again to re-bond eventually and she was pretty mean to him too =/ Didn't attack him but was just really aggressive in the way she humped him... interacted with him... and then interrupted the session to attack me...

She's not the same rabbit she used to be, not even the same rabbit after I bonded her to Sabriel. I'm even worried that if I successfully bond them again that she'll just bully him...

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

Strange. Does she take treats from you? Maybe you should try sitting with just her and offering her favorite treats so she will come to see you a source of positive. It works with dogs.

 

[tamsin]

Can you give us a little more background? Is she on her own at the moment? You have several bunnies though, right? Could she be smelling them on you? If you take a shower and change clothes then visit her first, is she still aggressive?

Is she deliberately coming towards you aggressively or is she aggressive when you go towards her or just when you happen to cross paths?

 

[Yield]

[align=center]@Katie: Yeah, she takes craisens and sunflower seeds from me. Sometimes fruit VERY gently. Never veggies. I've been doing that- it's doing some good. She comes up to me for the treats and even lets me pet her a bit, before she freaks and runs..

@tamsin: Background? Um... yeah, she's on her own at the moment. She gets along with all of my other bunnies usually. (except for her aggressive humping). She never bites them. She likes when they groom her. It's definitely not the other bunnies. I can come home from school after not seeing any of them all day, and I take her out of the pen and put her on my bed, and she'll still attack me. She doesn't really come at me, though sometimes she does hop up to me and bites me. It's mostly when we cross paths/when I try to pet her.

 

[TinysMom]

Was she your first rabbit? If so - could she be jealous that you've added others?

 

[Yield]

[align=center]Yeah, she was my first rabbit. I don't see how she'd be jealous though, because she loved Sabriel when they were bonded and she loves when Silas grooms her... so it'd be odd if she was... :?

 

[juliew19673]

Are all of the other buns fixed? Perhaps one of the others is throwing out hormone smell and its irritating her? The only good advice otherwise I would give is to not pet her; sit with her but do not reach for her at all; wait until she asks for it; this just worked with a foster bun I took in that was a snarly, lunging, teeth baring peice of work; but now 3 weeks later he's just a big ol cuddle bun.

Also, if you can (I can't but no other people who can) when she does bite you do not move or back away; works for one of the people I volunteer with - she successfully can handle one of our buns that is not fixed and is just a terror; but the girl has the scars to prove it works -:shock:..

Hang in there - you'll figure it out. good luck!

 

[tamsin]

What was happening around the time her behaviour changed? was there any aggression pre-spay?

 

[Yield]

juliew19673 wrote:

Are all of the other buns fixed?  Perhaps one of the others is throwing out hormone smell and its irritating her?  The only good advice otherwise I would give is to not pet  her; sit with her but do not reach for her at all; wait until she asks for it; this just worked with a foster bun I took in that was a snarly, lunging, teeth baring peice of work; but now 3 weeks later he's just a big ol cuddle bun.

Also, if you can (I can't but no other people who can) when she does bite you do not move or back away; works for one of the people I volunteer with - she successfully can handle one of our buns that is not fixed and is just a terror; but the girl has the scars to prove it works -:shock:..

Hang in there - you'll figure it out.  good luck!

[align=center]All of them have been fixed for a long time =(
And aww.. I hope I can do that with Solara. That's what I've been trying to do lately. Avoid petting her unless she seems to be wanting pets.

Thank you!

 

[Nela]

Don't you socialize buns at the shelter? She possibly reacts to scents that you might have without knowing it. Even if you wash your hands, your clothes could still smell.

For me, the best way to get Maybelle's attention is to ignore her. Lol. Seriously, that's how I have worked with her. She got annoyed with us doting over her so I resorted to doing the reverse. After a few days, she got annoyed with me ignoring her so she started coming to me and presenting her head for petting. If I stop and she nudges, I give her more. If I stop and she hops away, I just let her. It's a long process but it's been working out and you'd think she'd be more independent that way but she isn't. She's a lot more cuddly than she was.

Maybe it's something you could try out.