Grunting when putting your hand in the cage

[Luvmyzoocrew]

She was the sweetest thing, but my mom went ot put her food in the cage this morning and she grunted at her, then she went in the cage later and she was grunting and grunting. A little info if you dont know her story, last week she was found in a park and my mom acquired her this weekend and has had her only a few days now.



What should she be doing to stop this, she didnt do it the first few days she was here just started today?



Any advice would be great aswe want to make sure that she isnt a non handelable rabbit, or a bitter with grandkids around.

 

[aurora369]

It probably has to do with her becoming comfortable in her new home and now seeing it as her territory. Before, she was scared and uncertain but now the cage is her space.

Is your mom planning on having her spayed? Spaying will help with cage aggression. I would get it done as soon as possible.

It may be advisable to also try to do feeding and cleaning when bunny is out for play time. Less stress for both.

There are some good articles in the Library section, here's a thread on aggression:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12319&forum_id=17

If you think about it though, it does make alot of sense. She spent who knows how long out in the wild, having to defend for herself. Now, she's got this wonderful cage and things are great, who wouldn't want to defend that? She doesn't know any better, she's just doing what she thinks is right in order to keep herself safe.

--Dawn

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

Thank you, I told my mom it probablly had something to do with that, but that i would check with "MY" people :laugh: I love all you guys here!!!!!!! I will be checking the links that you gave me and letting her know. I will have to tell her "i" figured it out so i look smart :nono only kidding. Thanks i am off to do some reading thanks Dawn.



oh i forgot to answer that yes she is planning on getting her fixed, but she was going to wait a while, but maybe not now,lol.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Tell your mom to give her a craisen or something when she reaches in. That might be enough to get her to realize Mom's hand = Nice!

 

[slavetoabunny]

My shelter bunny, Cheri, does the same thing. She doesn't bite though, and is fine once I pick her up. I'm working with her and she seems to be improving. She's really a pretty friendly little bun when I have her out in the pen. I'm worried that the grunting will put off some adopters.

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

Slavetoabunny that is defintely a put off to a potential adopter i would think, good luck working with her.

Do i will give my mom that idea too, if her bun is like mine, my guys LOVE craisins.



I went over to see her and my mom says she doesnt do it all the time, she was fine when i put my hand in to pet her. But i still want her to work with her to make sure this doesnt become or go any further then this.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

As big of a baby and sweetie that Tony is, he just lunged at me when I opened his cage and reached in. After I messed with his ear a bit he let me get him. He's a weird one LOL!

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

lol

 

[bunnydude]

When we first took Amber home, she definitely had cage agression issues and was very protective of Devon. We think she was a kid's pet who was irresponsibly bred "for fun," and the rescue thinks that she was mishandled by the kids.

Her aggressions subsided quite a bit once she was spayed. She'll still grunt, but she rarely bites unless we really surprise her. If we "let her know" before we put our hands in her cage, she's fine with it.

 

[timetowaste]

We have a doe at the preschool that grunts when you put your hand in her cage. She is VERY vocal about what she dislikes, that's for sure!

Tracy

 

[TinysMom]

Could she be pregnant? Going through a false pregnancy?

Those are some other thoughts too...

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

TinysMom wrote:

Could she be pregnant? Going through a false pregnancy?

Those are some other thoughts too...

Oh my god i had never thought about a pregnancy, oh my im ust live in a closet, oh my. My mom will die if she wakes up to find babies lol. If she would be pregnant what would i have to look for?

 

[Luv-bunniz]

Luvmyzoocrew wrote:

TinysMom wrote:

Could she be pregnant? Going through a false pregnancy?

Those are some other thoughts too...

Oh my god i had never thought about a pregnancy, oh my im ust live in a closet, oh my.  My mom will die if she wakes up to find babies lol.  If she would be pregnant what would i have to look for? 

I was just thinking about her being pregnant lol.

Her tummy will get bigger, he teets will also get bigger and fil with milk, She will be gathering bedding to put in a nest and pulling fur from her chest and putting that in a circle nest, incresase of food intake it also a sign, just to name a few lol, Rabbits give birth between 28-32 days, on average. and when she is about a week away you should be able to feel babys inside her/baby heart beats if not but she is showing signs of pregnancy it could be a phantom/false pregnancy.

 

[aurora369]

Peg, I had forgotten about a pregnancy as well....

Chances are if she's a female, and unspayed, then there is an extremely high probability she's pregnant. I would call the vet and get her in for a spay ASAP. It is probably best for her health for her to not go through birth and nursing after having a rough time on her own in the wild.

It is difficult to tell if a rabbit is pregnant, they do such a good job of hiding it. Her nipples will swell shortly before birthing, and other than that it's wait until she nests and gives birth. At 14 days, you can generally palpate the doe to feel for babies, but that's hard even for experienced breeders/vets. And since there is no way to know if she is pregnant or when she would have conceived, it's imppossible to know when the correct time to palpate would be.

--Dawn

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Luvmyzoocrew wrote:

TinysMom wrote:

Could she be pregnant? Going through a false pregnancy?

Those are some other thoughts too...

Oh my god i had never thought about a pregnancy, oh my im ust live in a closet, oh my. My mom will die if she wakes up to find babies lol. If she would be pregnant what would i have to look for?

Little pink things wiggling around in her cage.





:biggrin2:

 

[TinysMom]

Many of my girls will start getting grumpy around day 14-18 of a pregnancy. However, with her last pregnancy - Girly Girl started growling and lunging at Triad (next door to her - and the father of her litter) around day 10 or so......

She got moved to another cage and her babies are now 12 days old almost and she's been making googly eyes at Sting but I've told her I'm not breeding anymore.

But the first thing I think of when you say a doe is grunting and stuff - if she's unspayed - is pregnancy...

Peg

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

Luvmyzoocrew wrote:

TinysMom wrote:

Could she be pregnant? Going through a false pregnancy?

Those are some other thoughts too...

Oh my god i had never thought about a pregnancy, oh my im ust live in a closet, oh my. My mom will die if she wakes up to find babies lol. If she would be pregnant what would i have to look for?

Little pink things wiggling around in her cage.





:biggrin2:

HA HA there is always one smarite pants in the bunch :laugh:

 

[Bo B Bunny]

:nod

 

[foxflower]

We found our female Thumper roughly 8 mos old, wandering outdoors. She had been out for a number of weeks and the local animal control said they had picked up another in the next block, so she was likely dumped.

She was not pregnant. She did use the litter to pee and only left little hard presents for us. We had her spayed immediately.

Initially, we had her in a dog crate and built a 4 story condo for her out of NIC cubes. She LOVED to condo and the first time we tried to clean it she grunted and thumped at us. This went on for a while. Then she stopped grunting and thumping and just watched us closely.

Now she ignores us, assured that we will replace her blankets, toys, boxes, etc. in ALMOST the places she had left them although we humans are not perfect, so when we are finished she has to go in and move them just an inch or two each.

Anyway, she was not pregnant, she was spayed, but she just loved her new digs so much she did not want us messing with them. They were hers.

We now have a new male and as long as we don't put his cage next to her condo she is fine with him. It is going to be an interesting bonding process. May need to remove the condo. Getting tired of her peeing and pooping around the outside perimeter of it. Interesting that in her entire "territory" that is the only part she is marking from him.