My Rabbit is Getting Aggressive

[Liquidtravel]

Hello all,

First, I have a 10-month-old Flemish Giant rabbit I have had for 6 months. I had him neutered 4 months ago. He is now litterbox trained and is a free roam rabbit. I have an extra-large dog kennel that I used the I first adopted Franklin, but now it sits mostly empty and he only goes in the cage if/ when he wants to. I have 2 litterboxes in my apartment, 1 just outside his kennel in my bedroom (this is the one that has Hay in it) and the other in the living room. I feed him in the bedroom across the room from his litterbox and there are several toys, cardboard boxes in the bedroom as well. In the living room, I have the litterbox in a corner of the room with a cat bed next to it he likes and then a few toys and a cardboard box all for him to play with.

Over the past weeks, Franklin has started getting aggressive. This really only happens in the bedroom but I feel that its only because there is carpet in the bedroom and he can run/ lunge much easier than on wood floors. In the bedroom, he will go under the bed, and then as I go around the bed to make it up, he will lunge out trying to bite me. This is not a nip, it is a hard, aggressive bite.

At other times, I will lie down on the floor with him and stroke his head until he goes to sleep. He lets me do that all the time and I can put my hand all over his face and his back.

I feel he trusts me otherwise I don't think he would let me touch if face or close his eyes with me so close and touching his face. It can't be cage aggression since I rarely go near his cage since he doesn't use it unless he thinks the entire apartment is his cage. I was in the bathroom one day and he acted as well.

Any thoughts?

 

[FuzzyBunny ph]

hmm does he only try to bite you when he's coming out from under the bed? I'm thinking maybe you startle him when you try to make up the bed.

or maybe you have a different smell when you go to the bed? They will usually attack their hooman if the hooman will smell like another bun or smell very different from how hooman usually smells

 

[Hermelin]

You can try distracting him every time going into the room and talking with him.

I know when Toste lay near my bed and he don’t know it’s me he can growl and lunge towards me. It can happen quite often because he like sleeping right under my bed with his head sticking out. So as long I do movements and talk, I won’t startle him and won’t trigger him to attack me.

 

[Liquidtravel]

hmm does he only try to bite you when he's coming out from under the bed? I'm thinking maybe you startle him when you try to make up the bed.

or maybe you have a different smell when you go to the bed? They will usually attack their hooman if the hooman will smell like another bun or smell very different from how hooman usually smells

I do know that after I take a shower and have washed off my human smell he is used, I am guessing he is not sure about me.