Need some behavior questions answered :]

Bunny_Cane · Aug 16, 2015

Hello Everyone!!

I got my first little girl on Thursday, and she's mostly a sweet heart. She's currently around 4 months old.

She's had a bit of a nipping problem. It starts off more like a gentle feeling with her front teeth, but then each nibble gets a little harder. I usually yank my hand away the minute it starts getting hard, but out of curiosity of how hard she'd get, I didn't pull it away as soon as I normally would. She ended up biting hard enough to break the skin.

I'm really stumped as to why she takes it this far. It never seems to be a territory thing, it mostly happens when we're bonding. I'll just be sitting on the floor with her and she's climbing on me, or she'll start doing it after sniffing my hand.

I'm having a minor problem with her peeing in one spot on my bed, but she does have a litter box she sometimes uses, and I'm planning on getting her spayed.

Thanks for your help!

Blue eyes · Aug 16, 2015

I would blame most of that on hormones. At 4 months, she is at "that" age. Yelp high and loud when she nips so she knows it hurts. That usually helps, but behavior is unpredictable when hormones are involved.

Spaying should help quite a bit... with the biting and the potty training.

Buns4Life_Cinder · Aug 18, 2015

My rabbit nips me too but only when I stop petting her and its not that hard it just hurts a little. So maybe you were doing something she didn't like and she wanted you to stop and you stopped to early when she wanted you to keep doing it. You kind of need to know your rabbits personality. But I agree with Blue Eyes usually it's hormones but I didn't know they raised at such an early stage!

MikeScone · Aug 18, 2015

Both of the rabbits I've lived with nipped when they first came to live with me. It's just one means of rabbit communication - they don't realize we don't have a nice fur coat to shield us.

The good news is that bunnies are easily trained not to nip. Instead of pulling away (that might be just what they want, if it's a "get out of my way" nip), just screech loudly. A high-pitched, loud "eeeeek" would be perfect. Try it now, I'll wait... That felt good, didn't it? So much for primal scream therapy, back to bunnies.

That sound imitates the sound a rabbit makes when it's in great pain. The nipping bunny will jump back, startled. Nearly always, she'll come back, slowly, and nip again, less hard. "Eeeeek!" again - I often followed up with "just kiss" when the bunny backed up. By the third or fourth nip, the rabbit will get the message.

That's all it took with both Scone MacBunny and Natasha Rabbitova. After a few sessions, the second or third nip was replaced by a lick, and after that they would just come up and kiss my arm instead.

LuckyAmi · Aug 20, 2015

Congrats on your first bunny! :3

If she keeps going on that one spot on your bed, maybe try putting her litter tray in that spot? that might help her connect the peeing to the litter box...?

Bunny_Cane · Aug 20, 2015

Thanks for the advice guys!!

It took one "eeek" (and a poor one at that) for her to learn. Today she was giving bunny kisses instead of nibbles

And I sopped up some of her mess and put it in the litter box. She then was so interested in it that she hopped into it. I put the litter box with her in it, into the cage, and we've been fine since then!!

Luckily the vet we used to use on my dog before he passed is also the vet who does any non dog/cat animals, and has a pet rabbit of her own. So I'm all set up with a good vet too

Thanks for the replies <3