Ow! He bit me!

[Catlyn]

I was outside with Storm, running and chasing him from the hedges, and i took him back inside while holding him.
His smell stuck to my shirt. I then went to hang around with Lümi, he sniffed my shirt and nothing else about it.
I plucked some of his hanging loose fur and then went to see again how Storm was doing. The hair had stuck to my hand but i didn't think much about it...
Turns out that Storm hated the smell of Lümi on me as he lunged without any prior notice and bit my finger hard, then proceeded to chase away mum.
I retreated and looked at my finger, blood splatting to the floor while i was at it.
It bled quite a lot and now i have a funny shape from it.
The first time they met face to face by accident they were fine with eachother?
Not a great start to future bonding, huh?

 

[BunBun71]

I'm sorry that your rabbit bit you. I guess it was just because Lumi's scent was on you and he didn't like that.

 

[Catlyn]

Oh it's okay, just thought that i'd share the experience.
Storm is obviously more agressive and dominant, has been nippy and bitey ever since he got used to our home.
Lümi is nicely wandering around his room and pattering on his tiny paws, eager to pull paper off the walls! He's more submissive and seems to love being pet.
I guess that shows in their reactions to eachothers smells.

Will it have a chance to affect their future bond?

 

[Blue eyes]

I was outside with Storm, running and chasing him from the hedges, and i took him back inside while holding him.

Not a great start to future bonding, huh?

It is possible that it had to do with the scent of the other bun, but not necessarily. I think it is just as likely that Storm could have been upset with you for your behavior. You said you were "running and chasing him from the hedges, and i took him back inside while holding him"
Everything written in that single sentence is the wrong thing to do with a rabbit. Running and chasing a rabbit is the best way to make a rabbit mad at you and can hurt any bond you may have with him. One should never be chasing a rabbit, and certainly not running and chasing. This is prey behavior and should never be done.

The other part of holding him while taking him back inside is also a risky thing to do. This is how rabbits get dropped and hurt. It is practically 100% certain that if he is routinely carried inside that there will come a day that he squirms (or bites, or kicks) and causes you to drop him. This is how legs, back, or neck, or even teeth are broken.

If a rabbit isn't trained to come on command or go inside on command, then his outside roaming area needs to be more controlled. An ex-pen (or several ex-pens) can be used for this area. When it's time to go inside, the pens gives one the ability to shrink in the walls of the pen until bunny is in a small area and is easy to get without chasing. Then a carrier should be used anytime bunny needs to be carried anywhere. This is the safe way to transport him. You can even put a treat inside if you like. Rabbits don't like being manhandled so the trick is to coax or trick them into doing what you want.

If you put an open carrier in the ex-pen and gradually shrink the pen walls so bunny has no choice put to hop in the carrier, in his mind, he is the one choosing to hop in (trick accomplished). This is the safe way to get him inside that also doesn't compromise your relationship with him.

 

[Catlyn]

First of all, sorry for the long read but i wanted to cover all points mentioned.

He was completely chill with me after i took him inside. I'm absolutely lucky that he doesn't hold a grudge!

He has been mad at us for a couple of different reasons before, even for plain stuff like cleaning his eyes from the typical boogies everybody gets. Only for a short time though.

I just want to mention that he has never ever bit me or lunged at me, he does nibble and nip at me when saying that he's had enough, and i leave him be when he displays that behaviour. I respect the fact that he doesn't intently crave human interaction. He lets me know-i stop it.

Perhaps i phrased the "running and chasing" part wrong. I don't actually run after him, ever. I usually walk couple of meters behind him and when he goes somewhere unwanted i usually manage to do a speedy walk and end up in front of him so he stops and then gets the cue and turns to another direction. But sometimes that cunning booger decides to run and hide in the shrubs before i can walk to stop
him.

He comes to my calling, but not every time, especially if he's "busy doing something of his own" ie being curious or cleaning etc. He did react to my call that specific time but he didn't come out completely. Being that the shrubs were low hanging prickly spruces isn't helpful either.

Now usually i wouldn't mind him looking in the bushes if it weren't for the fact that there's a "trench" sort of thing right the other side that leads up to the road. Now it's not a particularly busy one, which means that although he'd most likely be safe from traffic i never know how he'd react to it. So i played it safe, got a secure but not squeezy hold of him and carefully brought him back inside. He drank some water and then sprawled out, ran to me for a treat couple minutes later. It was after that i went to Lumi.

Ex pens are a great idea indeed but to my despair if i don't want to pay 50€shipping fees for a 40€ product from amazon or wish or ebay or whatever of that sort, the cheapest expens that Storm won't jump over would still be 70€ plus the 6€ for estonian-internal shipping.

I don't want to come off as a total prick when i say this. We can safely and soundly sustain two buns and have enough money stuffed up to take care of their vet bills. We do not have the spare to spend 70+€ on a pen we know that won't let him do those hyper-energetic races when he wants to.

Storm's condo cost us nothing more than space, cardboard sheets we'd gotten for free, wire/cutters we already had, couple of screws(1€) and 12€ on a fence roll for roofing- when a 90-cm xpen would've cost us 70€ for the pen itself and then some free supplies if he still jumped over that. Not to boast, just an example of how stuff can be done cheaper. And i'm all ears for something cheap but equally functional!

Besides that point, i personally feel that although the pens provide a safe space, they don't provide big space, and i've seen him do amazing sprint-turns and zoomies that take about 30meters of horizontal space and then 10more meters for the left/right curves.
That's ideally not what i'd expect from an xpen.
The best i can do about that is just to make sure that i manage to stop him from /coax him not to go to the unwanted areas.

It would be cheaper to build a straight-up fence then but that looks and feels a bit crude and rude too, barrier in the middle of the lawn. So i'll put in an even bigger effort to make sure he stays safe, as i feel that harnesses are also too dangerous.

Maybe that will help clarify our relationship and situation?