Rabbits cage aggression is getting worse what did I do?

abbigail10398 · Mar 27, 2019

I have a one year old harlequin rabbit. She use to just kinda jump at your hand when you reached in her hutch. But know she is staring to growl even if you are just petting her and I con not even get in her play pen without her coming and jumping at me and if I stink my hand in there she will claw you. She use to be a very sweet bunny and I dont know what happend. I think a lot of it has to do with me having to pick her up to take her to her play pen but i carrie her in a basket. So I'm really just lost on what to do.

Hermelin · Mar 27, 2019

Is she spayed, it can be territorial and she’s defending her home with being aggressive.

The other thing can be that she’s scared and act out to defend herself, because she feel cornered.

If she act out in the cage, don’t reach for her in her, try to distract her with a treat, when you are going to reach into the cage.

But is this a new behavior I would really think this is hormones and territorial behavior than scared. If she’s not spayed, spaying will often help.

abbigail10398 · Mar 27, 2019

Hermelin said:
Is she spayed, it can be territorial and she’s defending her home with being aggressive.

The other thing can be that she’s scared and act out to defend herself, because she feel cornered.

If she act out in the cage, don’t reach for her in her, try to distract her with a treat, when you are going to reach into the cage.

But is this a new behavior I would really think this is hormones and territorial behavior than scared. If she’s not spayed, spaying will often help.

No she is not spayed, I think it is her defending her territory cuz I was trying to introduce her and my dog while she was in her hutch a few weeks ago so I could bring her inside, everything went well but after that is when it really got worse

Hermelin · Mar 27, 2019

A little about aggressive in a rabbit:
https://rabbit.org/faq-aggression/

Try to figure out what really triggers her behavior. I think it’s more than hormones, she would had act out around 6 months and up with the same behavior. Not just recently, a couple of weeks.

JBun · Mar 27, 2019

abbigail10398 said:
No she is not spayed, I think it is her defending her territory cuz I was trying to introduce her and my dog while she was in her hutch a few weeks ago so I could bring her inside, everything went well but after that is when it really got worse

That pretty much explains it. Along with not being spayed and being hormonal. Getting her spayed can sometimes help reduce the territorial behavior, but you may also need to work with her if you want her to get used to the dog(I would suggest not having her in her hutch but in another safe enclosure that she doesn't consider as her territory to defend). Or you may just need to keep the dog away from her.

Scarly · Mar 27, 2019

abbigail10398 said:
I have a one year old harlequin rabbit. She use to just kinda jump at your hand when you reached in her hutch. But know she is staring to growl even if you are just petting her and I con not even get in her play pen without her coming and jumping at me and if I stink my hand in there she will claw you. She use to be a very sweet bunny and I dont know what happend. I think a lot of it has to do with me having to pick her up to take her to her play pen but i carrie her in a basket. So I'm really just lost on what to do.

We had this issue too with our bunnies. I just started to not reach into their cages if they are in there and respect their space. Note that our buns are free roamed but both are rescues and came with cages which are now their litter boxes and safe space but the doors are removed.

If I need to go in and clean I call them and take the lid off their treat jar and they come running. Once they are out of the cage I clean it.

We do the same thing with our dog and his crate. Just like you don't want someone barging into your room or the bathroom when you're in there, I try to respect my animals space as much as possible.

Obviously, if it's a medical emergency then you need to intervene. One of our buns had GI Stasis and I reached in and grabbed her because I couldn't even coax her out with a treat, but generally speaking, I just clean their cages when they choose to leave them, or if I'm pressed for time I lure them out with treats

If she's unspayed getting her spayed should help as well