Training help!

[dollface]

Okay so my male mini lop ( the rabbit pictured in my default pic) "at least I believe he is a mini lop. Anyways he has what is "probably" a common behavior issue. He tries to eat our clothes when they are on us and tries to tug them off and dig in them. What is a proper way to teach him to not do this gradually without stressing him out?

Also I have a female lop too "from a different litter according to the breeder they both came from" (I didnt get opposite sex on purpose it was a miss-sexing thing) but both rabbits are in different cages, but in the same room, "although they cannot see eachother" could this be why he is acting out? He tends to try to be agressive with her "by what I believe" when they have exercise time, so I do them at different times now. But it began with him nibbling her and trying to tug on her furr which is what I know is a territorial thing.

Could he be trying to claim dominance over me and my boyfriend too or something? The situation is confusing lmao. He isn't allways like that though he wears himself out then snuggles in my lap -but wont with my boyfriend- lmao. Sorry for the long post just wanted to clarify all important facts.

 

[elrohwen]

The digging and nipping clothes is very common in young buns and even in older fixed buns. Sometimes they do it to tell you something (like, put me down, or, move out of my way) and other times they do it just for fun.

There are a few things you can do about it. One is make a high pitched yelping sound when he bites - this is what rabbits do and will tell him that you don't appreciate the nip. Another thing (which I found worked very well when my boy was young) is to just say no, then get up and walk away. He probably wants to play with you and be with you very much, so getting up and going out of his reach may help him realize that digging and nipping = losing a playmate. He might also grow out of it on his own, especially when he's neutered.

I wouldn't ever ever let him out with your female - bunnies can make in mere seconds and she could be pregnant before you could stop them. They can even mate through cage bars! Definitely keep them 100% separate until they are spayed and neutered, then you can bond them together and they can live as a happy bunny couple. Since they're both unfixed (I'm assuming) I don't think he's being territorial - I think he's trying to mate!