Tulla Bit Me!

[binkies]

She has been very aggressive lately for reasonsunknown to me. Lunging and thumping and growling at me. Well tonight Iwas opening her cage to put in veggies and she bit me! Faster than Icould have seen her do it!

I am seriously contemplating returning her to the rescue. Idont know if I should or not, but instead of her warming up to me, sheis just getting worse. This is also her 6th home. I am wondering ifthis is why.

 

[aeposten]

Has she been spayed?

-Amy

 

[binkies]

Yes. I contacted the rescue earlier in the week about the aggression and she said:



That is really odd for Tulla. Ifshe wasn't spayed, I would say that it is time to spay her, but we tookher to get her spayed ourselves so i know she was

She might also be getting jealous of thebaby bunny. She never really liked her from teh begining andnow that baby is probably reaching maturity. So if you havepet the baby first and then Tulla, you smell like the baby and shecould lash out at you thinking you are the baby.

It is just so weird. Tulla gotalong with every bunny here. But maybe she knew we weretemporary. She knows you are forever and doesn't want toshare. There are many different things that coul be going onin her mind

 

[Kathy]

Ouch.

I didn't know they were capable of doing that.

 

[Bunman]

Binkies, i would hope you would give her time& lots of TLC - even wear sturdy leather gloves if needed (rubthem over your hands first so they have your scent).

It would be sad if she had to go to yet another place. She may have hadsome tough experiences in the past but may recover with enough love& patience.

I agree that presence/smell of the baby may be part of the problem, soyou would need to keep them "quarantined" at least until the big girlis happier.

 

[jordiwes]

Check out the resource centre article on aggression:

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12319&forum_id=17

There are quite a few things you can try before giving up. See ILTC's thread on bonding with Tank:

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=14424&forum_id=1

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Poor Binkies! BunBun used to bite whenI had him. Do you ever let her out? Maybe you couldlet her out for a run and while she's out, you could put her food inthe cage. Maybe she's saying "This is my space!"Good Luck! onder:

 

[Bunman]

Hm, thought i had this reference on rab aggression posted but maybe another forum?

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#aggbun


Aggrobuns!

 

[JadeIcing]

Sam was like that. Took months to get her to trust us.

 

[binkies]

Tulla and Ivory are free most of the time. I don't trust them enough to leave them out while we are gone.

 

[JimD]

Aggression can be caused by different things.

I have 2 buns that are known for being very territorial about their cages.
Fear is a primer for aggression as well.
Even smells can trigger agression. I have one bun that hates the smell of Purell and/or baby oil.

All of the above have resulted in charging, grunting....and serious biting.

`jim