What do you do?

[Bunny Lover]

what do you guys and girls do if your rabit bites you?

 

[TinysMom]

I've moved this to the Rabbits Only forum from the bunny blog area so you can get more responses.

I tell them "NO" in a sharp tone and I lightly press down on their headso they are in a submissive pose. Notice I said LIGHTLY press down. Ithen rub them behind the ears and say "good bunny" if they don't fightme and love on them a bit.

I'll let others share what they do.

Peg

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Mine don't bite thank goodness. BunBunused to bite. You can make a real high pitched eeeeesound. That should let them know not to. I readthat on HRS I believe. Do yours bite alot?

 

[bunnydude]

Amber was somewhat of a biter before her spay, and the high pitched sqeal seemed to work very well.

 

[MyBoyHarper]

Harper bites once every blue moon, it'sextremely rare. However, when he does do it, I give him a light (verylight!) tap on the nose and say "NO" in a stern voice. Seems to do thetrick.

 

[Nessa1487]

Skippy tends to bite sometimes..if you dosomething he doesnt want you to. I also tap him light on the nose andsay NO. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...most of the time,Isay no and pull him away...that or I lecture him..(he HATES beinglectured.)

 

[Hollie]

I've never been bitten hard by my current girls(just the occasional 'I've had enough' nip), but what I used to dobefore was, like most people, tap lightly on the nose and say 'No'sharply. And if it happened while holding them, I wouldn'tput them down - after all, that would just teach them that they canbite if they want to get down!

I've also heard of people blowingon their bunny's face if they bite;it's painless and they don't like it, but I've never really tried itmyself.

 

[naturestee]

I tell them "No" and I don't make any suddenmovements. Do not jerk your hand back unless the rabbit isgoing to cause serious damage- it only teaches them that biting getsthem what they want. Instead, slowly withdraw your hand.

Then you need to figure out why the bun is biting. Doing somethings with some rabbits is bound to get you nipped. Did youput your hand in the cage of a territorial rabbit, or are you pickingyour rabbit up while he's in his cage? Are you touching thatone favorite toy that your loving bun would defend at allcosts? Do you have anything scented on your hands that mightsmell offensive to a sensitive rabbit? Was your rabbitpreviously abused/neglected? Are they scared about something?

Also, was it an intentional bite, or a love nip or nip whilegrooming? Rabbits don't always realize that they're hurtingus with love nips. Usually a high pitched "Ouch!" lets themknow that they caused us pain, and they learn to be more gentle.

Spay/neuter often helps as it decreases territoriality and hormone-related aggression.

There's lots of info in the Bunny 101 Aggression thread too:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12319&forum_id=17

 

[Bunny Lover]

Snuffles, yes mine does bite quite alot and thanks you guys!!

Celine:bunnydance:

 

[Bunny Lover]

no i dont have anything on my hands when i holdit. but it lived on a farm with my aunt and she was very nice tothumper (my rabbit) so i dont know why it bites me and i do tap it onthe nose (lightly) and say no firmly and she still bites me

Celine:bunnydance:

 

[Maureen Las]

None of mine are biters but a few are gruntersand attach with their front feet. The bad biters that I haveencountered at the shelter were usually unaltered adolescent rabbitsthat had not been handled alot. I know someone who sprays with a watersquirt bottle but that seems sort of wrong to me...that same persontrains her rabbits to not chew furniture or cords by spraying withwater. Is that cruel? She actually says that it works but I would neverdo it.

 

[JimD]

angieluv wrote:

I know someone who sprays with a water squirt bottle butthat seems sort of wrong to me...that same person trains her rabbits tonot chew furniture or cords by spraying with water. Is that cruel? Sheactually says that it works but I would never do it.

We used a spray bottle to deter our cats from doing things they shouldn't.
Used in moderation it's actually quite effective, and doesn't hurt them at all.

The trick is to keep it in a condition where they associate gettingsprayed... with the bad thing they're doing......and not make theconnection that it's YOU squirting them.
So you can't spray them in the face while they're looking at you or they figure it out durn quick.

However, I don't think it would be effective for a bunnie that bites,but it works good if they're chewing the carpet across the room.

~Jim

 

[JimD]

TinysMom wrote:

I tell them "NO" in a sharp tone and I lightly press down ontheir head so they are in a submissive pose. Notice I said LIGHTLYpress down. I then rub them behind the ears and say "good bunny" ifthey don't fight me and love on them a bit.

I'll let others share what they do.

Peg

Our first bun, Benji,turned into a biter after we had him fora couple of months. I suspected it was due to hormones, sowegot him neutered.He continued to charge & nip anytimeI would put my hand in his cage or touch any of his stuff. The firsttime he drew blood, I knew I had a problem.

After Benji and I had a rather serious encounter, Buck Jones was the first to respond to my plea for help....

Buck Jones wrote:

Welcome to the club! Been there, done that!Some times the reaction is so automatic, you don't even have time tothink about it. The Missus has taken a fly swatterto one of our recalcitrant buns on occasion, who responds by trying to"make nice," after she's been swatted. I know rabbits are notsupposed to "understand" punishment, but how did they learn no-nos fromMom, or the rest of the litter?

We have a bun who used to be a biter of me, at least , and drew bloodintentionally on more than one occasion. After trying manythings to end the behavior, the only thing that has worked, with him,has been to grab him behind the neck and press him to the floor,meanwhile telling him I am the "Boss Rabbit," the "Alpha Rabbit," andthat he must submit.

It sometimes broke my heart to see him struggle to break free, but Iwould only release him after he held still, suggestingsubmission. Then, I would release, pet and praisehim. Some people warned me that he could permanently injurehimself while struggling, and I suspect they are correct, but you knowwhat, I don't want to have to deal with a biter! Manybreeders will eliminate biters from their herds, rather than riskinjury to themselves or others at some later date.

In the beginning, I had to employ this tactic fairly regularly, but indiminishing frequencies as time went on. Can't remember thelast time I had to do it. Either the bun has mellowed on itsown, or it did learn the lesson. I suspect it is the latter.

You just got Benji's attention for a while, and it is obvious he holdsno grudges. Don't flail yourself over it.Obviously, the bunny isn't interested in flailing you, either.

Buck

Benji's issues weren't quite as extreme.
I was determined to get him to stop biting me though, so I wasfirm...but gentle and careful not to hurt him in any way. After a fewtimes of impressing on him that I was the "Big Kahuna", Benji stoppedbiting.
He would still grunt, oink,and charge (still does to thisday), and each time he did I would repeat the alpharesponse.Eventually he stopped biting me altogether, and if Iplace my hand behind his ears he becomes a puddle of a bun.

~Jim

 

[bluebird]

i think most people assume a rabbit is bitingout of aggression or meaness.most rabbits i had that have bitten werefear biters.they were roughly handled or not handled at all.the bitingwas ignored when the rabbit bit. i put them back in the cage.all ofthem stopped biting on there own when handled properly.I knew a ladythat used too smack her rabbits on the nose when they bit and most ofher rabbits were biters,i wonder why.rabbits are prey not predators.thethinking used for dogs does not apply.bluebird

 

[naturestee]

:yeahthat

Physical punishment like tapping a rabbit on the nose only makes themmore afraid and more likely to defend themselves. My worstoffender for nipping is one that was literally shoved around her cageby her last owner. I've never blamed her. All of myrabbits have at least nipped at some point, but they learn with gentlehandling and firmness.

 

[Bunny Lover]

thanks you guys!! now i will try each and everthing you said.

but i am a little scared of grabbing him around the neck and press herto the floor, that will be mean and then she really won't like me!! (not that she doesn't like me, she loves me and i love her back!!!)

Celine:bunnydance:

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Yeah, I don't think I'd do that either (grabbingneck and holding down), like Naturestee said, that makes themafraid. I think that would justmake your situationworse. When I have done the high pitched "eee" in the past w/BunBun, he really seemed torespond when I made that noise.

 

[naturestee]

That's the thing, you don't grab them around theneck. You just put your hand on their neck and push downgently. You shouldn't use much more pressure than you usewhen you're petting him. Rabbits place their chins over eachother's necks as a sign of dominance, but they don't hold each otherdown like that. That sign of dominance is what you are tryingto imitate.

But I really don't recommend doing that unless he is biting due toaggression. You really do need to figure out why he'sbiting. If he's biting due to fear or because he feels thathe needs to protect himself and his stuff, making yourself look evenmore dominant will not help. It will just scare him more andconfirm his belief that he needs to defend himself.

Why don't you describe what is happening when he bites you? What are you doing, what is he doing, and where are you?

Also, have you read up on bunny body language? Their bodylanguage is much different than a cat's or dog's and it's easy for anew owner to misinterpret them. This is a really good site:
http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk.html

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

It's been a long time since any of mine bit mebut honestly, almostnothing I did worked. They eventuallygrew out of it on their own though.

I tried the "NO" and pushing there heads down but they seemed to thinkI was rewarding them for bad behaviour and did it moreoften. Needless to say, I stopped doing that one.

I tried spraying them with watereverytime they bit me butliving in Canada and them being outside limits the time of year I cando that. Not to mention spraying them just made them angrier and theyended up biting me harder.

I got to the point that I just wore gloves with them at all times so itdidn't hurt and I wouldn't pull back. This only worked with one rabbit,the other 2 just grew out of the biting thing with age.

 

[ec]

I think my bun was mishandled prior to beingdumped at the SPCA, and believe that she started her hardnipping/biting as a fear reaction. Even though she seemed to trust me(when I first got her), she was a combination of fearless and fearful.I don't blame her, either - whatever happened to make her react withvery hard nips wasn't her fault.

On the whole, she's got an incredibly sweet dispostion, and working togain her trust is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.