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Forum BEHAVIOR Dwarf bunny is biting ONLY my son

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    • CaraLee
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        I really need some advice. We have a dwarf bunny named Stew. My son was giving him as a Santa gift last Christmas. Of course i take responsibility of his care and supervise all interaction.  I am a new bunny owner, tho I have grown up with all types of animals. My family and I are all he animal lovers.

        Anyways, we got Stew from a pet store… as soon as I looked at him I knew we had to have him. He was running back and forth in front of his cage… would get all blissful looking when he got his head scratched, and started licking my hand before I even paid haa hah .

        My son is very gentle with him, calm… and Stew is very insensitive to louder sounds and fast movements… that rabbit seems to have no fear!

        Now my issue, Trehton (my son) has been saying Stew bites him. Now Stew has bit me, usually when I piss him off by picking him up or rubbing under his chin on left side instead of right lol. But all he does is touch you with his top teeth… 0 pain. Kind of like if I simply touched you with my finger nail. Yes, my son cries which is unusual. First time Treh stuck his finger thro the bars to scratch Stews head and Stew attempted to pull Trehs finger in lol… so that I understood. SENCOND time I seriously though Treh was being a bit of a whiner. Third time Treh just made a face and said oww. Now today again Stew bit him. My husband saw this one. Stew was on hobbies lap and Treh was leaning over petting him talking to his dad. At some point Stew bit Treh on the top of his arm. Left an instant bruise and welt.

        Im not sure what to do. Treh is always very gentle with Stew, lays on the floor while Stew climbs all over him. They play tug a war and Treh feeds Stew his pellets 3 times a day, I rarely even have to remind him. But I don’t want the poor child getting beat up by his rabbit for his efforts lol… any suggestions??

        Ohhh Stew is 1 year the pet store said? We neutered him a week after we got him cause the lil bugger wouldn’t stop mounting my arm. He is a Dwarf bunny..


      • bmt87
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          So I posted this yesterday who had a similar issue with biting:

          “Lola does this. She is VERY friendly but if you are in her way or not paying attention to you she’ll give you a “nose bump” a few times that is her sign to “hey human! pay attention to me!” and then she’ll give up after a few minutes and nip. The worst is when you are sitting on the floor leaning up against the couch and she has a WHOLE ENTIRE living room to go around you but wants to crawl by the couch and she’ll nip my back to try to get me out of the way – and let me tell you that hurts.

          What we do is scream or shout really loud to startle her. It has really curbed the nipping a lot. We think she is a little hard of hearing so we have to shout really loud. I can’t even remember the last time she nipped me but I know she still gets my boyfriend from time to time because he doesn’t discipline her as much so I think the key is really being straight-forward with your rabbit and not to give up. ”

          I would also suggest sitting down with your son and really talking to him about the bunny (not sure if you have or how old your son is and I don’t want to you think I am trying to “parent” – this is all just a suggestion! ) Sometimes kids don’t understand that bunnies just don’t want to be picked up and there are certain areas that they absolutely do not like to be touched – my Lola LOVES her chin rubbed but will only let me do it, no one else – similar to what you said about the left and right of your bun’s chin. Also, maybe just start with your child laying on the ground with the bunny. You said he got bit on the shoulder so I am assuming he was either holding him or on the back of the couch….

          AND – if he just got neutered it takes a little while for the hormones to die down so this *should* get better with some time and patience . Neutering him is the best possible thing you could have done for him but it does take some time for him to fully stabalize.

          I’ve worked with a lot of animals in the past and this is my first rabbit and I am amazed at just how much of a personality they have – they know what they like and don’t like. It takes a lot of 1-on-1 time and figuring it out.

          Good luck! Don’t give up on the little guy (your son AND the bun) ! Hope this helps a little!


        • CaraLee
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            Yes that helps a lot!! We are pretty strict parents and are strong believers in being good pet owners. Our son knows he is not allowed to pick up the bunny EVER. Stew is very difficult to pick up, he hates it… even i am hesitant to do it. Treh will lay on the ground and Stew will climb all over him,. I also noticed that if Stew gets startled he will run to Treh, so im thinking Stew isnt afraid of him.

            I have noticed Stew isnt as lovey with Treh as he is with me and the hubby… no kisses. Yet he kisses hubby and i endlessly. When Trehton was bit this last time he was sittin nest to hubby and stew was in hubbys lap… Treh was leaning over doin something, im not sure. And Stew bit him… but bit him HARD!! Not like he as ever bit Tony or I.

            I have had a talk with Treh… I have asked him to yell when Stew HURTS him… this might be tough because Trehton is naturally a pretty quiet child. But here is hoping!!! Thank you for your quick response!!! =D


          • LBJ10
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              To make it easier for your son, you could explain to him that he needs to pretend he is a rabbit so he can communicate with Stew in bunny language. A high pitched squeal is the sound a rabbit makes if they are in pain. If your son lets out a bunny squeal when Stew bites, it should tell Stew that he needs to be more gentle. From what I have read, I am guessing that Stew has taken possession of you and your husband. You said he grooms you and that he bit your son while sitting in your husband’s lap. Perhaps your son could have a special treat that only he gives to Stew. That might help Stew accept him more. Is there anything Stew really likes? Mine rabbits love banana. We get them the dehydrated Oxbow kind.


            • bmt87
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                I just thought of this too because I don’t want your son’s feelings to get hurt if he is starting to think the bunny is biting him because he doesn’t like him. You could explain to your son that some animals don’t communicate with their friends by talking but by their actions – we used this example a lot when I worked with dolphins. People would ask why the dolphins were biting each other and didn’t like each other and that’s not it – it’s because dolphins rake their teeth on each other as a form of communication. Likewise, bunnies use their nose wiggles and teeth to communicate. I don’t want your son to get afraid of the bunny or think the bun doesn’t like him so I wanted to tell you! I don’t know what about watching the Superbowl made me think of that!

                The leaning over when he bit might be a thing too with your son not paying attention to the bun at the time. My bun will start nosing me (actually she is right now since I am on the computer) when I avert my attention to something else. So it’s picking up on those little signs that buns are needy little spoiled rotten animals that like to be the center of attention (but we love them so much!). I guess I had never thought how difficult that may be for a child to pick-up on since they don’t bring you a ball like a dog or just lose interest if they’re a cat….

                and LBJ has great advice – a special treat might help! most buns do go nutty over bananas. we can’t even peel one in our apartment without Lola smelling it and being at our feet begging. And it may very well be a possession thing as well – Lola used to be very attached to me before and right after she was spayed and would pee ANYWHERE my boyfriend touched after her hormones kicked in. I’m talking he would sit in his recliner and get up and she would immediately jump up and pee in the spot that he was in….multiple times a night. So maybe if this is the case when your buns hormones die down it will help the situation a lot. I’m willing to bet it will as most buns tend to mellow out after they are fixed.


              • Roberta
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                  Definitely sounds like hormones and it takes over a month for them to settle down. So if he was a Xmas bunny and you had him done a week later things should start to improve during the course of February.
                  Making a loud squeal or yelp when bitten is perfect. It lets them know they caused pain and should help to deter the behavior, that and positive reinforcement with treats is also a great idea.


                • CaraLee
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                    WOW… you guys are AWESOME!!! And it helps to know im on the rigt track! I had a chat with Treh tonight, explaining how Stew cant use his hands to get his attention or words to tell him that Treh did something Stew didnt like… so he uses his teeth. i think Treh gets it… but yah, Treh is becoming hesitant around Stew now. Will pull away if Stew starts smellin at his skin.

                    Only second time hubby really had Stew in his lap. I think the bunny is starting to see the leather loungers as HIS. I put an electric heatin pad on my knee and hell hop up for treats and brushings… (no not spoilt AT ALL) … Hubby was in the lounger Stew in his lap NESTING with hubbys robe. That was when Treh got bit, i dont know the details as we didnt notice till i saw Treh had tears comin down his face holding his shoulder. He didnt say anything till asked why he was crying. when we looked at his shoulder you could see the bite mark.

                    Normally Treh is the one to give Stew his pellets (Stew goes INSANE for his pellets, I had to read forums here cause i thought we were starving him LOL )… Hes very good with giving Stew his pellets and a few mins “of luv he calls it” first thing every morning, but Stew has started to shed LIKE CRAZY!!! HAIR EVERYWHERE!! So ive been giving him treats (pellets) to keep him on my lap to brush. i might have wrecked that =( … Im not sure what his favorites are yet, im going to buy… darm what was it!? The fruit pellets that help with injested hair while molt?? Anyways, good advise… i will start with having Treh give Stew a special fruit treat till we figure out is ultimate FAVORITE! Then ONLY treh will every give that too him!

                    So much help!!! Thank you guys! I love this site


                  • CaraLee
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                      so sorry… double posted last message… bloody noobs eh =)


                    • Beka27
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                        I have a lot of experience with this. My female mini rex was adopted at 4 months old in July 2007. Our son was 4 at the time. She took an instant dislike to him and has bit him several times (severely) over the years. She was spayed at 7 months, and while that calmed her down considerably, it did not change her feeling towards my son. It’s only stopped the past couple years, although she will still lunge at him at times. I think that her getting older and continuing to “mellow out” has helped, as well as him getting older and learning boundaries and how to approach her. The only thing that worked was to greatly minimize their contact and try to teach him to read her language when they were in the same space. There are only a couple areas bunnies like to be pet, and I only allow him to pet her forehead if I am right there. Our son does feed pellets now. We started this 2-3 years back. They are usually so excited for food that no one is interested in biting/lunging.


                      • Hazel
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                          Welcome to the forum!

                          You’ve already gotten great advice from everyone.  A couple of things I thought I’d mention:

                          You said Treh plays tug of war with the bunny. That’s something I wouldn’t recommend you allow him to do. Rabbits don’t play like dogs. They are often VERY possessive of “their” things, so your son pulling on something Stew has in his mouth is only going to anger him and cause him to build resentment towards Treh for trying to “steal” his stuff. If he does feel like Treh wants to take things from him, that might be the reason why he nips sometimes when Treh sticks his fingers into the cage.

                          Also, if he accidentally tugs a tiny bit too hard he could also easily injure Stew’s neck, bunnies are quite fragile. I’d just do away with the tug of war.

                          The other thing I noticed was that you mentioned Treh was bending over Stew when he got bit that one time. He might have startled him by doing that. Rabbits are prey animals, they don’t like anything to pop up above them, as of birds of prey would in the wild. It’s a natural response. They don’t like to be picked up for the same reason, being picked up = getting eaten. Some rabbits can get used to those things, but generally they don’t like them. It’s just in their nature. I would suggest you talk to Treh about how to approach Stew without hovering over him, approaching slowly, from the front or side while being down on the floor with him would be great.

                          I hope Stew and Treh can learn to trust each other before long! We would of course also love to see some pictures of your bunny!

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                      Forum BEHAVIOR Dwarf bunny is biting ONLY my son