Posted By Linette on 6/28/2014 9:58 AM
A couple thoughts.
Where was he biting you? Was it just all over, or primarily the backs of your legs and ankles. When a buck gets sexually aroused and interested they will bit the females shoulder and hump and sometimes growl,.
I have had un neutered male rabbits go at me as if I was a doe and try to latch onto my leg, and bite the heck HARD out of my ankles as they tried to mount me. They were dead serious and would not give up without a fight. With a large rabbit like a Flemish, that could be VERY serious business.
He could also have decided that area is HIS, and is challenging you for it. I have a male bun who has two favorite places, laying under my art table, and under the small dining table, but he likes to snuggle also and likes to make himself available for the possible foot pet!
If he challenged me at all, I hiss and slap my foot on the ground or my slipper. But he is very mild tempered and a few slipper slaps on the rug near his face pretty much ended the who’s area issue.
One thing that is safe and works with some rabbits is to get a can and put a few rocks or metal nuts into it, and when bun goes where you don’t want him to, or chews on something etc, shake the can loudly and vigorously.
If you think he’s decided that area is HIS…put something there so he can’t get in there when you are not at the desk, and keep the shake can handy for when you are so you can startle him away.
If you determine that it’s horny bunny behavior, the neutering should do the trick.
My ex used to laugh at me when my horny boy would chase me and bite my ankles, then one day he put on a pair of sweatpants I had been wearing (they were HIS pants, but I sometimes borrowed them) and sure enough, they smelled “female” and the bunny went after him with a vengance! Who’s laughing now!
He bit me in a very specific area on the front of my shin. Nowhere else, just one particular spot on the shin. And the way he moved it was more of an aggressive charge, almost an attack. O.o I think it was more of a challenge that he decided where my feet went were in he deemed was now HIS area, and that my feet didn’t belong there any longer. It has not happened since, because he is now kept away from that spot between using the can full of pennies and blockading the area, so I’m not thinking it is a hormonal/mating thing. Thank god he has yet to decide he was gonna hump me. I think it was more possessive.
I put some pennies in a soda can, and use that now. He does NOT like it at all and flees. Funny thing is, if my boyfriend catches him going there and shakes the can at him he turns and runs to me to protect him from the scary sound. If I do it he runs to the boyfriend for protection. Lol. It’s quite cute actually.
But he is ballsy. The thumping doesn’t work at all. He just ignores it, no matter when you do it. He doesn’t care. Clapping doesn’t work. The only sound that grabs his attention so far has been the can. He is very inquisitive, and very friendly, but if he decides he wants something or to go somewhere he is very stubborn and isn’t deterred.