Recent Aggression

[Kiahak]

Hello!

My rabbit recently became 4 1/2 months old. I’ve noticed behavior changes, but i’m not sure if they are related to her not being spayed, since she seems a little young to consider spaying. Lately, my girlfriend and I have been working new jobs and not had a lot of time to spend with the rabbit. We have a large cage for her, but she only gets running time outside her cage once or twice a week, instead of every other day like she did when we got her at 3 months of age. She’s been pulling on her cage door much more frequently, especially at night when we are trying to sleep and early morning. Her cage opens from the top, and once time my girlfriend was cleaning her cage when the rabbit jumped out from the top (now that she’s bigger and can do that). Once my girlfriend grabbed her to put her back, she turned around and bit her! Later on, I was cleaning the cage and was pushing her off her platform so that she wouldn’t get on it and jump out of the cage from the top again, then she bit me! Both bites were not enough to leave a mark and were more warning bites, but i’m worried that it’s a bad habit that she may soon develop. Later today, I picked up the rabbit (which she usually tolerates) and joked about how i’m glad she hasn’t tried to bite us when we picked her up, and sure again she bit me right after that statement, a little harder. I understand that rabbits don’t like to be picked up, but this was unusual behavior for her and we’ve been trying to train her to tolerate the holding like she has been. Usually, when I discipline her for doing something bad we squirt her with a water bottle. Lately, she’s been pretty tolerant of it. One scenario we caught her chewing on a waxy box that she found and sprayed her, but she ignored the spraying and just kept chewing the box. She hasn’t been as receptive to the spraying of water and seems to ignore it. 

Her litter box has had an odd odor to it. I haven’t noticed anything different, and I chalked it up to changing the brand of alfalfa hay she has been getting and also adding in timothy hay. Before her litter box didn’t really have an odor, and it could just be her cage in general. After I had cleaned the cage, she went about putting droppings everywhere in it. 

So, some of these things I don’t know if it’s because we haven’t had the opportunity to let her out much, or if its time to look at spaying. Any help would be great! (Also possible tips to help discipline bad bunny behavior, since the water bottle trick is losing its effectiveness and she’s wanting to chew on more things lately!). 

[jerseygirl]

I would most definitely attribute this to rabbit “puberty”. Her age is about right, She appears a smaller breed also and they sexually mature earlier then the larger breeds. Experienced vets will do a spay at 4 months old, that’s not unheard of. More commonly it is done at 6 months old.

The smell is likely a combination of her urine (now that hormones are present) and fecal droppings. It sounds as if she is doing some territorial marking with those and they do have an odour to them. They coat it in a secretion that smells.You’ll notice they look slightly shiny – but not as shiny as cecals.

You tend to see a lot of attitude and vying for dominance when a rabbit reaches puberty. They may not want to come out of their hiding spots, growl and pounce at you if you intrude, and yes, bite. They can become “cage aggressive” where they’re not really tolerant of anyone messing with their area and will go for anyones hands coming into there. They basically become a grumpy teenager and it sounds like your girl is using biting as her defence.

Both bites were not enough to leave a mark and were more warning bites, but i’m worried that it’s a bad habit that she may soon develop.

That is quite possible, so when she does bite, it’s important not to give her what she wants straight away but also, not to aggravate them further. For example, if she nips when you hold her as a way to be put down, do not do that right after. Otherwise she will learn biting gives her the result she is seeking.

If my rabbits nip, I usually just give a verbal reprimand and stand my ground. Sometimes I quickly push the head down. Sometimes you can let out a squeak like another rabbit would do.

Mostly, you just have to avoid putting yourselves in situation where she is likely to bite – as much as possible. ie. If you need to clean her cage, do it when she is out and about.

One of the triggers for my single rabbit is the scent of my other pairs. So when I walk in the room after I’ve been in theirs, he attacks my feet. Most of the time I put slippers on to avoid that happening. For the times I forget, i have to stand very still and I prompt him to go to his box so I’m able to step away. Lol. If he nips, we have a little stand-off.  I give a reprimand and sometimes will tap his butt so he hops away.

It sounds like she’s getting a bit of the cage. If you cannot let her out as often, consider investing in an exercise pen you can attach to her cage. Then you can leave cage door open so she can come and go at her leisure.

[FuzzBun]

My mini rex is 5 months old,…and recently went through the same thing…although the last 4-5 days she seems to have simmered down alot. Not smelling as much and has gone back to keeping her cage a little more tidy. lol (when she was wired with hormones she was a little crazy with the housekeeping :p) 

It didn’t last too long…about 2 weeks of her being nutty. I’m suspecting I will be in for a few hormone rages…but there does seem to be little breaks inbetween.

I am nowhere near a vet that can do spaying on rabbits. And I’m not sure I want to drive her 4 hours to a bigger centre. Just seems excessive plus trip back with her just out of surgery seems rough. So I’m thinking I may not be able to ever get her spayed :/ But I’ve been told that evenually even without spaying the hormones generally settle down after awhile

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