Aggressive bun. long post, but any advice would be great

[Shaina & Lucy]

I feel like a broken record on this forum but i am at my wits end. I have been on here for the last three years with my gorgeous mini lop female named lucy. I am not a NEW bunny owner however i have only had one other besides Lucy. He was a male named bunbun and he was the love of my life. unfortunately we could not keep him due to space issues in my house at the time he simply didn’t have enough room so we gave him a new loving home where he lived very happy. recently (three years ago) i decided with the new space (giant room for running and playing) i would venture to get a new bun! i love the bond one has with them and i was very excited. I didn’t have gender or anything in mind i just went and whichever one pulled at my heart the most i was going to make mine. Lucy came home and for the first three months she was the sweetest. She loved being held and pet and loved on. As most of us know as females reach mature age they can start to act out. at least this is what i have heard time and time again. females are moody. I had no idea moody meant tearing apart my home one wall and carpet corner at a time. Besides eating countless patches of dry wall (even when we have thought we “bunny proofed”) to changing her behavior towards objects completely she is now aggressive to the point where i can not change her food bowl. She recently attacked my nephew (who was no where near her) to the point we thought he might need stitches. I have heard rabbits are passive, they run rather than fight… well she fights. I have never saw and heard a rabbit growl and attack to the point of being outside her cage running from inside her box and trying to get whatever she can through the cage gates. 

I feel at this point i need to put a disclaimer for a few things. 

– I spend every single second i can with her. I do my hw in or now outside her cage, i pet her i hand feed her and i change up her toys to keep her busy. I created bunny houses out of cardboard boxes and i feed her fruit,veggies,hay and pellets. She has hiding places and places to climb. 

-she is not fixed. I have yet to find a place with out the quote of 300+ dollars and i can not afford that without help. plus with her being 3 years old i am unsure if anyone will put her under. I am willing to borrow money to make this happen but i have heard from previous owners that once they reach maturity their personality doesn’t change with being fixed.

-We have had changes to her surroundings. She has a new cage (same size and in the same spot as the old one was) and also my sister came back with her 5 kids (which was the reason i couldn’t keep my bun before) she would let her kids in the cage when i told her no and who knows what they did to her or her things. Honestly i wouldn’t be surprised if they roughly handled her when no one was watching. 

I am just so torn. I don’t know if something flipped when my sisters kids were there or if she is just turning more aggressive by the day. she sticks her nose so far out of her play pen i fear her attempt to attack us from outside the cage will harm her but i don’t want to give her up. At what point do i call it quits? will fixing her work? should i borrow money to get her fixed if it means her temper will calm down? Do i give her old cage back to her to see if her new cage is the issue or do i just accept my rabbit the way she is and accept the fact that i might never have a bunny with the ability to get out of her play pen or become free ranged? She was so sweet at first. everyday i find her regressing. She refuses to use her litter box, she digs all of her way out of the bowl and doesn’t eat it just takes it out of her pen. i have tried everything i can think of to combat the aggression and the behavior issues and i don’t know what else i can do. has anyone dealt with a very aggressive rabbit? if so how did you deal with it? and at what point do i either accept her as she is or try and correct the behavior? Did i screw up as a bunny owner? i don’t know. i cry just thinking about how unhappy this rabbit is at times. to think she thinks she has to attack us outside her play pen is heart breaking. any advice would greatly help. sorry for the long post. 

thanks. 

[sarahthegemini]

First and foremost, get her spayed. It may help some of her behavioural issues calm down but primarily she should be spayed for health reasons. That is SO important. 

Secondly, it sounds like you are devoting a lot of time and energy and trying to give her everything she could need. So we know you’re not the problem lol! The 5 kids however, gosh that’s quite an adjustment! If they are reaching into her cage whilst she’s in there, that needs to stop. Immediately. It’s unfair for her to have to put up with grabby hands when she should feel safe in her home base.  

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