Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BEHAVIOR Issues with male rabbit aggression

Viewing 3 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • francescakate
      Participant
      2 posts Send Private Message

        Hi everyone.

        I hope this is okay to post here, I’m new to this place and I’m not 100% on how this all works. I’ve had rabbits all my life, but I’ve never had a pair of rabbits (my mum wasn’t educated and this was back when I was a kid and didn’t know better myself). My rabbits have always been super loving and we’ve never had any problems like this.

        In July this year, me and my partner got two baby Netherland dwarf rabbits (both male). I had a male Netherland when I was a kid and he was the sweetest rabbit I’ve ever come across. They were very friendly and confident as soon as we brought them home, they’d always come running up to us for attention and were very sweet in general.

        As they started to get a bit older, probably after 2 months, they started humping and showing general hormonal behaviour. They had been very close up until this point, always cleaning each other and snuggling, but obviously this caused some tension between them so we took them to get neutered.

        This was in September and they haven’t been the same since and I just don’t know what to do.

        One of the rabbits, Lupin, is still very sweet and will come running up to us but doesn’t seem fond of being touched at all. He’ll move away from you but won’t show any signs of aggression, he just gets very uncomfortable. We can’t pick him up either but I’ve been okay with that because I’ve never felt the need to pick them up (I’m starting to realise they need to be comfortable being held for future vet visits, I’m trying to work on him getting more comfortable around us first).

        The second rabbit, Ursa, is the one that is causing me a lot of concern. He was always the quieter one but now he is just very aggressive with everyone. They are both very close but if he thinks Lupin has food, he’ll crouch down and sniff his mouth to see if he has anything and then he’ll chase him (they don’t bite each other, they just chase.) But then two minutes later they’ll be cuddling again.

        He’s also started biting us and lunging for us. If I reach into their run to remove something, he’ll lunge straight at us and has actually bitten my boyfriend so hard that he’s bled – he’s done the same with me. If we’re wanting to take anything out of the cage, or put anything in, we have to wear thick gloves in case he tries to bite. Earlier tonight, I walked past the cage and went to take off the water bottle and he lunged at me through the bars.

        The aggression mainly seems to be focussed in the cage which leads me to think it’s territorial but I just don’t know how to handle it. There’s only been one instance where he’s bitten me outside of the cage/run and that’s when I was laid on the floor and he was sniffing my face and I kissed him (I’d done it several times and he’d been okay but this time he lunged for me).

        We have, what I hope, is a nice set up for them. In the summer they have a huge outdoor cage with a large run attached which they have free roam of all day. We make sure to bring them inside for an hour or so every day in the summer. At the moment because it’s cold outside, we have them in an indoor cage with a run attached and also let them run around in our kitchen for at least an hour a night and we sit on the floor with them during that time.

        My question is, is this aggression due to territorial behaviour? He started it as soon as we had him neutered so I’m also worried that maybe he was traumatised from the vet visit. I thought at first it could be a hormone spike but it has been three months and if anything it is getting worse.

        We’re going home to my parents for Christmas tomorrow but when we come back home, I’d really like to have some ideas of how I can prevent this behaviour and make him comfortable around us again.

        What we’re doing at the moment is bringing them both into a neutral room, the kitchen, and letting them run around for an hour or so with us sat on the floor. If they come up to us, we’ll pet them but we won’t lift them or pick them up (we transport them in a carrier that they willingly go into). We don’t introduce any food or treats into this time because it makes Ursa aggressive.

        There hasn’t been any positive changes though, like I said above, it seems to be getting worse. Sorry for the essay, I’m just becoming really desperate! Does anyone have any ideas?


      • Mikey
        Participant
        3186 posts Send Private Message

          How long have they both been neutered? Did anything go wrong in the neuter? How long did it take for them to bounce back after the neuters? What have you done to bond with them? Have you changed anything in your home since their neuter/since youve noticed the aggression?

          My nethie is aggressive towards people, but not other bunnies. He is so submissive and loving towards other bunnies, but he has caused a lot of people to bleed. It took over a year (almost a year and a half) for my nethie to bond with me. He bonded quicker to my boyfriend, but I say that loosely. It took a lot of trust building from us both to calm our nethie down and learn to trust us. He still goes after strangers though, and people who have dogs.


        • francescakate
          Participant
          2 posts Send Private Message

            Hi, thank you for responding. They’ve been neutered now for 3 months and nothing went wrong with the neuter, they came home and recovered quickly other than a few hours of being sluggish. The vet said that one of them panicked a bit before the surgery but this was Lupin, the none ‘aggressive’ one.

            I feel awful because they were littermates so we never really did much to bond them… I’m not sure if you’re supposed to with littermates? We got them from a good breeder (believe it or not there weren’t any rescues near us within travelling distance which was quite upsetting). We ended up taking the pair that seemed the most cuddly with each other and we never had any problems with them when we brought them home but we still made sure to give them plenty of time in a neutral room roaming around – there weren’t any fights.

            The only issues we had with them was pre-neuter and that was humping, but they’ve been fine since the neuter except for the occassional argument over food but that isn’t ever more than chasing. Does it sound like they’re not bonded?

            The only thing we’ve changed is that we brought them to their inside cage for winter but that was done gradually and we didn’t seem to have any issues. Ursa was the same level of aggressive and protective in his outside cage, but the only difference is now we have to reach in from the top to get his food bowl whereas before we could open the cage from the front. I’m wondering if it’s a mix between being territorial and also me coming from above like a predator (I try to move as slowly as possible and only put my hand in for positive things).


          • Mikey
            Participant
            3186 posts Send Private Message

              Yep, you always have to bond. Rabbits dont see/understand family relations. They dont see mom, dad, brother, or sister, they only see stranger/new friend/someone to fight/someone to breed with. Theyre not bonded because theyve never been bonded. Baby rabbits get along with almost anyone. Hormones change that. They were humping and arguing out of hormonal instinct to breed or fight.

              Also that outside rabbits should stay outside and inside rabbits should stay inside. Changing their living space for the seasons can cause a bond to break. It also causes a lot of stress, even if the bunnies seem used to the areas. Youll have to decide if they are permanently inside (best option) or permanently outside. Then of course make preparations for that. If you choose to keep them outside, you need to properly modify their hutch to withstand all temperatures and weather through all seasons.

          Viewing 3 reply threads
          • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

          Forum BEHAVIOR Issues with male rabbit aggression