My Rabbit just attacked me!

[RiverOtter]

Quote:
Read Konrad Lorenz. There are a great many creatures that we think of as "gentle" that can be downright vicious to each other. Have you seen what 2 strange doves in the same cage will do? Did you know deer in the zoo need to be separated to be fed, they have NO qualms about using those antlers on each other, or their sharp hooves.

Like Bunnylady said, we are trying to breed it OUT. Not all does will do this, so why keep breeding one that does? If you want to just keep her for the rest of her life, no one will criticize. But it would be unethical to sell her to someone else so they can get hurt and how bad would you feel if her or one of her daughters hurt someone worse then that. Because Flemish are a big rabbit and that could have been a lot worse.

I know it's hard. My all time BEST doe turned mean when she was bred. She was an absolutely beautiful show quality doe that I had really high hopes for. But she got really defensive and territorial and all my cages opened at about the height of my daughter's face. So she was gone. She was only a Mini Rex, but those teeth can still do some damage.

I'm not saying cull every doe who growls and scuffles a little when they have a nestbox full of babies. But she doesn't even have babies yet and that was a lot more then a growl. Please be very careful when you handle her from now on.

 

[redhen]

I got my male flemish fixed because i was worried about him turning mean when the hormones kick in...
And i wasnt about to be messing with a pizzed off flemish...

 

[Tinted]

If she is not pregnant I would sell her to an experienced breeder or cull her.

No matter what I cull all aggressive rabbits, temperament IS genetic and I will not sell rabbits with an aggressive background to a potential buyer, most definitely not to a family home. The only place for an aggressive rabbit is in the form of BBQ rabbit. If she is not pregnant, I would cull her out.

 

[Brindlebtch]

I guess Monty Python wasn't joking in the Holy Grail about "that rabbit has a mean streak a MILE wide!"

This is really interesting! I'm learning all sorts of things on this thread.

 

[LV426]

I'd be interested to know how old your rabbit is.


Female rabbits are very territorial and don't like their space invaded. Even if she's not pregnant she can still be hormonal. If she just hit the 3-4 month mark then her hormones are ramped up and she will be more aggressive. There are ways to deal with it. One is that if she lunges and growls at you then you need to back off. She means business as you've found out. If she gets a hold of you again and won't let go, bite or pinch her really hard on her on the ear and she will more than likely let go. You can also thump her nose if she's latched on and it should startle her enough to let go.

There are subduing techniques you can try. Dominant rabbits will lie on top of submissive rabbits across their neck. This effectively pins them down. If she let you pet her before you tried to pick her up then next time pin her down with your hand over her neck and firmly press her down until she's in a submissive posture.

I would advise for now wearing long sleeves and at least thick gardening gloves if you have to deal with her but it's important that you don't let her back you down right now. If she realizes that she's got the upper paw she will keep forcing you out of her territory. Flemmies are way too big to allow them to get the upper paw. You need to be able to deal with her on a regular basis and not be afraid of her.

She may need some time for her hormones to settle down and yes pregnancy could be an issue so I wouldn't cull her right away. However if you got her just as a pet then take her to get spayed asap and she will calm right down in just a few weeks.

 

[SarahFair]

I noticed I probly need to bump up on her feedings as every day when I go out to feed all her feed is gone.
She was fine after a couple hours of feeding. I stuck my hand through the wire and petted her just fine. First I took a rake handle and put it in there to see if she would attack it but she just rubbed on it like she wanted to be scratched so I took it out and she hopped over like normal.


I think it was a mixture of things between hormones, hunger, and my SO said when he mowed the grass yesterday she was freaking out pretty good so maybe she had some memory of it

Ive noticed she lays on her side a lot. Ill look out the back window and think she is dead! Its weird because she looks like a stiff. Ill go run out there but she just gets up like nothings wrong..
It looks to me like the bottom back half of her stomach is a little larger than the front half so she might be preggo..

 

[Catstar68]

Rabbits can be mean little devils. Cute but evil.

 

[Bunnylady]

Quote:
A friend of mine had several young Netherland Dwarfs that didn't sell at Easter time, so she turned them out to free-range with her chickens. There were several little does, and one Ruby-eyed White buck. She said it was kinda fun watching them wandering around in the yard. That all changed when they hit adolescence. One day, she was carrying some hay out to her cow, when something came up the front of her and knocked the hay out of her hands. She looked around, and it was that little white buck. He charged at her again, she turned to run, and he grabbed her heel (she showed me the bite mark) and wouldn't let go. She somehow managed to get him off, scrambled up on a tree stump, and yelled for her husband. He - um - dealt with the rabbit effectively. "That thing was going for my throat!" she said. When she told me that, it was all I could do not to laugh, because I thought of the rabbit in "Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail" too!

 

[patnjess]

Maybe she was hungry I know I try and bite off my kids and husbands head when I'm hungry

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Amen!