Question about biting rabbit

[Cavylover17]

Hello, My question is....well my boyfriend's mom bought a mini rex rabbit from the county fair this past season, which was on June 22 or so,,,,and she handles it daily or nearly daily and tends to its needs by feeding it fresh greens and pellets and hay and of course water....the problem is, it has been docile and nice this whole time until, recently as in a few days ago...he started acting a bit off...he tried nipping at my boyfriend's pant leg which to me isn't a huge deal but, chased him around and kept trying to come at him....until i had to come out and catch the bunny and place him back in his cage...(he ran into the house thru the front door as the boyfriend was trying to get back in the house from the porch (they let the rabbits run free on a enclosed porch and in the front room some)...he has been nice and has not bitten at all, until this past week he did the porch thing and a day ago he ran up to the bf's mom and bit her leg and drew blood and specifically went after her and ran up to her and bit her hard and she bled, they have a holland lop they got a bit before him who is a few feet away from his cage but the two have never been loose together and both are not fixed....that i know...not the male for sure...which is the mini rex....anyone know why he's randomly aggressive now? he runs around some if u walk by like a bit skittish but, has been handled....thanks

 

[mtnchicks]

Definitely hormones! We've always had rabbits, let them run both inside and outdoors almost daily, and some unneutered males have "attacked" and bitten, especially when females are around. Some do it, some don't. And sometimes it's the nicest, sweetest ones that chase you! I remember everyone laughing at me when I told them about it, but then when it happened to one of them, they described it as a deadly encounter.
If you run or back down, they will just keep coming. I think the best thing to do is grab them when they come at you (sometimes hard to do), and hold them if possible, then put them back in their cage. This almost always works for us. Getting scooped up off the ground breaks off the "attack" and mine have usually snapped out of it, momentarily anyway. The only real answer is neutering.

 

[tiffanyh]

Neuter him!! HE is acting like a male unneutered rabbit! An excited one at that!

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Yes I agree, he needs to be fixed! We had a Flemish Giant male and he got very mean, my 100lb German Shepard was even scared of him!

Male rabbits can get very nasty and besides the nasty bites they'll start spraying all over your house. Definitely worth having them neutered.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

My last rabbit was a male. He fell in love with my cat, ran circles around her in my living room and started spraying. Neutering took care of it.

 

[chickbea]

Neutering should certainly help. Do you know his age?
Just to be on the safe side, check for other obvious problems. Sudden changes in temperament can also indicate illness or pain (especially tooth pain).
If you haven't already, check out the House Rabbit Society at www.rabbit.org. They have great bunny info.

 

[Cavylover17]

Hey everyone thanks for your responses....wow it seems everyone agrees he should be neutered....They got him from the fair mid june (on the twenty second) so its been a month or so now....He may be under a year old....few months.....his cage was a few feet from the floppy girl's so that explains why...today they moved his cage inside off the porch and his mom tried sticking her hand in the cage and he didnt bite this time and seems ok so, maybe that helped 'distract' him for the time being...I hope they get him neutered..they don't really seem to like to spend money on pets aside from food.