HELP NEEDED QUICK PLEASE

As some of you may know I picked up a Lionhead doe for the hutch, and I was going to give my friend the rabbit. Well after friend said yes, friend's mom said no. Okay no big deal, we'll sell her to someone else. Well, she lunged up grunting and tried to bite me yesterday after cuddling with me the day before. I write it off as stress, but today Softfall was humping the cardboard (we have wire dividers with cardboard between) and she was grunting trying to get in his cage. So she really wants to be bred. But the only bucks I have are a 4 month old polish buck who I'm not sure has both testicles down and if she's aggressive would she hurt him? He's our baby and if she hurt him I'd probably lose it. Softfall is a Silver Fox buck with SF babies on the way and he is a bit of an aggressive breeder and could probably handle her, but still, he's my baby.

She likes Softfall but will his babies be to big forher to carry, she's a biggish Lionhead but I haven't weighed her.

Is there away I can stop her beng so aggressve? And she's going to a pet home so if he wants to be bred won't she want to be again? And that wouldn't be a very good pet.

DON'T BREED HER unless you plan to keep her AND have concrete plans for the kits.

It is highly likely she will attack the buck, especially if he doesn't know what to do, he could be traumatized and become fearful of does - i have no personal experience with this but Grumpy said he's had it happen.

Her PMS will pass in a couple days and she'll go back to her loving self. She is likely at the hight of a cycle and so more testy. Please warn any buyers that she can be hormonal and not to take it oersonally, just give her her space at that time of the month.

Dood":2pa7dpwc said:

DON'T BREED HER unless you plan to keep her AND have concrete plans for the kits.

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:yeahthat:

Definitely what others said. I'd go a step farther though, count her as a complete loss and either keep her as a pet or bbq or some thing along those lines. I would not sell her to a pet person and risk some one being attacked. I have zero tolerance for what I consider true aggression, and that is some thing I would count.

Rebel.Rose.Rabbitry":2ynyhq2n said:

Definitely what others said. I'd go a step farther though, count her as a complete loss and either keep her as a pet or bbq or some thing along those lines. I would not sell her to a pet person and risk some one being attacked. I have zero tolerance for what I consider true aggression, and that is some thing I would count.

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A good point. None of my does get aggressive with me when they want bred.
The only one that did lunge at me turned into a bloodthirsty psycho rabbit when her kits came. :evil: I almost needed stitches, and still have a pretty good sized scar.

So breeding to "calm her down" might just accomplish the opposite and make her more aggressive! :duel:

My biter is off to freezer camp this weekend along with all her fryers. :walkplank:
The young ones are are calm and sweet right now, but I do not trust them to remain that way post-puberty.

Breeding aggressive rabbits will mostly just make MORE aggressive rabbits.

Can you move her away from all the male rabbits to a place where she can't smell them- I find my rabbits really calm down hormone wise when there aren't other rabbits around. If the new owner doesn't have any male rabbits - she might calm down once she moves to her new home.

I'd be culling her rather than rehoming her.

Does that get used to acting poorly when their hormones are high are generally too much for pet people to handle.

For those does, the presence or lack thereof of bucks doesn't tend to matter.

What she'd more than likely end up doing in a pet home is circling, peeing, lunging and nipping at her owners to convince them that she really wants to be a momma. They'll see it differently.

NOW.. that said... if you are clear to potential owners that she does get hormonal, and that her behaviour is clearly because of her hormones, they may wish to get her spayed, and that may stop all the issues dead in their tracks.

Another thought I have is, maybe just tell the new owners about the hormones and lunging and suggest spaying and then tell them that if it doesn't work out and she doesn't calm down they should bring her back to you. Really all animals are better pets if you get the spayed.

squidpop":7j5ajab4 said:

Really all animals are better pets if you get the spayed.

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I agree that spaying her might help.
It might not.
I do disagree with the general statement that all animals are better pets if altered.
I've owned far too many animals, both intact and spayed/neutered.

I select for rabbits that have good personalities without altering.

I spay/neuter all cats. (toms spray, queens have babies...just...no)
I have two neutered dogs...but I'm not convinced that the surgery was actually necessary. I had no problems at all with the 8 year old intact Pitbull, (6' fences surround the dog yard.) We only neutered him because we intended to bring in another male puppy. Just didn't want to take any chances...but...in retrospect, I may have "fixed" something that wasn't broken :lol:

Only reason my akita is spayed is because the property we were on we were not allowed to fence and there was a neighbor who picked up unaltered dogs, cats, and livestock and then let them roam freely until something killed them or someone took off with them and then go get more. I didn't want a bunch of mutt puppies. I regret it now though. I don't think I will ever neuter another dog again. Whether planning to breed or not. I don't really want any cats unless I have the space indoors and the money to build a space outdoors for breeding purebreds. Random american shorthairs running around outdoors create more problems and costs than benefits.

Neutering might work on an aggressive rabbit and it might not. Just because she is trying to get to the buck doesn't mean it's only hormonal. Reason I like to sell the males as pets and turn the does in to food but now that we have only netherlands I will probably be evaluating both genders for pet homes. I do suggest, definitely not require, neutering both genders but more so the does. I try to aim for it not being at all necessary. I wouldn't breed for a pet litter out of a doe who needs spaying in an attempt to fix her attitude. Unfortunately it's so expensive to spay that people are likely to not do it or try to keep her afterward even if she's still violent. Probably leading to poor housing and care.

I did tolerate some level of hormonal behavior in my meat rabbits. Makes strong breeders that rarely miss. Only that mini rex who I butchered after her first litter ever tried to bite me though. It was more humping, grunting, destructive behavior, and trying to tear down barriers between rabbits. Some of them were really pushy on the bucks and a few bucks would just give up and lie flat while the does humped them. That's where having bucks with stronger hormones is also useful. The bucks never got harmed though until this recent doe that I'm not ever breeding again. She actually ripped fur out of my bucks and caused the smaller one to cut his head on the j feeder. My does with hormonal behavior did not improve during certain parts of the month. If you did not breed them they continued their hormonal behavior 1/2 to 3/4ths of the year constantly. There were the lulls in breeding condition during really cold and really hot weather. In a climate controlled house with enough light they might never calm down. I would not sell those for pets.

Ugh, this is just....wow. Well, my friends who were going to buy the rabbit came to hang out and she (BTW she still doesn't like me) enjoyed my friends' pets and accidental nose poke. I tried to pet her... grunt-grunt-grunt. What is going on here? A coincidence? I'm not sure, considering last time friends came over, she was fine to. After they left she started getting aggressive. If this behavior continues, though, I actually WANT to eat her, but my friends would be totally crushed. So I don't know what to do.

Aggressive rabbits are often fearful rabbits. They can go submissive with anyone they don't know or out of their usual environment. You also don't see a bad personality when you first bring them home. As soon as they become comfortable they start defining territory and kicking you out of it. That's why spaying is hit or miss. Those rabbits do generally do better or act completely normal in a colony setting but then again I had one attack me from the ground.

:yeahthat:

It could just be the way you smell. Rabbits are sensitive to such things. Perfumes. Soaps. Other rabbits etc. Might be what is st issue here.

Lionheads are also, sadly, prone to this type of aggressive behavior. Bucks and Does. Altered or Not. The variety is adorable, and there are many lines with all the qualities breeders have been striving so hard, for years, DECADES, to nail down: BIG manes, SMALL size, SMALL ears, correct Color... but personality? Well. It is something breeders are working out along with fertility (Probably the most frequent topic on LH lists is the problem of Does that Do Not "Take", followed by Aggression to keepers and other rabbits during breeding).

You could always eat her and say she found a home with "someone else."

It's not really unfair. Since they decided to get emotionally attached to an animal that they cannot take any responsibility for whatsoever.
In reality, she might have been sweet for them for two days and then turn into a demon bunny who would never make them happy.

I don't sell rabbits with problem personalities partially because I fear that those rabbits are setup for abuse or neglect down the road.
Partially because I want all rabbit owners to have a positive experience with their animals, and I know how wonderful they CAN be.
The last part is because I eat far too many wonderful tempered rabbits to have any mercy for biters.

Well, we got her hutch today, maybe she'll be nicer once she's in there. As opposed to in a cage with 2 bucks getting excited over her (you know what I mean) being separated only by cardboard.

Does anyone have a good name for her? I'm not much for Roxie, that was just a temporaral name. I think she's a broken tort.

A pic would help to figure out a name.....

First thing that popped in my mind with the hormonal issues she has was Aunt Flo.. so maybe Flo .. It is a full moon tonight as well. blood moon even. There is also a full Lunar eclipse tonight as well. Lots of people and animals tend to go a little nutty close to and during a full moon. So maybe Luna or Eclipse.