Help, I've got a nasty rabbit!!

I purchased two rabbits, holland lops, they were a 5 yr old's show rabbits. Mom told me that one would run from her hand when she went to grab her, and one runs up to the door for cuddles.

Well, I think she got them mixed up because the one she said runs is the only one I can even touch. We tried to get the other out of her cage today to clean it out and we couldn't, she hissed, growled, charged, headbutted. In the end, we decided to clean her litter box and leave her be for now.

The woman doesn't want them separated, so if she takes one back, she wants both back. I want to keep the nice one.

Both of these girls were bred on the 2nd, so I assume that may have something to do with it, but I don't know how to deal with this damn rabbit. How do I clean her cage without stressing the hell out of her?

Any tips?

I had an aggressive doe to (still have her) and she actually lunged and bit me anyway after I bred her and she had kits she left me alone and I can. Pet her now!

1) Leather work gloves? With good, long cuffs on 'em.

2) This is how we clean Parsley's ex-pen "home" when we do a full clean-out rather than an every-day or every-other-day tidy-up: we open the "door" of the ex-pen just wide enough for him to exit into his very large cat/dog carrier with a big bath towel on the bottom "just in case" (airline approved for cats and small dogs, so it's pretty large--he kind of rattles around in there). We wave sprigs of parsley in front of him to get his attention and lead him toward the carrier. Then we toss the remaining parsley into the carrier. Usually, he'll mosey on into the carrier, wanting that last chomp of parsley, and then we close the door of the carrier and latch it. [clean clean clean the ex-pen] We move the carrier out of the way, but leave him a sight line so he can see what we're doing. When we're done, we reverse the process: carrier door is opened, ex-pen is opened just far enough, Parsley moseys out of the carrier into the ex-pen and *then* gets his dinner. A BIG reward for being such a good bun!

Do you have a carrier for Miss Bad Bun?

Thanks, that gives me hope lol

I am considering putting her cage somewhere that she can get out of her own free will and see if it is just cage aggression.


I do have a carrier, my husband tried to "shoo" her into it earlier and that just did not work. Next time we will tempt her with treats, thanks for the idea!

You need to put something into the cage to cover her before using your hands. I've used dustpans, thermoses, and oven mitts successfully. Once something is covering her head and she can't bite, take her out and put her in a carrier.

You just got them, so you might not have a nasty rabbit... just a very scared rabbit. The hissing, growling, charging, and headbutting can all be "hopefully the best defense is a good offense" kind of behavior.

Some tips:

Try to have the rabbits near you as much as possible, so they get used to the way you move, smell, talk, etc.

Try to slow down and not make fast movements around them.

When you're not around, keep a radio on a talk station, so they still hear voices and noises.

Go ahead and pet and talk to the one you can pet for now, but try to keep picking up minimal for a week or so. Wear long sleeves. Chain mail gauntlets might be a good idea.

The one acting aggressive, do as little as possible with her for a week. If you can get away with just cleaning the litter box, do it. Make sure to offer a few raisins each time, so that she starts associating you with yummy treats. After a week, what needs doing needs doing, and it's time for more contact. If she won't let you remove her from the cage, toss a towel over her head, gather it around her, and remove her in a bundle. If you open it up a bit for her head, but wrap the rest of her well enough, you can put her down (maybe in a small box) and she won't be able to get out.


When you hold her, let her hide her face between your elbow and body. The world is a scary place, and if I can't see it, then it can't get me. :roll:

You could end up with two very sweet buns!

Bunny-Wan Kenobi actually takes a farm work shirt and throws it over the mean buns (they are only mean when we try to pick them up) and wraps them up in it. Some stop squirming, some keep fighting, but either way they still can't get much of anywhere. We call it straightjacketing.

You might want to try it, just get the bunny, sit down, take the cover off, and try to cuddle her and pet her. Yes, let her hide whenever she likes. Maybe she'll get the idea that you're not an intruder or a scary monster out to catch and eat her!

I had a bitey doe once whom I didn't want to cull (she was a fantastic mother), so after she had 2 litters and was still biting me when I was just filling her food dish (in a BIG pen), I went ahead and returned her to her original breeder.

She's still with her a year later, says she settled right down and I quote "just the sweetest thing." To this day she's shocked that doe ever bit anyone.

I tend to give the girls plenty of personal space and time, always handle gently, bring treats, etc. And as a consequence all of my does are gentle and enjoy attention, most even ignore me when I'm in their nestbox (save for one, who will wedge her head under my hand begging to be pet.) We theorize that moody doe just saw me as someone she could bully.

It's only one of many reasons a rabbit might bite though, and I have no idea how to cure it.

I've only had one rabbit bite me. She better hope she got bred this time around cuz I think Fernie's pretty fed up with her and might not give her a 3rd chance to get bred. Cage space is at a super premium here and non producers, especially mean ones, aren't staying.

I got demon rabbit as an 8week old kit and being our 2nd pair of mini rex we handled them a ton and spoiled them rotten. She still went psycho on me at 4months old when hormones kicked in and only got worse with time no matter what I tried. She even attacked me from the ground in a colony setting. Then she got mastitis and demon rabbit met a bullet. My first butcher. There are too many sane rabbits out there to bother with insane ones. I wasn't going to send her to anyone else. I've heard whispered stories from various local breeders of how they dumped their attack rabbit over the neighbor's fenceline so they wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.

We did keep a buck from her and a buck from that buck and so on until we get to Kai Akemi. The first sane rabbit from that line but no doe wanted to breed with him. In fact my first choice crammed under his feeder and screamed bloody murder until I pulled her out. Then she eagerly mounted the next buck she was put in with. I had to rely on Amako to handle him and give me the first sane doe with demon rabbit's bloodline in it. Extremely pretty coat on that one. I was sad to have to sell her but we just couldn't find enough people wanting mini rex around here to keep producing them.

I just culled a doe that had a nasty temperament. I did give her four months to settle in though. I would wait about a month and see if she calms down or not. I've had a few does that were abused and settled down after they were in a nice home, but then I had this last doe that turned nasty a couple weeks after I got her and never changed. Time will tell.