Super Aggressive all of a sudden, need help

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Sweetbuns

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Hi guys!
I have a kit born last summer that has always been really well behaved and is now biting really hard and attacking anyone that tries to come into his space.

A few weeks ago, my daughter was in a rush to get them fed, she startled him and he bit her.

A few days later he needed to be shorn (angora), so we cut his hair and he went to a big pen in the basement for a couple weeks to grow out some coat.

Since being down there he has become even more aggressive and has bitten several times drawing blood. He lays his ears back and growls if you try to get in his cage. The he jumps and latches on flipping his body around. I don't know what to do, other than putting him down. Please help!
 
it could be hormonal. usually bucks don't have much personality change after puberty (if anything they just get sweeter,) but does are known for having mood swings. my does will also get aggressive after breeding sometimes. are you sure he's a boy? could he be a doe that was bred in a group pen or something? i've also heard of tumours causing dramatic personality shifts in other animals like rats.

ultimately though, if he's drawing blood and growling/clearly uncomfortable being around people, he's really better off put down. angora NEED to be groomed regularly and if you can't even touch him he's just going to get matted. interacting with you is stressful for both you and him, and you're both just going to be miserable if it continues. unfortunately i would chalk him up to a loss :(
 
if you want to keep him,
*** when you reach into the cage, quickly put your hand between his shoulder blades, and push him down, and hold him there.
Then grab a hand full of loose skin over the shoulders, at the same time holding the ears [same hand] - then rock him backwards, and put your other hand under his butt, to support his weight, then lift him out and do whatever needs to be done. Sometimes this cures the behaviour , sometimes not-- but at least you won't get bitten...
 
Interestingly, I just had a harli buck who'd always been shy suddenly start lunging and biting. Close inspection revealed sore hocks... First time one of my harlis has ever had that happen? He isn't even a heavy boy. :? Ah well, what I'm saying in my rambling way is that, it's possible that some part of your buck is hurting him, making him behave more aggressively.
 
He's %100 Male. He is also a pure bred German angora, so he has a no groom coat and is very low maintenance other than needing to be shorn every 90 days. I wish I could figure out how to share a video here, so you could see his personality before this all began. My daughter actually trained him to jump over jumps! He is really smart! He doesn't try to bite out of his cage and it's really well behaved when flipped over on his back too, for shearing and nail trimming and such. It's only in his cage! My daughter wants to get rid of him now, and since she runs the rabbitry I'm okay with that. It's a little sad but, if he bites again my husband is going to put him down. I found a home with a well seasoned rabbit person who does not have kids. :cry:
 
Sadly, many "male" rabbits that are handled / trained a lot, become aggressive.
When I worked at a "shelter",
a lot of those aggressive rabbits, were "surrendered" to the shelter.
Glad you found a "suitable" home for him .
I have raised meat rabbits since I was a kid, so some "aggressive" rabbits,
in other people's estimation, are just fine for me.
I don't mind a little aggression - as long as I can work with them...
However aggression in the Doe, is usually passed down to her daughters,
so I don't keep breed stock, from agressive does.
 
They can learn new behaviors. If/when a bun around here shows any aggression whatsoever, they get an immediate sharp thwap on the nose. Usually, it just takes once and then they know not to do that anymore. We haven't had that aggressive of a rabbit before, though.

He was shorn and then put into a different space that wasn't 'his' and he was still aggressive? Hmm, then it's not a scent or territory thing, perhaps. It might just be testing boundaries to see how much of a king bunny he can become? That's pretty aggressive for merely testing boundaries, though.

I got one buck who someone said was vicious and over here he was the sweetest thing ever. His previous handler had been very tentative about things, he may have just been pushing to see how far he could get. Not sure if that would be the same sort of case for your bun or not.
 
I have a doe that turned aggressive. She's even a pain to feed - she'll attack anything that comes into the cage. I wear gloves when I work with her and she's bitten me several times, but luckily I can feel very little through the gloves. She does respect them though! She's the only one I have issues with.

I'm very glad to see your comment because I've had this gut feeling she has to go.
michaels4gardens":2mkot8wj said:
However aggression in the Doe, is usually passed down to her daughters,
so I don't keep breed stock, from aggressive does.
Click to expand...

Not only is she a pain to work with but she just abandoned her first litter of kits as well. So I'm fed up. She'll go to freezer camp.
She has one baby that I want to keep that I'm hoping is a buck - but if it's a doe I'm not sure what I'm going to do (and according to my newborn sexing it IS a doe so I'm hoping I'm wrong).

The others are all heading for freezer camp so that's the end of that.
 
Temperament can be genetic, not just dams to mothers, but all parents to all offspring. So, using a buck from a known vicious doe would just put the aggressive gene to all the does you breed him to.

We had one really sweet buck here, Grinlow's Dozer:

dozer.jpg


When I check the pedigrees of the most friendly rabbits we have around here, Dozer is somewhere in their background. He had deplorable ears for an English angora, but his sweet temperament and lovely wool made up for those ears.

I have another buck, Aster, who is much more standoffish and somewhat anxious it seems, I have to work with his offspring to make up for their not as friendly temperament.
 
Goodness! I'm the well.seasoned rabbit person. Its been ages since ive been here. This buck is dong great. Never bitten anyone. When hearing the description I thought he might be suffering from "tired of being so busy" syndrome but planned on culling if necessary. It would be much easier on me since I didn't know him.

I gave him a hutch for problem buns, with top opening door since that entrance type has worked great for me for rabbits worried about thier territory. I didnt handle him for a week. Then started with a head scratch. I never gave him the opportunity to bite. I hoped he'd forget all about that not so bright idea. That's all i did with him until shearing time three months later. He's difficult to shear. Very busy rabbit, opinionated but not aggressive. He gets annoyed if he's required to sit still so to avoid him making the same poor decision he did before, i shear all of him, somewhat awkwardly, on his back/side and on my lap. In that position he keeps his opinions to himself.

He's pushy, sweet, and an absolute charmer. But he's got his boundaries!
 
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