What do I do about young jerk of a bunny??

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KatzNetherlands

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I raised this Netherland buck until he was around 5 months old. I had kept three bucks out of the litter to grow them out. Mandarin had the best personality the entire time. A friend of mine who has boughten 3 other rabbits from me(over time) and one from someone else, just adored him. Long story short, she did something for me with another bunny I had, and I told her that I would just give him to her as a thank you... her mom took Grizzly, his brother and I kept Orion. Orion just passed away last week, but he was always just a total sweetheart. Grizzly is another spoiled sweetheart. For some reason, Mandarin has turn psycho on everyone. My friend messaged me on Facebook and asked if I could help her. He has bitten up and down her arms, legs, neck. It is terrible. So she brought him back to me to run him through "bunny bootcamp" and I don't know what else to do with him.
I have tried treats and bribing, talking calm, going slow. Taking him to a scarier place and reassuring him, so he would learn he could trust me, I have swatted his nose, I have swatted his butt. He pretty much raped my cat :x and so I thought maybe he just needs bred. So, he is out with a fairly intolerant doe who won't put up with his crap. He is being put into a carrier because he is now going after my hand when I reach into grab him.
He does not give a warning he is going to bite, no ears back, no teeth bared, no grunting, just lunge and bite. His body is stiff and tense whenever I pet him and he is just not a happy bunny.
She really doesn't want to give up on him, and I want the rabbit back that I had originally gave her. He was so nice. I don't think it has anything to do with the way he is treated there because all of her other rabbits are just so sweet. And his littermate brothers never developed this behavior... I am so confused on what to do...

Does anyone have any other ideas? If I cannot get him to get along or at least just relax and stop biting, I can't give him back to her.. and I can't keep him. I just can't figure out what changed at 5 and a half months to make him so aggressive...

One other thing about him, he "pops" alot... When you pick him up, his legs will pop, like if you pop your knuckles. It is strange... none of my other rabbits are like that... Think that could be doing it? I am just getting so frustrated with his cute little bitey butt... and my friend wants her baby back...
 
Wow, I wonder if he has a health problem? If he's 100% healthy and you can't handle him, I'd send him to freezer camp.
 
I agree with Dayna, health problem.

I had a rabbit who was fairly similar, a BEW doe who was mean, MEAN. She would bite and scratch and box and grunt. I bred her, hoping to get a nice kit off her so I could cull her, and when she kindled, she started bleeding profusely from her vent and screaming in pain. I believe that her bad attitude was due to being in pain.

I think that possibly your buck is also dealing with a constant pain situation, which is making him irritable. It could even be that when being picked up/moved around, he is being caused pain, or being put into more pain(the popping noise you hear). This problem could stem back to something that happened to him as a kit(stepped on by momma), or he could have been dropped, or picked up incorrectly, or was not confined correctly when being handled, which caused an issue in his hips/lower back.

I know that I am exceptionally cranky when I am in pain, so would assume that rabbits would be the same.
 
That was my first thought too. It sounds like he may be in pain. Do you have access to any willow bark to relieve his (possible) pain? If it helps him, you will know what is causing the behavior at least- though the out come would be sad, as I think it would be kindest to put him down rather than prolong his life.

I would also double check his sex to make sure he isn't a doe.

I have never experienced a buck becoming aggressive due to hormones, but if that is the cause with him maybe he will outgrow it in time or if he is neutered.
 
I second the idea that he has a medical issue.

I had a ferret who regularly dislocated his legs from his hip joints which made a popping noise, I wonder if the same is happening with this bunny, or possibly a vertebra, and it is painful and a source of his aggression.

Are x-rays an option to see if his skeleton is properly aligned?

A randomly aggressive doe I took in ended up having only about 25% lung function, some liver damage (discovered upon necropsy) and I believe she was in pain which caused her to lash out.
 
alright, so looks like I am going to be trying a few more things... pain meds is one of them. Worming is another.

I don't have Willow bark... is there another natural pain medicine for bunnies?
 
Plain aspirin has the same chemical makeup as willow bark, but is not naturally derived from it. I have also given animals homeopathic arnica tablets.
 
Would it be good/bad idea to give him some terramyacin in his water? It was suggested to me by someone but I want to make sure before I do anything else...
 
I would not put antibiotics in his water unless you have a reason to think he has an infection. If you want to keep this rabbit, then you need to figure out what is wrong and, in this case, I think you need a vet. I don't think "stab in the dark" treatment is going to get you very far. Between his biting and the popping in his legs, he would already have been dispatched at our barn. I hope you get it figured out, poor guy seems miserable.
 
OneAcreFarm":3klr6x40 said:
I would not put antibiotics in his water unless you have a reason to think he has an infection. If you want to keep this rabbit, then you need to figure out what is wrong and, in this case, I think you need a vet. I don't think "stab in the dark" treatment is going to get you very far. Between his biting and the popping in his legs, he would already have been dispatched at our barn. I hope you get it figured out, poor guy seems miserable.


I think that's good advice. (vet)


If he has something wrong with him , you definitely don't want him passing it on to future generations either.
 
I agree... you need to decide how important it is (money-wise) to find out what is wrong. If sinking vet money into him is not an option (don't feel bad, it isn't an option for most of us on here), then he needs to be put down, as it does sound like he's in pain. :(

It sounds like a congenital issue with his joints to me... I don't know that anything could be done to make it better. But a baby aspirin (you could split it and give him half of it twice a day) would help with the pain while you figure out what to do.

Dosage on baby aspirin is up to 1 pill twice a day, but I'd do 1/2 twice a day on a ND. Sooo tiny! :clover:
 
Thank you all for your help... if it was my bunny, I would lean towards putting him down... However, this is not my bunny, I am just helping a friend.. and I did tell her that if I could not get this figured out, I really didn't want to give him back to her because I don't want anyone bitten... She understands.

Now, for the good news, the aspirin helped a little and I was able to hold and pet him with no major issues.... still tenses up when you touch him, but not as bad. His legs have also seemed to stop popping... So, we are going to go another day with aspirin and see how he does and if he keeps improving, I am going to stop and see if he gets worse... If he does, I know he is in pain and not just being a jerk bunny lol And then his owner is friends with her vet, she will take him up and get him x-rays and meds if needed... She just didn't want to spend the money if it was just him being a butt...

I will keep you all updated :)
 
I'm glad the aspirin is helping. If she does opt for xrays it will be interesting to see what the findings are. If you can get a pic of the radiographs that would be really neat! :p
 
OMG! He is too cute to be a biting devil bunny!

No wonder she is willing to treat him if necessary.

Lovely photography, by the way! :clap2:
 
Thank you... I will ask about the x-rays if she gets them... He is an adorable bunny...well, adorable LOOKING bunny ;) Now to get his attitude to match his sweet face again...
 
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