How many of you have netherland dwarfs who bite, and would spaying help? She is 7 months old, never really seems relaxed. She bit me in the hand when I put my hand in her cage to pet her even though I talked softly to her before doing so. Then today, I had her on my stomach/chest, petting her gently and talking to her and she bit my chin. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
Netherland Dwarf Doe is biting
- Thread starter Bea
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Netherlands are not the calmest rabbits and they each have a unique personality. They are fairly energetic and they can get annoyed when you interrupt their exploration or get too busy in front of them. Spaying might help a little but with that behavior in a netherland probably not enough to be worth the expense and risk of surgery on such a tiny rabbit. It's best not to come at a netherland's face first. Same with running breeds. Coming towards the shoulder from a slight angle will go over better than head on. Petting is similar. Come in sideways or reach around the back of the head rather than straight up the nose. Some do like direct nose rubbing but pay attention to your individual rabbit and you might do better with ear rubs. If you are trying to stop them from going somewhere or reaching in front of them in a cage keep your hand far enough away in front that they have time to consider it or again push from the shoulder, not the head.
Often they will give you a warning. If they start bumping you especially if you can feel wetness from their mouth then they may dislike what you are doing (which might just be sitting in their desired path) and are debating biting. Although sometimes they do come up to bump you while out running sort of as a reassurance you are there and their friend. If they are nipping while you are doing nothing they are unhappy with their current position. I have a buck who is very friendly but he frequently wants to be above my head. He will lay on the back of the couch or a pillow for hours without having any accidents while I watch tv and reach up to pet him. That's just where he's happy and he will do a lot of nudging and setting teeth on you, not actual bites, when he wants up there and you are insisting on petting him while he's down low. When it comes to netherlands one size does not fit all. Provided your netherland is well bred enough not to be drawing blood you just need to find the details of what annoys your particular rabbit. I have had some who just nailed me out of the blue and resulted in running blood or nasty bruises. Those I cull from breeding which ended up being all the rabbits from a particular breeder.
Often they will give you a warning. If they start bumping you especially if you can feel wetness from their mouth then they may dislike what you are doing (which might just be sitting in their desired path) and are debating biting. Although sometimes they do come up to bump you while out running sort of as a reassurance you are there and their friend. If they are nipping while you are doing nothing they are unhappy with their current position. I have a buck who is very friendly but he frequently wants to be above my head. He will lay on the back of the couch or a pillow for hours without having any accidents while I watch tv and reach up to pet him. That's just where he's happy and he will do a lot of nudging and setting teeth on you, not actual bites, when he wants up there and you are insisting on petting him while he's down low. When it comes to netherlands one size does not fit all. Provided your netherland is well bred enough not to be drawing blood you just need to find the details of what annoys your particular rabbit. I have had some who just nailed me out of the blue and resulted in running blood or nasty bruises. Those I cull from breeding which ended up being all the rabbits from a particular breeder.
Thank you for your reply, it does make alot of sense. I will try those things you mentioned, I am a bit afraid of her at times and I know that'll only make it worse. I appreciate you explaining them to me! Hopefully we will find an agreeable way to interact with her!
You wouldn't think such a tiny rabbit could do so much damage but one buck just slammed into the side of my thumb with mouth wide and chomped. It was so fast and I couldn't use my right thumb on the space bar while typing for a month. It's more damage than I've gotten from some bull/rat snake bites. These rabbits normally appear mentally unstable right from the beginning though. They don't start out lightly nipping. They just nail you the first or 2nd time you have them out without enough warning to avoid them. I don't think many 100% breed nipping out of netherlands but they should at least be sane enough to give you warnings and not do actual damage. Rabbits like that are not dangerous. They are just trying to get their point across and you don't speak rabbit. A site that might help is http://language.rabbitspeak.com/ . If that's not the home website someone else can link it because it's been copied all over the internet to other individuals' sites.
