bitting

Question
my rabbit is 6 months old we have had him chopped to stop him bitting and he
stopped at one point but know he has started bitting again.
what should we do?
Emily

Answer
Without knowing much of his history, it is hard to say for sure what the cause is.  Here are some common things that make a rabbit bite.

Habbit - if he had gotten into the habit of biting you and you did not correct him then it could be that he thinks it is okay behavior.

Hand Feeding - If you or someone in your family feed him out of your hand, then he may be biting because he is expecting their to be food on your hands etc.

Biting while being held - IF the rabbit is nipping (not as hard as a bite, but hurts) while being held this is a sign that he does not like being held, or needs to be put down to use the restroom etc.

Solutions - First stop hand feeding him, and don't allow anyone else to hand feed him at all, anything for any reason, I know it is cute, and people enjoy doing it but it will make his biting habit worse.

If he is being held and biting the bad thing is you don't want to make him think biting = being put down, so make a loud noise like a squeak (this startles them, but doesn't hurt them) wait a moment until it has been 30 seconds to a minute then put him back in his cage, this way he is getting what he wants he just won't realize that it is because of his biting.

If he has become cage aggressive, what I use, (have used it with a doe, that was extremely cage aggressive, and at this point about 6 months later, she is the kind of doe you can put your hand in the cage, clean it out, then rub her belly) is take out all the "extras" in his cage, toys, house, everything but bedding, feed bowl, and water (if he is outside you need to leave the house in but take it out when handling him if possible.)  And use something that is large enough for the rabbit to see, but small enough to move around the cage comfortably (i used a parrot toy) then every time you stick your hand in, make sure you have the "shield" let the rabbit attack that first while talking to him in a gentle tone, as soon as he is done, pet him with it so that he is gently pressed down onto the floor, this in rabbit talk means that the toy is more dominant than the rabbit, after a couple of weeks you should see less aggression while entering the cage, and then can slowly stop using your "sheild" and start from the begining with your hand (only hopefully without the initial biting/attacking) if they start lunging at your hand, use your sheild again, and just keep doing it until the rabbit realizes that it does not good.  You can then start adding toys back in to the cage, but do not add in whatever it was that is a sheild, that is your personal toy now (lol)and it has become a training tool and is not to play with.

I hope this has helped, feel free to write me back with more details and i will do my best to help you

Good Luck
Amy