my rabbit hates me

Question
hi

ok here is the deal.. I love my rabbit.. he is a spoiled little stink pot.. I would never give him away or abandon him because he is my child.  

I was at a horse auction 9 months ago to buy tack for my horses.. I happened to be walking to my car and I saw the auctioneer holding up a baby black mini rex rabbit.. ok me being the soft hearted person I am stopped and I have been going to these auctions for years... i never go to the chicken or rabbits part because i can't bear to see it because i know they are all going to be eaten by people or snakes.... ok so here is this most darling little precious beautiful black tiny baby mini rex and I know the snake dealer was bidding on him... so i stopped and yelled over at the auctioneer who knows me of course... he said you gonna bid i said heck ya.. so the snake dealer kept bidding, i said you might as well stop bidding dude cause im taking that rabbit home with me.. so anyway he stopped and i got the baby for the huge price of $3..  I was thrilled.. I got home and said crap.. I don't have a cage or anything.  I didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl.. but i looked and it was a boy.. but I was happy because I knew it was a lot cheaper to pay for neutering than spaying..  Ok so I hurried up and called the pet store which was an hour away from me and said do you have one of those huge cages with wheels and a pan on the bottom in stock and hey said yes.. i said good hold it for me.  I got there and I got the cage and the dumb bimbo at the register said oh this couple just claimed that cage, i said oh heck no lady I called and talked to some man and he said he would hold it for me.. so a huge fight ensued and i said listen i have a rabbit at home living in a box... so anyway I got the cage.  Then I went to tractor supply and bought 3 of those 3 feet high 2 feet wide 8 panel dog runs and connected them to the cage and they take up my entire living room.

Ok now.. my rabbit was still a baby.. I held him every day, I litter trained him.  He still has perfect litter habits.  He is clean, he is beautiful.  As soon as his testicles dropped I took him to the most expensive and most qualified animal hospital in my area and had him snipped.  He recovered, he was fine.  A perfect angel, life was good.

The past month something has changed.  There has not been any furniture moved, no new people in my house, I haven't changed his food, I haven't even changed laundry soap, but my sweet little rabbit has turned into Cujo.   As long as he is outside running around in his living room size run he is sweet as pie, but if he sees me go anywhere near his cage he attacks me.  The other day he was at least 15 feet away from me and I was putting his food into his cage like I normally do.  I thought I was safe since he was 15 feet away.  I forgot to mention he is fast.  Well it took him all of 1/10th of a second I didn't even have time to put the food dish down and he had latched on to my pinky finger and would not let go.  He was hanging in mid air onto my pinky finger.  He bit right through it.  I had to go to the emergency room and have my finger sewn back together.  

I have tried everything.  I have tried putting his food dish in a different location, I tried putting it away from his cage or in a different corner.  It does not matter where I put that food dish if I touch it he bites me.  Put it this way, I love him very much but sometimes I would like to strangle him.  Why does he do this to me.  He has every toy imaginable.  His house is bigger than mine.  I can't even see my own TV because his rabbit safe run takes up my whole living room.  What else could he possible want from me?  The really sad part is that my husband can pick him up, pet him, feed him, cut his nails, brush him and he never bites him.  It is only me.  My husband hates rabbits, he is my rabbit, I saved him, he would have been snake food, I want him to appreciate me and love me.  I get down on the floor with him and wiggle my nose with him.  I push the ball back and forth with him with my nose.  I play with him all day.  The minute I pick him up to groom him, touch his cage or touch his food dish he tries to kill me.

Can you please tell me what I am doing wrong.  Any insight you have would be greatly appreciated.  The HRS actually offered to come to my home for a visit but OMG I won't even let my parents come in my house I am not the best house keeper, I don't think I have dusted for over 3 weeks.  I don't want strangers in my house.  I am kind of anal that way.  If its not perfect I am very embarrassed, I think I have a bit of OCD when it comes to my house being perfect.  I am a bit afraid of being judged so I would much rather if you could help me.

Thank you so much

Ash

Answer
Hi Ash!

Sounds like you really do have a problem :-)

Have you got any other pets? It sounds very much like something has scared him, causing him to become territorial in his cage.

Another is to take him to the vet, have him checked over thoroughly, he could be in pain somewhere causing his aggression.

One idea is to go right back to how you got him used to you when you first brought him home, let him out of his cage distract him with some food on the floor and while he's occupied remove his food dish and do anything you need to, to his cage.

Another you could do is to train him to get into a pet carrier while you clean out his hutch.

Please do come back if you have any more questions or just want some advice, let me know how you get on.

Hope this helps

Gem xx