bad behaviour

Question
Hi, I have a problem with one of my rabbits. I have two, a male who lives indoors and a female who lives outdoors. It's the female I'm having trouble with. Since she was 2 months old she's developed somewhat of an attitude problem and it's only gotten worse. She's now 5 months and tries to attack me when i go to feed or pet her. She gets on her hind legs and slashes at me with her claws and also tries to bite. All the while growling and squeaking. When she comes inside the house she's a different animal. She'll sit and allow you to pet her, and even snuggle. Any idea what her problem is? She's not been neutered yet, would this help? It's not something i really want to have done to her.

Answer
Hi Darren

She has 2 problems that I can see just from your description.  The first is that she is cage protective.  She has a home outdoors and most likely does not have constant attention.  She lives in the cage and yes you do bring her out to play but while she is in that cage that is her home.  Most rabbits are cage protective but rabbits that live indoors and get to run around are much less protective because they share a living space with you.  When you bring her inside she is a different rabbit because she is in a different or a neutral area and she doesn't feel threatened that you will invade her space.

The second thing is that she is 5 months old.  Rabbits hit sexual maturity right around 5 months old.  They will hiss, slap, scratch, bite, run around in circles with their butt in the air, and basically act like they are totally mad!  The absolute best thing you can do for her is to get her spayed.  It will help a great deal.  You also might want to consider moving her indoors.  Rabbits that live indoors generally have happier lives.  

This is a nice article on why outdoor living might not be so great
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/outdoors.html


In the meantime make sure to take your little princess out of her cage as much as you can.  Once you are able to get her out she sounds like she isn't much of a problem.  This is one rabbit that I would be playing with several hours a day.

Good luck

Pam