Lunging

Question
Hi Mr. Meyer,

    My son recently won an all white, pink-eyed young bunny at a local carnival.  I actually have two questions.  The first is, "Is there an easy way to tell the sex of a rabbit without taking it to a professional rabbit handler?"  We think it might be a girl, but am not sure.  The second question is this, "Why would this little bunny, all of a sudden, start lunging at me when I open its cage?"  We've had it for about 2 weeks now and handle it a couple of times a day.  It loves to be held and seems to snuggle.  When we first got it, we put it in a small crate while making a larger, outdoor rabbit hutch for it.  While in the smaller crate, I didn't seem to notice this type of behavior.  We put it in the hutch about a week ago, and a few days after putting it in there, it seemed to start this lunging stuff.  At first I thought it was playing with me because it doesn't bite at me....in fact, after a minute or two, it settles down and comes over and starts to lick my arm.  After reading some, I'm thinking it might be an aggressive way of showing its ownership of its home.  The rabbit hutch is up on legs so I can't let the bunny come out of the hutch by itself.  I have tried letting it come over to the door by itself, and it does, but when I put my hand close to pick it up, it still does some of that lunging stuff.  Could you give me your expert opinion as to why it might be doing this?  We spend about 1/2 hour in the AM and 1/2 hour in the PM being with it and letting it run around in our screened in porch.  We are just loving this little bunny but don't want to do anything wrong in trying to raise it.  Thanks for your help.

Answer
Hi Nancy,

yes, this is what is called cage aggression.  Chances are you have a female rabbit.

To answer your questions: first I'd take your bunny to the vet for a general exam, to make sure she is healthy overall and to determine the sex.  It is important to know you are starting out with a healthy animal.  Sometimes 'prize' animals are prizes for a reason.

Second, the best thing that will reduce cage aggression is getting your rabbit fixed.  It also makes it possible to litter train your rabbit, and keep them indoors as a house rabbit.  It will stop them being sexually frustrated, and for the females, it will basically double their lifespans.  Most intact females die at 5 or 6 from uterine cancer.  Spaying them allows them to live a full 10-12 year life of a house rabbit.

Third, I woudl recommend keeping your bunny indoors for a number of reasons.  For safety from outside predators (just the presence of a predator can frighten a rabbit to death without touching them).  You will be more aware of their normal behavior, in case they are masking an illness or injury - outdoor bunnies you can't be this aware of.  You will be able to have a strong, more fulfilling relationship with your bunny if you can interact with him in the house, and so will he.  they are sociable animals and enjoy the company of people.  Often hutch bunnies become depressed and people think they turn mean, but it usually is because they have very little interaction with their owners compared to an indoor house rabbit.  Also sometimes the 'meanness' is because they are in pain from a condition the owner is not aware of because of less interaction.

Having them indoors doesn't have to mean giving them free roam of the house.  It can be a cage with part of a room (using pet exercise gates to block off a part of a room), it can be a room, it can be part of the house.  whatever works.  But it needs to be in areas where people will see him (but not a super high-traffic, noisy area of the house).  

I'd recommend getting the book "The House Rabbit Handbook" at your local big bookstore.  I'd also recommend going out to the HRS web site, www.rabbit.org and look through their hundreds of articles on all aspects of rabbit care.

Write back anytime.  Lee