Wierd Behavior!

Question
I have a Dwarf Teacup rabbit that is between 4-5 months old. She is usually somewhat non-friendly- when I try to pat her or, especially, pick her up, she jumps away and often scratches me. Within the last three to four days, however, we have noticed first that she started to make a wheezing/buzzing sound from her mouth/nose area. This has gotten progressively louder. What is this? Also, she as become suddenly aggressively affectionate. She wants to constantly run about us or be on us, but she is very frantic and persistent, and I've also noticed that she will bite/nibble at any exposed skin. This has also progressed to being more aggressive from when it started a few days ago? Is she sick? Lonely? Help!

Thank you,
Kelly

Answer
Hi Kelly,

given what you have described above, I believe that your dwarf rabbit girl has hit sexual maturity.  I also haveto ask you, the wheezing/buzzing sound, would you say it sounds like little 'honks'?   Rabbits make little honking sounds and run around your feet in circles.

She is not sick.  The next step for you is to find a good rabbit vet (if you don't have one) and get her in for a pre-op exam, and schedule her to be spayed.  Spaying does several things:  1) you will never have an accidental litter to figure out what to do with.  2) she will not develop uterine cancer and die at age 5-6, instead she will be able to live 10-12 years.  3) Spaying reduces and/or eliminates what we consider negative behavior such as increased aggressiveness, mounting your leg, etc. - you basically get back the sweet bunny you had before she hit sexual maturity.  4) it allows you to actually have a fantastic, close relationship with your rabbit.

The nibbling is grooming, not anything else.  If she was biting hard it would be something else.  She's just showing affection, as they only groom their friends.

So, if you don't have a good rabbit vet, go to:

www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society-recommended vet in your area.  If you can't find one on this list, call around to your local shelters or vets and ask where they would go if they had a rabbit that needed surgery.

Lee