For the last two days Petey has been making a \"grunting\" noise when he is not happy with me! For instance, today when I was cleaning his cage, he was trying to stick his head in the pellet bag and when I tried to remove him, he grunted!
Yesterday I heard him tugging at the carpet under the bed and when I tried to remove him from that spot, he grunted! This is new for Petey.
I\'m sure its territorial related, but is this what happens when they reach about a year? He sounds like an old grouchy man.
How do you let them know you are still boss? I read somewhere you should firmly press your hand on there head and press down so as to tell them that you are \"top bunny\". Anyone ever try this?
My Chewy grunts at me, and it started when he was about one year old. He has a multi level cage, and it seems to happen most when he is higher up than me. I never tried the \"top bunny\" thing, but I heard people doing that with dogs.
It does sound as though Chewy is sending you a dominance message. Is Chewy neutered? Has he ever seemed inclined to bite when you put your hand in his cage?
What I do, if I have a rabbit that growls and grumbles, is to bring my hand up and over and press the rabbit\'s head gently, but firmly to the floor of the cage. (dominance maneuver) I then remove the rabbit to neutral ground and pet and talk to him or her for awhile. Hopefully, this will help.
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
Chewy is neutered. He has never bitten me, he just has attitude. He is a good boy, but he likes to show his feelings. My spayed female, Tasha, is the one most likely to bite. She won\'t let anyone pet her, even though I have been working with her since I got her 2 1/2 years ago. She will take food from my hand, and occasionally she will let me touch her for about a second. They were about 5 months when I got them, and I don\'t think they were well socialized. They were living under a basket in a laundry room, in a home where there was domestic abuse, so I suspect their background experence might have something to do with her behavior. They were pretty tramatized, and I euthanized one of the rabbits because his back was broken.
Wow, that\'s really a sad story concerning Chewy and Tasha\'s past.
It sounds like you don\'t have to really worry about Chewy. I probably wouldn\'t hold my breath concerning Tasha\'s attitude, but just keep doing what you\'re doing.
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
My Honey grunts every now and then. He is just now 1 yr. old and freshly neutered, but he has grunted at me since he was about 4-5 months old. I say it sounds like a goose, but I guess a grouchy old man works, too.
Honey has never tried to bite or scratch, and usually stops grunting whenever I pick him up (he likes to be picked up like a baby-cradled with his back legs supported-I never pick him up by the scruff, he thrashes, and I\'ve heard that rabbits can break their necks from doing that). I think he uses it as a \"leave me alone\" gesture, usually when I\'m trying to get him in his cage. He sometimes runs underneath things and \"thumps\" his back legs, too. He is not, however, ever aggressive with anyone-he allows me to clip his nails, brush his fur, and hold him for a few minutes at a time. I guess I wouldn\'t be concerned unless Petey starts to become aggressive. I think the grunting is personality.It\'s good to have a spunky rabbit!
My bun will make little grunting noises when say, I am laying on the floor and she is checking me out, eating my hair, but nothing that sent any msg that she was angry. She\'s almost a year old and not spayed. But I will be keeping an eye/ear out to see if she starts this kind of behavior. She has a very bad habit of using a particular corner of my couch as her own little potty. Any ideas on how to break this behavior? Other than that she is good about doing her business in her cage.
If you are not planning to breed your bunny, spaying may help the potty issue. Petey used to pee and poop outside the box in a certain area, but since he has been neutered, he usually only poops. Every once in awhile he\'ll have a pee incident, but it has been reduced since he\'s been neutered. Oh.. and Petey loves to eat my daughter\'s hair too!!!???!