i have two rabbits the female is pixi and she isnt very nice. what should i do?

Answer 1

This is a common situation with female rabbits. You didn't mention if the other rabbit you own is male, or if they are fixed or not. Females tend to be more agressive than the males do when you're dealing with domestic pet bunnies. Hormones usually play a large role in this, especially if she's being housed next to a male, and is wanting to be bred. Rabbits do not go through a heat cycle like cats and dogs do. They are induced ovulators, which means that they don't ovulate until after they've mated (usually about 12 hours after the process takes place). However, they do go through patterns of wanting to breed. Usually about once every 2-3 months a female rabbit who is unspayed will go through a period of time where her genitals are slightly swollen and are a bright reddish purple color. This is how you can tell if that's what's happening. Cradle her in your arm like a baby and look at her genitals. If you see a very deep red color, that's your problem. There's not much that can be done to change the situation other than getting her spayed.

If that's not the issue, then she is trying to tell you something. Either someone's not treating her right (and it could be another pet or another member of your family), or she's not getting enough play/attention time. Try giving her more time outside her cage and sit on the floor with her so that she knows she can trust you. Don't force her to be held...some rabbits never do like getting picked up and being handled. She might simply be trying to tell you that.

If neither of these seems to help at all, I would think about making a trip to a rabbit-savvy vet for a check up just to make sure that there is nothing physically wrong with her.

Hope it helps!

Answer 2

I've been raising and showing rabbits for over 24 years. My dad and I raise about 150 - 200 rabbits. So I've seen hundreds of mean female rabbits in that period of time. I like to go about things is a very logical way so here goes:

First, how old is your rabbit?

Female rabbits go through a hormonal adolescent period when they reach about 4 months old. This period may last for only a month or until the female finally has babies. During this period the female may get mean. You can tell if the female is going through this hormonal cycle by if you touch her around the rear end or tail, she will lift her rear end up in the air. This means that she wants bred. It doesn't mean that she is old enough to be bred, but the hormones are telling her that she wants bred. You'll hear a number of people say that rabbits don't have a period, which for the most part is true. They are considered as being "constantly in heat." And it is correct that breeding them will cause them to ovulate, but that for the most part doesn't affect their disposition. The adolescent period does. That covers the first possible reason, hormones.

Secondly, rabbits don't behave like cats or dogs. If I were going to compare them to either. They would be much closer to cats than dogs in behavior. DO NOT spank or discipline your rabbit by hitting them in anyway. Rabbits do not comprehend this type of discipline as "I'm doing something bad, I'd better not do it again." Instead, they view it more like "This is a predator, this is someone that is trying to hurt me." So instead of getting more submissive in nature they will become more mean. If you do discipline them, use a hair sprayer with water in it to spray them with water.

The third reason could be that she is hungry because she is not getting fed enough. Give a rabbit just what it will eat in 24 hours. It should barely finish up eating what you give it in 24 hours. If there is leftovers after 24 hours you are feeding it too much. If a rabbit is extremely hungry, it will tend to attack you when you try to feed it.

Now that I've covered the majority of reasons, here's what you should do to make it nicer:

First and most importantly is take the rabbit out of its pen to pet it. Rabbits consider THEIR pen as THEIR space. A mean rabbit will be much more combative in THEIR cage, especially if the cage is deep and you can't reach all the way to the back of the cage, giving them an area to hide and get away from you. By removing the rabbit out of the cage, it is like putting them on neutral ground or ground where you own the control of it. If the rabbit is really mean, use one hand to distract the rabbit (hold your hand a foot or two in front of the rabbit to focus it's attention on that hand) while you grab the rabbit with the other to remove it from the cage. I kind of compare it to snake handling.

Secondly, PET the rabbit. Pet the rabbit on the forehead coming from in front of the rabbit so it can see your hand coming and so that it isn't scared. Never pet from behind so that the rabbit can't see your hand coming. The sudden feeling of your hand on it without seeing the hand coming will scare it. Pet the rabbit on the forehead between the eyes. Doing so puts the rabbit in a trance-like state and I don't care how mean the rabbit is, doing so will calm it down. If you pet your rabbit regularly in this fashion, it will slowly but surely become nicer. It won't happen overnight, but you'll see a difference. The only time you will see the change occur almost overnight is if the meanness is due to hormones. Almost the day after the female has babies she will out of the blue turn nice.

I hope this helps!

Answer 3

Not enough people know that rabbits can become really affectionate with their humans, if we just give our time and patience. Just remember that rabbits are very sensitive and feel vulnerable, and as a result want to be very aware of their surroundings. Just lay on the ground for a minute and look at the world from their eyes, and you'll understand better why they're so sensitive and a little insecure - everything looks so big from their viewpoint!

The very best way to get closer to your rabbits is to sit on the floor/ground while you let them explore, and they'll eventually come and explore you - and have some food with you, so that when they approach you, you can show them that you're a friend with this food - a little slice of carrot, or apple, or banana. But don't try to force them, wait until they approach you. Another thing you can try is laying on your stomach ... when we do this, our bunn comes right up to my face and sits on the floor in front of me. But this will only happen when they've had plenty of hours and days to explore first! The longer you have them in your company, the more they will become familiar with your room, and then will settle down, sit down and relax, and then you can pet them. Another tip, keep things the same around your room, so that they don't have to begin their explorations from scratch every time. Bunnies need their areas to be the same every day ... this is how they feel safest and become calmest and more interested in you.

Here's a few excellent articles on rabbit care, behaviour and communication -
http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittal... - this one is SO good - how to translate bunny behaviour and language!

Additionally, here's a few articles on aggressive rabbits and how to deal with them -
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/age-related-behavior.html
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-2/mean-rabbit.html
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/aggression.html

And more general info -
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmVwuwYeeKDZ58Zd.L169SLsy6IX?qid=20060725170557AAUOWsu
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rabbits/a/?once=true&
http://www.tagyerit.com/hopline/cold.htm
http://www.rabbit.org/
http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/
http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/bunnyhouserabbits.html - this is my site - please have a browse and enjoy!

Answer 4

Handling the rabbit often seems to make them friendlier over time. But most rabbit can be mean especially females when in heat

Answer 5

How much time do you spend with her? Maybe you should just sit and read next to her cage so that she can get used to you and your scent. Rabbits are very food oriented so whenever you come by give a treat. Don't pick her up they hate that.

Answer 6

Change her name to Stew and have her for dinner. My dad raised rabbits to eat when I was growing up and the females(does) always seemed a little mean, but they sure tasted good!

Answer 7

Have her spayed. The hormones can make them cranky and territorial. Sometimes it's the breed or bloodline genetics.

Answer 8

is the other rabbit a male? because they seem to get along better like that ...and they luv to be with other bunnies .......try letting her out to hop around more often ...thats wat i did and i found that my rabbit was being nicer then

Answer 9

have her for Sunday dinner