We've talked about what an aggressive rabbit does, and we know that a rabbit does not attack without warning. There are signals, most often several of them, that give us the opportunity to avoid escalated aggression and turn the situation around.
Let’s say you go to put a new toy into your rabbit’s ex-pen. As your hand moves down into the area, the ears go back. Stop right there. You got a signal, and now you can use this situation to modify your rabbit’s response!
Watch your rabbit closely! As soon as you see an unhappy signal, stop and evaluate the whole environment.
Are you making a noise? Are you moving quickly? What are your arms and legs doing?
Are you “coming in from above” like a dangerous predatory animal would? Remember rabbits are not only prey, and therefor wary of anything coming from above, but your rabbit may have some bad experiences from a past home.
Rabbits don’t like to be picked up. Your rabbit may have been in a place where they were picked up often, or improperly. She may now have learned that hands coming from above mean being handled poorly.
Did your hand just appear suddenly in front of your rabbit’s face, and startle him? Rabbit have terrific distance vision, so they can identify and react to predatory threats. Their near vision, however, isn’t good at all. A hand in front of your rabbit’s face can be a startling threat. If we think like a rabbit a little bit more, we remember that rabbits get in each other’s faces as part of dominance negotiations…the submissive rabbit runs away. So your hand may also be interpreted by your rabbit as a dominance move. A submissive rabbit may run away, but a more confident dominant rabbit may nip or even bite.
Do you smell like something that might be dangerous? Rabbits have a great sense of smell, and we know they are not only super sensitive to predator threats but they also don’t like new stuff.
The smallest things can be triggers, and each rabbit has their own set of fears. It is important to take the time and think about every little detail, no matter how small. Use all the senses. Break down every factor into smaller parts. It could be that your rabbit is afraid of bracelets, because once she got a paw tangled up in one. Or maybe she’s afraid of eyeglasses, because a pair once fell on her and scared her.
Make some notes. Study each situation: feeding, opening the play area door, cleaning the litter box. Keep everything as constant as humanly possible. Eliminating variables will help you determine the triggers more quickly.
Up next: modifying aggressive behavior.
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