beth89 Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Around a fortnight ago I bought a 15 week old blue otter rex from the same breeder I bought the tamest and most loving rabbit called Fiver who sadly died suddenly a few months ago. However, I bought Fiver at 8 weeks and had him neutered by this age. My new rex (Pete) is the exact opposite! He bites me, he scratches me, he attacks my dogs, he attacks my cat, he charges at my partner and growls and jumps like a possessed creature from the floor to his knee on the settee just to bite him......... He also needs masses of exercise but will not use his run and so has to have the (supervised) run of the garden or the house (with the other animals safely out of harms reach). I handle him every day, he has constant access to a run and several hours mad running and skipping of many metres of house and garden every day. He is slowly getting better, but apart from neutering as I am getting him booked in as soon as I can take him, does anyone have every advice of how to calm him down and even better, how to tire the little monster out? The only thing I've found that works at all is rabbit massage... sounds a bit hippyish but it works! By the way, the bites are most definitely bites and not playful nips.... they are of the bleeding and painful variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyChickenLover- Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 He'll improve after he gets castrated. He'll also improve with time It look my two girlies months before they were confident around me. I think that maybe he is attacking your other pets because he feels threatened by them. Are they running around freely with your rabbit? If he doesn't improve much after getting neutered then there are some things that you can plug in to an electrical socket to calm pets down. It's mainly for cats and dogs on fireworks night etc but I think it would work for bunnies too. I think it's called DAP or something like that, I'm not really sure. I love giving my bunnies massages It's so sweet how they just sit there, hypnotised for ages. I hope you can find a way to make him a bit better soon Edit: Can't seem to find the DAP thing. It looks like DAP is only for dogs. I'll keep looking, I'm sure there's one out there for all animals. There's one called Feliway for cats, but I'm certain that there's one that works for all animals because when I was at the vets I saw one which had a picture of a dog, cat and rabbit on the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meganymoo Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Maybe when your catching him put a towel over his head! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clucker1 Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 As soon as you have picked him up, you stroke him strongly on the top of his head. This should mean to him you are in charge ie dominating him . Do this every time you pick him up. It worked with our female bunny. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth89 Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 Thankyou for all the advice! I've been doing the stroking on his head and it does seem to work! Also I've made a massive extension to his run for him to run in to his heart's content. I am now in the process of creating a 'dig box' for him by filling a large trough? (spelling?). All I can think of his compost.... any better ideas? P.S I don't think he feels threatened by them, he actively seeks them out even if they are hiding from him. He made my poor crestie bleed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumblecheekyuggs Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Maybe put some treats in the dig box, this may help keep him entertained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
