How Do You Stop a Rabbit Biting? (Aggression Solutions)

Rabbits are amazing companions but it takes time and a lot of work to build a trusting relationship. Possibly one of the most challenging aspects of any pet including rabbits is dealing with aggression. Sometimes this can be a lunge or a scratch but occasionally you may experience a painful bite. In this short post, we’ll be looking at the reasons that a rabbit may bite you and talk about how you can get better behavior from your pet. However, if you’re in a hurry, here are some quick steps you can take to stop your rabbit biting.

Neuter or spay the rabbit as soon as possible, usually between 4 and 6 months of age.
Spend time with the rabbit daily and work on your bond.

Provide a safe and secure area away from noise and other pets.
Allow the rabbit to approach you for handling and never surprise it.
Respect the rabbit’s territory and occasional need for peace and quiet.

Stopping Aggression in Rabbits

There are a lot of things you can do to help stop aggressive behavior in rabbits. As intelligent animals teaching them that biting is not an okay behavior is easily achievable. Distracting them using techniques such as hand clapping (or other loud noises) and re-directing their attention to things that they can bite such as toys or treats are some of the common ways that you can train your rabbit to not bite but firstly, here are a couple of things some other things you should tick off first.

1) Rabbits Should be Neutered or Spayed

Aggression can be caused by hormones and if you have suddenly found you have an angry bunny on your hands it may be that the pet is reaching sexual maturity. While baby bunnies will not usually display aggression, once it reaches adulthood, hormones and associated sexual frustration will increase, often leading to increased aggression.

Having your rabbit spayed or neutered as soon as they are old enough will help to decrease bad behavior from the bunny towards you and other potential companion bunnies.

2) Work to Build Trust

As prey animals, rabbits can become very easily stressed and when they feel threatened may attack in response. Working on your relationship and bonding with the bunny is an important first step if you want the pet to see you as a friend. This takes time but you can read all about some techniques to bond with your rabbit in our post here.

In basic terms, building your relationship through kind behavior is the best long-term strategy to avoid a bite. Start by approaching your rabbit slowly, carefully place your hands on them and gently pet them. In time they will realize that you pose no threat.

3) Never Be Aggressive

Rabbits don’t take kindly to aggression of any kind so shouting, hitting or manhandling your bunny are complete no-no’s. All of these negative owner responses to being bitten will destroy any trust your rabbit has in you, make the pet fearful. This becomes a vicious circle where the animal is even more likely to bite. We’ll talk more about acceptable punishments for rabbits a little later but if you want to check those out now, you can read our post here.

Why is My Rabbit Biting Me All of a Sudden?

If your rabbit is biting and you have ruled out hormones as a possible cause it may be due to one of these reasons.

1) Curiosity

Rabbits are very curious creatures and one of the main ways for them to explore the world around them is with their mouths. Known to chew anything and everything in their paths including you, if your rabbit is starting to bite you as it explores, try setting up an interesting roam space full of toys and chewable toys to focus its attention on.

2) Territorial Behavior

Sometimes aggression can be due to territorial behavior. If you just introduced your bun to a new companion it may start aggressive behavior as a way to show its dominance. Rabbits will even use aggression to try to assert their dominance over people in their house. Most rabbits who are aggressive will also growl and stomp their feet at you or another bunny.

Other rabbits become very accustomed to their space being a certain way and may bite you when you try to clean up their area. These rabbits can be very territorial and may attempt to bite your hand anytime you put it in their cage or space.

3) Attention Seeking

Some rabbits will bite people when they want attention. If you’re in their room they may hop over to you and bite your hand. This means that they want you to pet them. Learning to spot the signs that your rabbit wants attention and giving them some fuss regularly will help decrease this behavior. Play with your rabbit often especially if it has not got a rabbit companion to play with.

4) Showing Affection

Some rabbits will give you a small soft bite followed by a licking. This is not usually aggressive but more likely their way of showing you that they love you. Although a nip may hurt Its important to try to understand the difference between an affectionate nip and an aggressive bite. Always respond accordingly and avoid reacting negatively in any way that might destroy the trust you have worked hard to build up.

5) Illness or Injury

If your rabbit is an established pet but has suddenly started biting you there may be something more serious going on. Both pain and illness can cause your rabbit to suddenly start to bite (especially if picking the pet up is causing an increase in the pain).

Teeth problems or conditions such as GI stasis are very painful and may cause your bunny to bite you. Both conditions will probably be accompanied by a lack of appetite and/or tooth grinding but even in the absence of these symptoms, if your once happy and playful bunny has seemingly had a change in character (that can’t be attributed to hormones) schedule an appointment with your veterinarian to rule out these and any other possible underlying medical conditions.

Why Do Rabbits Bite Your Clothes?

Bunnies are very curious and like to examine clothes and other fabrics through digging and nibbling. Fabrics such as fleece seem to be of particular interest to rabbits and digging scratching and biting is often the way that rabbits prepare a comfortable ‘flopping’ spot.

Although this is all part of rabbits’ natural behavior, understandably you would not be too happy to have your pet nibble straight through a new pair of pants. To deter a rabbit from chewing on clothing or other things in your house, give them enough objects and enrichment for them to focus their attention on. Why not check out our recent post where we cover a lot of our favorite rabbit toys for some ideas.

How Do You Punish a Rabbit?

Punishment is a very strong term and of course you should never punish a bunny for any actions that amount to it simply following its deep ingrained natural instincts.

That said there are many ways you can encourage ‘good’ behavior through gentle discipline. These techniques can all be applied successfully to discourage aggressive behavior. Click here to read our post describing the best rabbit discipline techniques.

6 Ways to Stop a Rabbit Biting

1) Get the rabbit neutered or spayed

2) Provide a safe, secure and peaceful home

3) Treat the rabbit with kindness at all times

4) Provide enrichment using toys and chewable items

Another great way to help deter your rabbit from biting is to redirect their biting to something appropriate for them to chew on. This may be a toy or treat that is approved for bunnies to chew on. Rabbits are always looking for something to chew on. By providing them with plenty of hay and toys will help decrease them from biting you.

5) Encourage good behavior using occasional treats

Rabbits love sweet foods and although we don’t endorse overfeeding sugary processed foods, the occasional treat is a great way to show your pet that you are kind and can be trusted. Treats also make a great distraction as you approach your hand to gently stroke them.

Over time the bunny will start to associate your approach with a pleasant experience. Eventually, you will have earned the animal’s trust and you can approach even without the tasty treat. Rabbit treats do not have to be expensive, check out our recipe for our DIY Bunny Bliss Bites here.

6) Use noise as a deterrent

When trying to deter your rabbit from biting you, one technique you can try is the use of loud sounds. When your bunny bites you, let out a semi-loud squeal and tell them ‘no’. Clapping your hands at them as you tell them ‘no’ when they are biting other animals or objects will gradually convince them that this is not acceptable behavior.

Wrap Up

There are many different reasons that your rabbit may bite you but by observing your rabbits behavior you can learn what they are trying to tell you and work to eliminate the cause.

Rabbits will respond best to a calm and gentle environment that helps them feel safe. By observing your rabbit and seeing how it reacts to certain situations you should be able to figure out what is causing bad behaviors and decrease the occurrence of the stimulus.

If you cannot get your rabbit to stop biting, make an appointment with your vet to make sure that your rabbit is healthy.