Question:

Hi BudgetBunny!

So I just got a lionhead rabbit and I am in the taming process as she is quit shy. She will often hop away from my hand when I reach out to her. Today when I was offering treats to her she hopped up to me and was taking them from my hand but she was also nipping me. Sometimes it was quite hard! I stopped giving her treats as I didn’t want to reward this but I was wondering why she did this and if I should stop the behaviour or is she just exploring my hand with her mouth?

Thank you!

H.

Answer:

Hi H!

It sounds like you have one bossy bunny on your hands! It is good that you stopped giving her treats after she began nipping you. The next time that she bites let out a high pitched ‘eeeeeeeeeee’ sound. This is the sound that a rabbit makes when it is frightened and will hopefully show her that she’s hurting you. I am thinking that she is trying to be the boss and get more food from you by nipping so whatever you do don’t reward this behaviour in any way. Hopefully this will curb the behaviour. I know that you mentioned she is a little shy of your hand however when she is relaxing try to gently come up to her and pet her so that she begins to associate your hand with a good thing.

Bb Note: H replied to me a few days later to say that making that sound worked and her bunny hasn’t nipped since!