Rabbit Lunging Reasons

A rabbit is said to lunge when it suddenly thrusts its body forward towards you, another rabbit, or pet. This may at times be followed by boxing, jaw snapping, nipping or biting.

You may also notice his or her ears held back and he may growl, grunt, snort or hiss. Circling will indicate that a fight is about to break out.

Just before lunging, your bunny may have a “tense body, upright tail, laid-back ears.”[1] This is the same posture that this pet will have when it is about to bite or attack another rabbit, pet or you.

Why rabbits lunge

For you to be able to decode the message being sent by this body language, you need to consider the context under which it happened. There are many circumstances when a bunny may display this behavior and they include the following:

A sign of disapproval

Lunging may be noted when you go into the cage to clean it, take your bunny out or give him or her food. When your bunny lunges, it is trying to say, ‘get away from here’, ‘ what are you doing’, and so on.

Let your furry friend get used to you doing these chores, place your hand over his head and hold him or her down for a few seconds to show him or her that you are dominant or let him to his run or playpen to go exercise.

If unneutered, being territorial may be the reason why he or she does this. The bunny is only trying to protect his or her territory. You should consider neutering and spaying your bunnies.

Frightened or startled

Besides disapproval, it is possible for your furry critters to lunge at you if you startle them or if they perceive you as a threat.[2] For instance, placing your hand near his face could startle him and make him think you are a threat. Remember these pets are far-sighted and they may not see things nearer to them so well.

Therefore, avoid frightening or cornering this pet since being a prey animal, it will naturally want to flee and if there is nowhere it can flee to, it will turn aggressive by lunging and biting you.

Trying to get food from your hand

Some rabbits may lunge if you have food on your hand that you were trying to give to them but you hesitated. A bunny will do so while trying to knock the food off your hand and get to it faster.[3] This might be due to its overly excited about the food.

Always avoid hesitating or teasing your bunny while feeding it and schedule times when you give it food to avoid this behavior.

Conclusion

Other factors including stress, wanting to pick your bunny when it does not want, pain among others can encourage this behavior.

To correctly decode the message your furry friend is trying to pass to you, consider the context or circumstances under which it happened since these animals may have a slight way of communicating or sending messages.