What should you do about your aggressive male rabbit?

Answer 1

When you have an aggressive rabbit (male or female), the first thing to do is rule out medical reasons. Bring him to a special "rabbit-savvy" vet for a complete health screening. When you're sure your rabbit is healthy, you can move on to the next step:

Neuter your rabbit. There are many reasons why experts recommend that you neuter/spay your rabbits, but behavioral improvement is a big one (less aggression, territoriality, messy and sexual habits in general). The surgery is very safe when performed by a special "rabbit savvy" vet on a young rabbit.

Provide your rabbit with a secure habitat. This means a home that is secure from his point of view, not just your point of view. Rabbits are prey animals, so they tend to be very concerned with security, and they will suffer from stress and act out with negative behaviours if they feel insecure. Some ideas include:

• Put a box in his enclosure to hide in, with two doors in the sides so he won't feel trapped, and always leave him alone if he's in there unless it's an emergency. (This can be a fancy woven grass burrow from a store, or it can double with his litter box if you have a lidded variety, or a plain cardboard box -- just remove tape, shiny stickers, bleached labels, staples.)
• Try not to disturb his enclosure at all, except when necessary for cleaning, and then try to minimize the disruption.
• When he's out and about, let him approach you on his own terms; don't restrain him, don't pick him up, let him act with free will (within limits of safety): help him build trust in you by treating him with respect
• Try to keep him away loud noises, chaos, stress

Socialize your rabbit. Spend as much time around him as possible without forcing him to interact with you. Just let him get used to you. Talk to him a lot, and put your hand out to be sniffed whenever you walk by. Encourage him whenever he shows interest in you or other people. Pet him gently whenever he lets you.

Answer 2

If he is about 7 months old, it could be that he's reaching sexual maturity. Rabbits are sometimes aggressive because of hormones/sexuality, and sometimes because of fear/anger/insecurity.

It's widely recommended that pet rabbits are spayed/neutered. Rabbits must never be allowed to fight: they can seriously injure themselves, and even a small cut can turn into a huge abscess if not treated properly.

Otherwise, there are a few things you can do to help your rabbit be less aggressive. There are a lot of resources online that can help you. Refer to the related question linked below for information and links.