How to stop him biting? :(

MJ keeps biting me and it blooming hurts!

Its not aggression, he is just REALLY enthusiastic about his food and sometimes my fingers get in the way- has has broken skin in the past

We have to feed/give them them seperately because MJ inhales his in a nanosecond and then steals T's. I try to hand feed him a few pellets at a time so make him eat slower but he can be quite nippy because of the way he grabs at them and he boxes/digs/nips my other hand until all the pellets are gone!

Any suggestions on how to get him to calm down a bit when we are feeding him?  

This is one of the reasons that I feed my pair using a treat ball - it evens up the chances of both buns getting equal rations.

As for the nipping, squeal really loud so he knows he is hurting you.

Unfortunately making noises doesn't bother him, he just ignores it (actually when we first got him I was starting to wonder if he was deaf because he was so not bothered by things that would bother T). I have a treat ball but the problem is T's treat ball tactic is to roll it around for a while then go back and collect the treats. MJ's tactic is to follow T while she rolls it about and clean up all the treats behind her :/

I'm sorry hunni I just don't know. Could you pop the good in a different place and let the into that space once it is ready ?

I would still persevere with the treatball as it will stop some of the territorial behaviour re. the food. Remember that as long as Temperance is getting lots of hay and fresh food, she will not really miss out by having minimal pellets.

Maybe you need to introduce some clicker training for MJ as well so he really has to work for his food. With time he will learn to wait for the food.

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote:I would still persevere with the treatball as it will stop some of the territorial behaviour re. the food. Remember that as long as Temperance is getting lots of hay and fresh food, she will not really miss out by having minimal pellets.

Maybe you need to introduce some clicker training for MJ as well so he really has to work for his food. With time he will learn to wait for the food.

Its not territorial, he just wants the food soooooooo much. The times when he has hurt me its not an intentional bite, its been trying to grab food. He will jump into the air for food! They share food quite happily and you can pester him whilst he's eating and he won't bother its just he eats so fast! I was wanting to try and clicker train him, perhaps that will be the solution! I will invest in a clicker and give that a try

You don't need to invest in a clicker - a clicky pen will do.

If only I had read that post ten minutes sooner, I ordered a clicker as soon as I finished posting!

Wish me luck!

I have the same problem with Esme and Rudy, I've lost count of the times both of them have drawn blood. Esme does seem to have responded quite well to the loud ouch and is more gentle butt not all the time and still sometimes catches me out.   Maybe I should see if I can learn anything here as I've just given up and regarded it as part of their personalities and take great care when passing them food!

Willow's just the same. I've just learned to be extra careful when feeding her, and Mojo is pretty good at defending himself/his food so that's not too much of a problem.

I hope the clicker training goes well for you

Theo and Reuben are very excitable around food. Theo does tend to box but he's not a bitey bun.

Could it be that they need more hay more often? Since Theo and Reuben have been getting more hay through the day, they're not nearly so excitable.

Father Jack wrote:Theo and Reuben are very excitable around food. Theo does tend to box but he's not a bitey bun.

Could it be that they need more hay more often? Since Theo and Reuben have been getting more hay through the day, they're not nearly so excitable.

They have unlimited hay 24/7 (loose and a compressed block) and I top it up regularly so its definitely not that- If anything I think I maybe give them too much hay going by the amount that goes in the bin when I am cleaning them out!