Male grunting and trying to box female?

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BunnyBusiness

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May 9, 2017
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Middle of nowhere, OK
Forgive me for posting a lot lately but I want to learn a lot for my rabbits.
Previously we thought the he was a she, and I think we're pretty sure the lop is a female.
What caught my attention is that ever since they've been separated they've been at each other's throat when one is out while I clean their cages. I use storage grids to fence off each other from getting to close but the male gets extremely mad when the lop gets near, he grunts a lot, he tries to box and has lunged at her and she doesn't even care. Recently she has been showing signs of hitting puberty (pooping outside of the litterbox and on my bed), and she does grunt at the male when he's near her cage but not nearly has bad, she just tried to rip her cage up out of frustration.

I would expect a male to not mind sharing space with a female, so is this normal for opposite sexes or could we have mis-sexed again? Because the attitude makes it seem like the lionhead is actually a female from how territorial it is.
 
Rabbits of any sex will be territorial. Two females can fight over territory in a heartbeat. So can two males. So could one male and one female. Especially when hormonal. Territorial behavior is no indication of sex.
 
Bunnies generally have trouble sharing space after the hormones begin to appear, no matter the sex - breeders will only put males with females for the actual breeding, not leave them together as chances are they would gut each other (or the male could get an express neuter sans anesthesia... yeah, it happens ^^'). You are right, males generally tolerate females better. But not always. Beside, if I remember correctly your rabbits are teenagers. You know how human teenagers hate everyone and are generally irritating to other people? It's the same with animals - teenagers are nuisances, I have wanted to kill every single animal I've had when hormones kicked in until they got spayed / neutered (for rabbits it looks like it's the only solution) or matured. What I mean is that maybe you got the sexes wrong. But it's also possible your rabbit hate his roommate just because he thinks she smells funny or that he doesn't like her face. If I were you, I would take the rabbits (in separate carriers!) to a vet to get them sexed for sure. I hope for you that you have a male / female couple because same sex couples are a lot trickier, especially since you seem to have little experience with bonding rabbits. If you've got a male (or worse, two!) I would get him neutered now. Then keep him separated from the female (hopefully) until you can get her spayed (around 7 - 8 months). There are exceptions but almost my rabbits, especially males, were unmanageable before getting fixed - the troublesome behaviors stopped on the day of the operation for all of them. I always felt it was like a small miracle (seriously, Tybalt especially was the worst as a teenager, he did every textbook hormonal behavior possible... I could have kissed the vet for neutering him ^^).
 
The female has plans for being spayed, I plan to check out one of the vets listed in Tulsa if she still works, the one that does them for $45 since I'm on a college student budget, but the male will be bred, and man bunnies can sure be super mean. Thanks for the answers. :)
 
No problem! But you realise that you won't ever be able to put them together if the male is intact right? An intact male will try to mount a female, even spayed, and she probably won't take it well. The fact that he sounds a bit agressive won't help (and, just saying, but if the agression continues into adulthood, he is probably not a good candidate for breeding - agression is not a desirable trait that you want to pass on to babies and I definitely wouldn't buy a young from a rabbit who lunges and grunts at others on sight...)
 
I understand, and yes I knew about that, the male would annoy the female and a fight would break out, and thanks on that tip, if he does keep showing aggression like that towards another female then we won't use him.
 
Please get both rabbits spay/neutered as soon as possible. Shelters offer low-cost spay/neutering as do some vets. Rabbits are territorial animals and the fighting has to do with not being spay/neutered. Sometimes though nothing can help with fighting and you will have to keep them separated. If one tears up the other, the vet bill can run about $1,000 or more for stitches. Rabbits can easily kill each other by fighting.
 
An intact male rabbit can kill a spayed female out of sexual frustration. Please also neuter the male. It will take a few months or more for his high testosterone to level off. So you won't see results right away. Also, if the desire to attack the female is not just sexual, and is psychological, and he just does not like her, he will continue to attack her even after his hormone levels have decreased.
 
I'm going to Tulsa this weekend so I'll look for shelters and vets that do it for a good price, if you know of one already please let me know because I want to get it done as soon as possible. I already have planned to keep them away from each other and move mine to my room as soon as she's spayed.
 

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