2 boys -- need advice

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Racheler

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Hi! We have 1 black dutch rabbit, 7 months old, going for his snip thursday. We just got an 8 week old black 'mixed' bunny, also male. Right now they are kept apart, although they can see and smell each other through the wire pens. I let them out to roam the house at different times so the older one doesn't spend his time humping and bullying the younger one. Our 8 month dutch, Oreo, spends his free time circling the young BlackTim's pen, dropping poos the whole time. Oreo always uses his litterbox for all pee and most poos, at least he did until the young BlackTim came into the house. BlackTim spends his free time exploring all around w/o much time spent peering in at Oreo.
A few questions:
1. Will the snip stop Oreo's trying to hump and bully BlackTim?
2. How old must BlackTim be before he gets his snip?
3. How soon after the snip do you think we could let Oreo and BlackTim share a home? Right now Oreo has a 3 level converted dog crate and BlackTim has a smaller one level X-pen. Ideally we would like them to get along together and share the 3 level dog crate and roam together at playtime. Do we need to wait until BlackTim has had his snip too?
Any help, advice, experience would be most helpful and appreciated!
 
1. The neuter should help Oreo's behavior, but remember that it can take 4-6 weeks for the hormones to die down - it won't be immediate.

2. Tim can probably get snipped at 4 or 5 months. Some vets will even do it at 3 if his testicles have decended. You'll just need to talk to your vet.

3. After neutering both you'll need to wait at least 4 weeks for hormones to die down. Then you'll need to work through bonding by introducing them in a neutral space for short amounts of time. Reading the bonding threads and bonding section of the library should help. Two males can be difficult, but it can be done. Just make sure both are neutered before trying as unneautered males can be very territorial.
 
I'm having a bit of trouble with the humping business atm. I'm trying to bond my two buns, who are both males. They have been neutered for years now, and I've got past the aggression (through lots of patience I can tell you!!!), and now the only problem is the humping. This is EXACTLY how it goes each time.
Benji (the formerly aggressive one), will lick and groom Pippin for minutes and minutes on end. Then he will demand a groom in return, by lowering his head and shoving it under Pippin's nose. Pippin will either ignore him, and Benji will resume grooming Pippin and the cycle will continue, or Pippin will lick him for a few moments, and then proceed to hump his head.
Then.....fighting.

Every time!!! My patience is running a little thin.

Thick gloves and a dustpan and brush are always at the ready. But I don't really need them anymore- now I sort of just grab them and they immediately stop.

However, my Dad has just finished converting a HUGE shed into their little mansion, and it's divided in half with wire, so they can be together 24/7 without actually being together. They love to groom through bars, and I always find them asleep snuggled close through the bars.

So this gives me hope!!!!

Keep going, unless you have signs that it just isn't going to work. Patience is the key!!! I'm still going, and when I think of what it was like before, compared to now, i can't believe how far we've come.

Just remember:

Wait at least 4 mnths, as said previously, for the hormones to be completely out of his system
Short bonding periods, with gloves and brush at the ready
Look for warning signs- circling, tail upright, humping, aggressive behaviour, nipping etc., chasing
Nip problems in the bud- you see them circling, stop them immediately and replace them back in their cages for a few minutes. And then return.
Patience! It can be done! Not all bonding is easy, but once its there, you will be so glad you kept at it. :D

Good luck!

Jen
 
LOl hahaha sorry 4 weeks. You can see from my bad spelling that I was quickly typing that message.

It is most certainly NOT 4 months :D
 
soooo -- um, should i have gotten a male and female to bond if i wanted a better chance of bonding? ugh, my dh refused to allow us to get a female because the operation for males is only $100-130 and for females is $180-210 -- he's such a tightwad!!!!
 
Well it all depends on the bunny. Same sex bondings tend to be harder. The easiest in general is male-female, then female-female, then male-male. But plenty of people have bonded males and bonded females etc.

Just the easiest one is male-female, often. But it really does depend on the bunny too.

I wouldn't give up hope- it might just take a little longer for yours. :)
 
Jcotton, I believe the order of easiest bonding is actually male-female, male-male, then female-females. The females are actually more territorial than the males.
 
elrohwen wrote:
Jcotton, I believe the order of easiest bonding is actually male-female, male-male, then female-females. The females are actually more territorial than the males.
Click to expand...
Lol okay. Shut me up then :p

Either way I think it does depend a lot on your rabbit's personality, and how he/she gets on with certain other rabbits etc.
 
Actually that's pretty good news for me. I always thought that two males were the hardest. But there's definately more hope than I thought!! :p
 
Yep, two males are a bit easier than two females, usually. Often females are the dominant ones in a male-female pair, so putting two females together often results in two dominant personalities. Males are more likely to be laid back, making their bonding a bit easier, though you can still have territorial issues where one male doesn't want another in his territory.
 
Oreo makes lots and lots of normal, dry poos, but ever day makes a few (2-10)soft, moist ones. what should i do? could it be the new pellets? i got new ones as the old he refused -- must have gotten stale. he gets some apple, carrot, greens most days -- should i back off on those?
 
These are probably caecals- these are poops that the rabbit reingests (eat again). Cellulose is really hard to break down, and rabbits don't have an efficient enough digestion system. So they eat their poops again, and redigest it to get all the goodness out of it.

If your rabbit has a diet that is too "good", as it were, they don't need to eat these caecals again, so they are just left.

Try cutting down slightly on pellets, and encouraging more hay, and see if this helps. I wouldn't cut back on veggies if he is only getting some every few days, unless the cutting back pellets doesn't work.

:)
 
In addition to what Jcotton posted, I would cut out the apple and any other treats. Often bunnies overproduce cecals as the result of too many carbohydrates (ie sugars) in their diets.
 
elrohwen wrote:
In addition to what Jcotton posted, I would cut out the apple and any other treats. Often bunnies overproduce cecals as the result of too many carbohydrates (ie sugars) in their diets.
Click to expand...
That's a good point
 
oreo had his snip yesterday and is still pretty drowsy appearing, but pooing, nibbling, and drinking ok, but his poos are aboutevenly divided soft ones and normal ones -- could this be do to the op? i have not let him have any fruit or greens since a day before the op -- just hay and pellets and he isn't gorging on them, just nibbling when he feels like it and he doesn't get much -- maybe a 1/4 cup a day. also -- i am keeping him in a smaller one-level pen for now -- how soon can he safely be put back into his huge 3 level run?
 
Glad to hear he's doing well after his surgery! Since he's recovering, I would make sure he's eating - whether that's greens or pellets, as long as he's eating and drinking he's doing pretty well.

As for the soft poos, that's pretty normal and I believe it's a result of the anesthesia. I wouldn't worry about his poo issues until he's had a few days to recover, then you can reassess.

I would keep him in the one level enclosure for a week. If after a week his incision site is healing well and not swollen, he can probably go back to his multilevel cage.
 
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