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Bun~Bun

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Location
, Virginia, USA
Today, I thought I should let the buns run around in my room. They need to come out.
I kept them separated from each other for a few days due to alittle dominance humping and wrestling that unfortuantly turned intobiting and Cocoa wildly tearing Bun-Bun's fur out. (Read more in BunnyBlogs.)
I didn't whant my buns to be separated for ever.
Well, they started out fine. Bun-Bun's usual "chase the mini-rex"accured, but I kept my eye on him and thumped my foot and he stopped.They played around under the bed like they like to do.
Though, I got caught off guard when I was whatching Maury. Thewrestling and mounting started again. Bun-Bun was totally out matchedand soon gave up and layed behind the cage worn out and resting. Lucklythere wasn't isn't biting this time. But I noticed some strangebehavior out of Cocoa. He would look strait in Bun's face and bare histeeth. It looked like he was yawning, but he did this several times -only when looking in Bun's face. Bun found no interrest in him, but hedid get up once and stomped his foot and let out a grunt. The wrestlingstarted again whith their heads on each others shoulder and spinningaround and around till poor Bun-Bun didn't know where he was going andhit himself into aquarium stand. I whent to pick both up and put themback in their cages.
When you think about it, it's great that Cocoa's defending him self -but not like this. He's actually the one who started it thistime. I don't whant this to continue.

Rabbits can be extremely aggressive, but I don't whant my rabbits separated for ever. That would horrible.
I know that this is most likely becuase of how Bun-Bun harrassed him,not to mention Cocoa will be turning 1 soon, and he's learned that he'sa little bigger than Bun-Bun.

Any thing I can do to reduce this problem? I do not whant them separated for ever and I whant them to both get along.
I would appreciate any advice.

Thanx!!

 
How old are they? Are theyspayed/neutered? If they are in the teen stage, this cancause more than normal aggressive behavior. Spaying/neuteringwill also help w/ the aggression. Maybe you could try asmaller area for their playtime where you can more closely monitor thebehavior. See the signs that aggression may begin.You can read up on this in bunny 101. Have you read up onbonding? Seeing the signs and stopping it before it starts isone of the best things you can do. Rabbitsremember. They will remember a bad fight and this may nothelp in getting them to bond.

Starting out w/ them in a smaller space should help to, and then ifthey are doing well, gradually expand the space. Also, tryshorter sessions.:D
 
They are not neutured. I don'tneuture/spay my pets other than my cat(Becuase he goes outside and Idon't whant him to reproduce.). I took my own risk on that, sinceNeuturing and Spaying can cuase health problems such as lumps, tumors,and the common obesity - and my dog after spayed soon got all 3 - anddied from it. My female spayed cat suffers obesity from it.My male dog started getting real fat after beingneutured. And my animals eat a fine diet.
Plus Cocoa will become a county show rabbit and will be bred.

But that's just what I've witnessed and I'm not taking a risk.

But I will take your advice and read upon it in Bunny 101 and havetheir play time in a smaller area and shorter sessions. I whish wewould get some snow. They love digging through the snow tgether on theporch(Our porch is small.). I bet that would cheer them up!!

Thanx a bunches!! *Smooches from Bun-Bun and Cocoa.*
Time to eat though. I'll be back tommarow.


Snuffles wrote:
How old are they? Are theyspayed/neutered? If they are in the teen stage, this cancause more than normal aggressive behavior. Spaying/neuteringwill also help w/ the aggression. Maybe you could try asmaller area for their playtime where you can more closely monitor thebehavior. See the signs that aggression may begin.You can read up on this in bunny 101. Have you read up onbonding? Seeing the signs and stopping it before it starts isone of the best things you can do. Rabbitsremember. They will remember a bad fight and this may nothelp in getting them to bond.

Starting out w/ them in a smaller space should help to, and then ifthey are doing well, gradually expand the space. Also, tryshorter sessions.:D
Click to expand...
 
Yes!! I know to not keep 2 un-fix species of theopposite sex together atleast whith direct supervision!!(Esp. not living in cages together!!)
Oh, ya, and I forgot to add, Cocoa is turning 1 next week, and Bun-Bunis turning 5 in June. I think Bun-Bun is not intentually(Spelling.)being mean even though he bullies by mounting, but I think he's angryand maybe depressed cause now that Cocoa is "dominating" him(Heactually turned his nose up at a pretzle!!). Bun-Bun was allways thebig kahuna of the pets.
 
Just so you know, what I meant by "if they werefemales and didn't get them spayed", I meant that because they areprone to getting cancer of the uterus and such, that would bebad.:D At least their both males in this respect.

Maybe BunBun is trying to adjust. How long have you had Cocoa?

The shorter sessions and smaller space should really help.:)
 
Yep...that's why I was asking...just in case. :)

Males have the potential to get testical cancer, but it's a much lower risk.

Snuffles wrote:
Just so you know, what Imeant by "if they were females and didn't get them spayed", I meantthat because they are prone to getting cancer of the uterus and such,that would be bad.:D
Click to expand...
 
I knew a bunny who had testicular cancer - hecouldn't be neutered due to an accident that left his hind legsparalyzed. (Mishandling prior to his being rescued.) It's not somethingI'd want to see happen to anyone's bunny....

Aside from that, hormonally-related agression issues decrease afterneutering. My educated guess is that your boys would have the potentialfor becoming good friends post-neuter - certainly more so than now.
 
Honestly, you've been trying this for so longthat I don't think it will happen without neutering them. Iknow it's your choice, but I've honestly never had a problem with myanimals that have been spayed/neutered. The only fat one is akitten who learned to overeat when she was a stray, so she only getslimited food. My parent's adult cats never got fat until theywere older, and I have several friends with very trim older dogs thatwere spayed/neutered as puppies. As for my 5 rabbits, they'reall at the right weight, if not slightly under.

Anyway, neutering is probably your only option right now. Areyou sure you want to breed Cocoa? I thought you had limitedfunds for vet bills, and pregnancy complications can be very expensiveand dangerous.
 
Ok I am not going to go in to the benifits of neutering.

What I will say is if you plan on showing Cocoa you may want to seperate them before he is injured and can not be shown.
 
I recently got me a weekend job. One of thereasons why I wan't around for a while - that's on the weekends though- other reasons are a little personal.
I got both to the vet. And Cocoa's eye problem FINALLY DIS-CONTINUED -but there could be an allergy, becuase occassionally I will see himsneeze and his eyes would water a little bit. But it's alotbetter and none of that dischage and matted fur under hiseyes. Bun-Bun's sneezing(He had a sneezing promblemdeveloping.) stop whith some anti-biotics. He had a little respitoryinfection - luckly there was no severe problems and no raspybreathing(The worst sighn.).
Even though it doesn't pay great, I'm still able to take care of mypet's needs and smoking habit(Don't get me wrong, I will allways put mypets before my cigarrete habit.). I'm going to need a better one, causeI was denied from Social Security and I need to afford my medication orI will end up in a bad situation. Plus I really don't like this job, Ihave to work out side and it's cold.
I know becoming a show breeder is hard. Back then I got in trouble whith the county fair when I tried to show Bun-Bun.
When Cocoa is bred, I WILL see the litter this time, cause when I bredBun-Bun whith 2 rabbit owners - I never got to see the litter.
And it ain't gonna be some "semi-breeders" this time!!
If I happend to not have the money - then I'm not going to do it. I know I can be dumb, but I'm not an idiot. :bunny17:
 
I have to tell you, I bonded two neutered malesand it was one of the most difficult things I ever did. Many peoplewill tell you to not even attempt it with two boys, and thats twonuetered boys. I think two intact males are about impossible tobond. One of your bunnies could get severly hurt during these bondingsessions.

The risk for neutering males is very minimal. Mine were upand running that same night. Not only did it cut down on theiraggression, but it also improved their litter box behavior and overallattitude.
 
I've had Cocoa ever since he was 5 weeks old.They both got along great. (Though bun would bullie him by mountinghim.) This issue was sudden.
This morning, I let them out for 30 minuets and they played whith thesheets under my bed. No mounting(Not even from Bun!!) or wrestling.Bun-Bun hopped backed into his cage for some reason and didn't whant toplay any more(Some thing I wouldn't expect out of him.). Butatleast they did not start the rough housing again. Cocoararely gets disaplined, but yesterday he did by me yelling "NO!!" andstomping my foot infront of him. He probably understands that he didsome thing wrong. And Bun-Bun's probably just ticked off at whathappend. I have a good thought that this may clear up.
 
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