baby bunny being chased....

[anneq]

Hey all; Well, I got Sam home from the vet yesterday, neuter went off w/o a hitch - his appetite is good - he was a bit more quiet than normal last night - kept him inside and he visited a bit with the youngest we kept from his litter (Smudge is about 6weeks). Today he was more chipper, so I kept him in the outdoor porch (all enclosed). My son & daughter noticed that he was acting a bit aggressive towards the youngster (chasing and nipping) so we took him out. Later this afternoon since the weather finally got nice after 2 days of rain, I let him go in our outdoor run with Rosey, his mate - of course I stayed out there with them both, and they were fine. I then had my husband bring Smudge out to the pen so he could get some fresh air and exercise, but after about 5mins Sam starts chasing him....I put Sam in his cage, and just let Smudge and mom have their space...then his mom starts chasing him..she is put in her cage. Up until this day, neither parent acted that way towards any of their litter..in fact, Sam would clean the babies..never chased or nipped..and certainly never saw mom do it.. so..what's up with this? Is this due to the male being neutered? Is it mom and dad kicking the baby out of the nest, so to speak? Any information would be much appreciated..would hate to think I need to keep them seperated all the time, when before there was no problem.

 

[paul2641]

Well I would say momma rabbit is trying to claim all dominance while father is in a weak position. And baby is just getting the brunt of it.

 

[TinysMom]

I am not sure why your rabbit did that - but I hope the vet told you that he can still get your female pregnant for another 4-6 weeks and they should be kept separated (unless the doe is neutered which I'm suspecting she's not if she has a young bunny like this).

 

[anneq]

Yes, I was aware that the doe can become pregnant after the male is neutered -that's why I was out there chaperoning them, so to speak.
I'll just have to take it slow and keep an eye on the interaction between the youngster and mom and dad

Would really like to hear from someone who may have had similar experience with this kind of thing.

 

[JadeIcing]

Do you know what the youngster is? Male? Female? He might not ever accept the baby once it hits puberty.

 

[JadeIcing]

Also you shouldn't let him do to much after the neuter.

 

[anneq]

No, don't know the gender yet of the baby..and had thought maybe that had something to do with it...I had read that generally a male needs about 1 day to recuperate from a neutering and can return to his normal pen/cage..he's not jumping up on stuff or anything strenuous (he's a real bum when it comes to exercise) and have checked him out and physically he's good - I beginning to think maybe it's just a shake-up in the heirarchy and things are getting sorted out with the neutering and all the other baby buns being adopted out...it's a lot to take in in one week.
Going to continue to observe his behaviour and only allow supervised visits with the other bun.

 

[Sabine]

Could mommy be pregnant again? Coco started rejecting her babies at that stage and I didn't realize she was expecting a second litter.

 

[anneq]

:nerves1anything is possible...guess there's only 1 way to find out..and time will tell if that's the case, but I was pretty vigilant in supervising them - but with all the accidental pregnancies I've heard/read of, I wouldn't be totally surprised

 

[anneq]

When I bring Mommy bunny inside, she acts perfectly civil to Smudge (the 7week old)
it's only when they're both in the outside pen that she attempts to chase him...

guess I'm going to have to work on re-introducing them slowly.

 

[anneq]

Just an update.
Have picked a neutral room in the house to 're-acquaint' dad bunny & the 2mos.old.
Good news is the dad didn't lunge, growl or attempt to bite like he had out in the outside pen.
Today, while Sam (the dad) was lying next to me on the floor (I was keeping a light hold of him on his shoulders)the youngster (Smudge) came up and flopped down next to dad, and at the point Sam started licking and cleaning Smudge for about 3mins.
I've done a couple sessions already with the 2 and so far, things are looking up.