Bunny Noises

[thesmiths47]

Sorry its been a while

Just afew questions

We have had our dwarf lops Waffles & Treacle for about 6 months now, I have built them a very large two story cage (they grew out of the first one)in our shed it is5ft long, 4ft wide andeach floor is 3ft high theyare very happy chasing each other up and down the cage but I can't say I have ever heard them make any noise i.e squeaks or grunts. Why is this??

When I was a kid I had a french lop "splodge" he was avery big bunny and never stopped making funny squeaks and grunting noises if you went anywhere nearhis cage.

Also

We have had them checked, checked, checked and checked again they are both Definitely100 % girls or so the vet told me, so why should Waffles constantly want to hump the stuffing out of Treacles? is this something she will grow out of as I am afraid that she will harm her

Also

I have being trying to toilet train them using the littter tray method with no success.I even tried taking soiledshavings from the night box and puttingthat in the tray they just tipped it upside down (contempt I feel) I even fixed it to the floor of the cage they just emptied all the shavings out. They will onlypee in there night box any suggestions as to how I can stop this before they rot the bottom out of the cage and end up running free in the shed.

I thought rabbits would neverpee inthe area were they slept somthing about the smell and predators? "Splodge" would only pee in one corner ofhis cageand as faraway from his night box as he could get buthis night boxwas always bone dry

Cheers

DAVE

 

[polly]

Hi, in answer to you first question it tends to be dominance does are very dominant so it sound like she is letting the other girl know she is the boss. Is it happening more at feeding time?

As for noises then some do some don't i have some that are really noisy and some that don't speak at all. it might change but don't worry about it. It could also be if your french lop wasn't neutered then he might have been noisy.

As for the peeing if they are soiling there then they will not be sleeping there. When i had huutches like yours they always did their business in the covered part, try getting a cat litter tray and putting it in the sleepinmg compartment, generally they are telling you where they want to pee.

Hope this helps

 

[thesmiths47]

Thanks for the reply Polly

"Hi, in answer to you first question it tends to be dominance does are very dominant so it sound like she is letting the other girl know she is the boss. Is it happening more at feeding time?" No all the time

Could I just remove to night box as there in a nice warm shed or do you think it would be best left alone with the winter not too far away? theyhave a hay feeder with fresh hay daily. They eat just a little bit of the hay in the night box then they just flatten whats left and pee on it (nice)

Cheers

DAVE

 

[polly]

Hi Dave i would do that if they live in the shed all the time then they are covered from the elements, just put a litter tray in instead.

sounds like Waffles is definately the dominant doe and likes to show it in front of you anyway! Is Treacle getting hurt? as in is there any scabs like nip marks on her neck (they do have a habit of biting to hold on)

Are they spayed? if not i would get this done asap see if it settles down if it doesn't go back through the bonding process again.

 

[thesmiths47]

Hi Polly


sounds like Waffles is definately the dominant doe and likes to show it in front of you anyway!

"Is Treacle getting hurt?" no just fed up,noticed today thattreacles as started humping the stuffing out of waffles, good girl fighting back at last now lets see whos boss!

"is there any scabs like nip marks on her neck (they do have a habit of biting to hold on)" No checked her all over no marks but that could explain why we keep finding clumps of loose treacle fur in the cage at times

Are they spayed? No thereapprox. 6 months and we are scared of the anasthetic killing them, a vet nurse friend of ours told us that dwarfs react badly to it.

"if it doesn't go back through the bonding process again".
They have been together since birth, both sisters

I tried the litter tray approach and no night box, uumm clever these little bunny's they tipped over the litter tray. The wife found Waffles sitting on top of it this morning when we opened the shed. I think I will just leave the night box in the cage but only put shavings in it and put there hay in the feeder.

Will let you know how things progress

Thanks for all your help

Dave

 

[Gordon]

Peter and Bugs have never grunted. Bugs has never really vocalized anything, but his brother, Peter, squeaks to let me know he doesn't like me picking him up.

 

[polly]

Dave very surprised about the vet nurse saying that which century is she living in??

I breed netherland dwarfs and have a few spayed as pets, have had have seen about 8-9 nethies go through neuters and spays with NO problems!!

Please listen to me on this one and get them done itis not nice to see a bun get cancer. They will live much happier healthier longer lives if you get them spayed and it will get rid of the humping and you are right it does explain the tumbleweeds lol.

Most vets now use better anaesthetics and it shouldn't be a problem. 1 important point though as they are bonded (just hormonal) get them spayed at the same time so you don't have to split them up. it should make your life easier

Best thing to do is to ask around a couple of vets and ask them how many rabbit spays they hve done in say the last year and how many fatalities if you are worried i think you would be surprised.