Orrin
Well-Known Member
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- May 12, 2018
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I am posting this in both “Nutrition and Behavior” and “General Rabbit Discussion” (I hope it’s not against the rules to do so) because my searches in the former forum didn’t yield information related to our case. This is long and I apologize for that; however, I don’t see how to shorten it. Here goes:
We have a year-old buck that was neutered many months ago, as soon as his testicles dropped; however, nobody ever told him that and he is just as hormonal as ever. He chases the neutered does relentlessly, honking all the way and spraying all over the house. We tried to pair him up with one of his sisters, a neutered doe, and he constantly humped her. This sort of thing happens and this Web page deals with it: https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/hormonal-behaviour-neutered-rabbits/ (That said, I don’t see any answers to our problem, there.)
Our vet advised trying behavior modification with the use of a squirt bottle and a firm “NO!” That worked to an extent and we thought we had achieved success; but, the chasing is still relentless. Although the squirts of water and “NO!” will stop him in his tracks, temporarily, and it has almost eliminated the humping, after a pause he will go right back to chasing.
Alfie calms down during sleepy time and he and his sidekick, Blue, will snuggle like lovebirds during their naps. Then, in the evening it is pandemonium all over, again.
We love our little doe and feel sorry for her being harassed; so, we have sentenced Alfie (the buck) to live in a separate pen with our basement bunnies. Having three neutered does on the other side of fences drives him wild and he paces, constantly. One very protective and territorial doe pays attention and she clearly would like to “have it out” with him. Two others, Bugsy and Jean, stopped paying attention to him.
Then, came yesterday. While I was away my wife opened Bugsy and Jean’s gate and let them out into our exercise pasture along with Alfie. There was no fighting; but, Alfie started chasing them, constantly, and would hump the submissive Bugsy at every opportunity. Mostly, however, the two does would just run away from him. He never seemed to wear out or get tired.
Mind you, half a year, or more, of time is plenty enough to let the hormones dissipate after neutering. Furthermore, Alfie isn’t carrying on with “learned behavior” because he only had a couple of days of hormonal behavior in which to get bad habits before we took him to the vet for neutering.
So, my question is: Have any of you experienced something similar; and, if so, were you able to “cure” the incorrigible bun? And, how?
I love Alfie, dearly, and he is our prettiest rabbit, by far. I like having him upstairs in our living quarters 24/7 because I love to watch and admire him. However, we also love his sidekick, Blue, just as much; and, there is *no way* we will give up on her being our main house rabbit. She was the runt of the litter and we hand-fed her to bring her up to good health and strength. I’ve considered having her littermate, Jean, become our other house rabbit in order to give Blue companionship. That, however, will split up a bonded pair and would not be fair.
Our "problem child."
We have a year-old buck that was neutered many months ago, as soon as his testicles dropped; however, nobody ever told him that and he is just as hormonal as ever. He chases the neutered does relentlessly, honking all the way and spraying all over the house. We tried to pair him up with one of his sisters, a neutered doe, and he constantly humped her. This sort of thing happens and this Web page deals with it: https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/hormonal-behaviour-neutered-rabbits/ (That said, I don’t see any answers to our problem, there.)
Our vet advised trying behavior modification with the use of a squirt bottle and a firm “NO!” That worked to an extent and we thought we had achieved success; but, the chasing is still relentless. Although the squirts of water and “NO!” will stop him in his tracks, temporarily, and it has almost eliminated the humping, after a pause he will go right back to chasing.
Alfie calms down during sleepy time and he and his sidekick, Blue, will snuggle like lovebirds during their naps. Then, in the evening it is pandemonium all over, again.
We love our little doe and feel sorry for her being harassed; so, we have sentenced Alfie (the buck) to live in a separate pen with our basement bunnies. Having three neutered does on the other side of fences drives him wild and he paces, constantly. One very protective and territorial doe pays attention and she clearly would like to “have it out” with him. Two others, Bugsy and Jean, stopped paying attention to him.
Then, came yesterday. While I was away my wife opened Bugsy and Jean’s gate and let them out into our exercise pasture along with Alfie. There was no fighting; but, Alfie started chasing them, constantly, and would hump the submissive Bugsy at every opportunity. Mostly, however, the two does would just run away from him. He never seemed to wear out or get tired.
Mind you, half a year, or more, of time is plenty enough to let the hormones dissipate after neutering. Furthermore, Alfie isn’t carrying on with “learned behavior” because he only had a couple of days of hormonal behavior in which to get bad habits before we took him to the vet for neutering.
So, my question is: Have any of you experienced something similar; and, if so, were you able to “cure” the incorrigible bun? And, how?
I love Alfie, dearly, and he is our prettiest rabbit, by far. I like having him upstairs in our living quarters 24/7 because I love to watch and admire him. However, we also love his sidekick, Blue, just as much; and, there is *no way* we will give up on her being our main house rabbit. She was the runt of the litter and we hand-fed her to bring her up to good health and strength. I’ve considered having her littermate, Jean, become our other house rabbit in order to give Blue companionship. That, however, will split up a bonded pair and would not be fair.
Our "problem child."
