Djakarta
Well-Known Member
When I went in to give the bunnies theirbreakfast, I found absolute chaos in the X pen. They had pulled everybit of newspaper from the litter boxes and shredded it.
I shut them into the cage and cleaned out the pen. Since the paperwasn't clean, I was afraid the babies would be peeing everywhere.Lately they have been very good about peeing only in the litterboxesand I didn't want them to encounter "scented" paper and think that waswhere they should go.
I added several balls of clean newspaper to give them something to playwith. When I let them back out into the pen, Miranda made a beeline forthe corner by the biggest litterbox. She tugged the box into positionand ran to the other litterbox and began to transfer hay into thecorner.
After a few loads of hay, she began to collect newspaper. The babieswere intrigued by her behavior and Mocha began following her around.She nipped at Mocha's hindquarters several times. She pulled at the furhard enough to lift Mocha's hindquarter off the ground.
In addition to placing hay and paper, she is aggressively digging atthe carpet. The litterbox sits on top of a carpet remnant. There isindoor/outdoor carpeting under that, then a vinyl carpetrunner pieced with duct tape, then the room's carpet.
I decided to add another carpet remnant to the area. ( I don't want herto damage the room's carpet, the other layers are more easilyreplaced.) When I tried to coax her into the cage, so I could work inthe pen, sheacted very aggressive toward me, trying to circleme and tugging fiercely at my clothing.
I don't know what to do.
1 Do I separate her from the babies? Aren't they too young to wean?
2 How do I handle her aggression?
3 How do I curtail or redirect her sudden destructive tendencies? Will they abate once she has constructed a nest to her liking?
4 If this is a false pregnancy, should she be spayed now? ( Theoriginal plan was to wait untill the babies were 8 weeks old. They arejust 5 weeks old now.)
I shut them into the cage and cleaned out the pen. Since the paperwasn't clean, I was afraid the babies would be peeing everywhere.Lately they have been very good about peeing only in the litterboxesand I didn't want them to encounter "scented" paper and think that waswhere they should go.
I added several balls of clean newspaper to give them something to playwith. When I let them back out into the pen, Miranda made a beeline forthe corner by the biggest litterbox. She tugged the box into positionand ran to the other litterbox and began to transfer hay into thecorner.
After a few loads of hay, she began to collect newspaper. The babieswere intrigued by her behavior and Mocha began following her around.She nipped at Mocha's hindquarters several times. She pulled at the furhard enough to lift Mocha's hindquarter off the ground.
In addition to placing hay and paper, she is aggressively digging atthe carpet. The litterbox sits on top of a carpet remnant. There isindoor/outdoor carpeting under that, then a vinyl carpetrunner pieced with duct tape, then the room's carpet.
I decided to add another carpet remnant to the area. ( I don't want herto damage the room's carpet, the other layers are more easilyreplaced.) When I tried to coax her into the cage, so I could work inthe pen, sheacted very aggressive toward me, trying to circleme and tugging fiercely at my clothing.
I don't know what to do.
1 Do I separate her from the babies? Aren't they too young to wean?
2 How do I handle her aggression?
3 How do I curtail or redirect her sudden destructive tendencies? Will they abate once she has constructed a nest to her liking?
4 If this is a false pregnancy, should she be spayed now? ( Theoriginal plan was to wait untill the babies were 8 weeks old. They arejust 5 weeks old now.)
