My Buns Don't Like Me!!

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mpalamar

mpalamar

Active Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2007
Messages
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Location
Huntingdon, Quebec, Canada
I don't know whats going on. When I first boughtmy buns they were scared, after a while they warmed up to me and theywould get all jumpy and excited to see me, and when I'd let them out oftheir cage they'd jump on me and let them pet me. Recently I movedtheir cage to a different part of the house where they are moreinvolved with my family (before they were in a closed off room,completely alone with eachother). Now when they're out of their cagethey play with my 3 cats and they want nothing to do with me anything.I can't pet them, hold them, nothing. They don't even come to meanymore. I've even noticed that one of them has been constantly chewingon his cage as if hes trying to escape. What is going on? Is it maybethat they see the freedom of the cats and now they want out too? Whydon't they bother with ME anymore. It's really disappointing. They wentfrom scared little buns, to loveable little guys who loved having mearound, to wanting absolutely nothing to do with me. I just don't getit.

Melissa

 
Ok, the chewing can easily be done throughboredom. Chewing is a psychological and physical need for a bunny. Ifyou don't want the hutch chewed, then try giving toys, wood chews,toilet rolls, things like that to hopefully distract away from thehutch.

I have found that when bunnies have so much else to explore and playwith they will because it's interesting and different. We always staythe same, lol.

The cats and the new room is probably so stimulating that your bunnyforgot that he enjoyed time with you too. It's not that they don't likeyou, I'm sure, it's probably just that so much is going on that you areno longer the only interesting thing.

Maybe it would be worth going to theBunny 101 forum andlooking at the thread about bonding with your bunnies because it mightbe worth trying some of those things. Also google something like'bonding with my rabbit' and loads of stuff comes up.
 
I'm sure the chewing is they way of saying theywant out. My buns have more toys than my son, lol (ok, well not quite,but they do have a LOT of toys), some are inside toys (cage toys) andsome are outside toys (exercise toys) and yet, they don't play with anyof them anymore.... I will however have to start looking at other bunnbonding techniques because obviously what I've been trying isn'tworking anymore... lol.

Melissa
 
Bunnies have a short attention span so maybe they are bored with their toys? Just a thought.

Don't take it personally that they are busy exploring other things. Tryto look at it as a positive thing that you are providing so much funand stimulation for them.

But also do try the bonding techniques because then everyone gets the best of both worlds :)
 
How old are you bunnies? Have they been spayed?neutered?
 
I'm not sure exactly how old they are...bringing them to the vet in less than an hour to find out - plus theyare not fixed either (at least not that I'm aware of). I believe theyare between 6 months and a year so I highly doubt they've been fixed.
 
it sounds like their hormones have kicked in...even after spay/neuter, they'll be wacky "teenbuns" for a while. What'shappening now isn't anything personal; it's just that they're growingup.

There's plenty of info. on this board (in the bunny 101 section and elsewhere) about all this stuff...

also, have they been sexed? If they're male and female, you need tokeep them separate, or you'll have an unplanned litter on your hands.
 
I just got back from the vet with my bunns, andI got some good news and some possibly bad news. The good news is, theyare in perfect health, and they are a lot younger than I thought... Ithought 6 months - 1 year, and the vet says no more than 3 or 4 monthsold. Which is good. The bad news is.. one might be male, and one mightbe female. It's still too early to tell tho. I have to go back at theend of July to re-evaluate the genders, and schedule an appointment tohave them fixed. The vet told me I have (MAX) 2 1/2 months to get themfixed or else I might be in for a surprise.... lol. So thats it!
 
It sounds like your vet is not overly familarwith buns. Someone with experience can sex bunnies within a matter ofweeks of their birth.

If they are 3-4 months old now, then the end of July puts them at nearly 6-7 months old.

By then I suspect that you could already have a pregnant doe.

A boy goes into adolescence from about 3 months to four months, and adoe from 5 months to 6 months, so you are going to need to be verycareful.

Is there anyway you can get a second opinion?
 
Unfortunately no - that is the only vet for 65miles from my house that deals with rabbits. She seemed ok - and shesaid she has 6 of her own bunns as well. Either way - I plan onbringing them back in 8 weeks (At the end of June - despite what shesaid of waiting until the end of July) and we'll try again then. Manypeople around here have rabbits but very few actually take care of themenough to bring them to the vet (hence the reason there is only 1 vetaround here that deals with rabbits). I'll just have to keep an eye onthere for now, and seperate them if necessary.

Melissa
 
It's good you are going to take them back a bit earlier :)

Maybe you could have a look at their bits yourself. There are links inthe Bunny 101 forum. Maybe it might be worth checking them out.
 
I've already checked that - and I'm so afraid ofhurting my poor buns, that I don't think I could bring myself to tryand manipulate them to see their genders. But I was watching when thevet did it. And to be honest... if you ask me, they both look likefemales...

But the vet told me this: sexing a bun can be hard if they are reallyscared because a male can essentially "suck in" their testicules soit's hard to tell. When she tried to make the penis pop out, nothinghappened and she said it could be because they are frightened. When shepicked up Friskie, she looked and said she was pretty sure she wasfemale, then when she looked at Poopers, she right away a boy, but thenslowly said maybe, maybe not because she couldn't quite feel anytesties and she couldn't expose his penis.... maybe they are bothgirls???

Awww, I don't know - all I know is that for now, they are fine, and in a month and a half we'll see if she can tell then.
 
You should seperate them now if you do not knowtheir sex or their exact age. 3-4 months is old enough foryou to have a pregnant rabbit very soon.

Please keep them seperated.

_____________
Nadia
 
I agree with HoneyPot, it is quite common foryoung rabbits to hit sexual maturity by 3 months (but not unheard of tobe even sooner!) and it's instinct to mate -- they don't care ifthey're related or not. They should be separated now.

Some people think, "oh, babies -- that would be fun," anditcan be anything but. They may be cute and cuddley but thatis more mouths to feed, more cages needed, more potential vetbills,and rehoming rabbits to decent homes is very hard. Notto mention the possible pregnancy complications -- you need to beprepared to taken them to an emergency vet if something goes wrong andthat can be very expensive. Kits can get stuck, etc. and it is notsomething you can just wait and see if it fixes itself.

Don't worry, I'm not saying this is you, but I just want to enforce howimportant it is to separate them now incase they are opposite gendersand one gets pregnant. :)

You should really separate them until they arespayed/neuteredin their best interest. You may not even seethem mate but it doesn't mean they haven't.

Also, if they are the same gender, it's very common for fightign tooccur in young rabbits as they try to establish dominence. The problemis, their hormones go haywire and the fighting can start out of theblue which is dangerous to the rabbits if one or both get hurt.

It's much safer to separate them until they are spayed/neutered.
 
I agree with Honeypot. Even if they aren't maleand female, they will becoming hormonal very soon, and could start tofight. They should be seperated until they are both spayed/neutered andhealed and then they can be re-bonded.

It's definitely the safest thing to do for your buns.
 
Sorry I was so abrupt before - was on my way out the door and was trying to get in one last post. :)

Like MBB and Jordiwes said ... you really shouldseperate themas they can already mate in the blink of an eye. It reallytakes an instant, so you won't be able to catch them before theymate.

Until you or the vet can confirm the genders and you can spay/neuter,you should seperate them. Baby bunnies are not as easy as itsounds... someone on here had an accidental litter of 10 buns once....

;)
 
I'm with the others. If you keep them together,you havea high likelyhood of getting a pregnant rabbit. Withthem being so young, complications are likely as well. For the sake ofyour bun's health, please seperate them.
 
Definitely separate them now, not worththerisk to wait. They can indeed get pregnant now, so letsjust hope that they are both female or both males so you don't end upwith an unexpected litter!

Keep them completely separated. No play time together, no meetings evenif it's just for a second until you are 100%sure. It'sjust too risky otherwise

Here is a recent thread about someone in a similar situation. Lets justhope that they are both females or both males and that she isn'tpregnant.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=20972&forum_id=8
 
3-4 months old is old enough to breed in somecases. We have a member here who took in two babies, and thegirl ended up pregnant at only 3 months old and it nearly killedher. You can read her story here:http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=20972&forum_id=8

Like many members have also stated above, same sex rabbits can fightand seriously hurt each other if they are not spayed/neutered.

I would look into building a NIC condo that is divided down themiddle. So they can still interact with each other but notfight or breed.

--Dawn
 
Hi! I wanted to join in this thread for a minute and share a couple of things that others may not have pointed out.

I don't know what breed your rabbits are - but my lionheads (a smallerbreed) CAN breed at 3.5 - 4 months. I've had 9 week old bucks get theirmama pregnant if left in with her too long.

The thing to consider is - IF one of your rabbits is a buck...and theother a doe - and he gets her pregnant - he can not only get herpregnant and then she'll have a litter -but she may turn around andmate just a bit after giving birth (say - "before you find the babies")and wind up having a second litter of babies.

We had a situation in the Rabbitry forum a bit ago where that happened - more than once!

Here's the link to it:

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=17350&forum_id=8

Please, consider separating your rabbits NOW. I'd hate to see you withnot one litter - but TWO litters of rabbits to raise - or in a worstcase scenario - have a doe die while giving birth and trying to savethe lives of the babies.

I'm not trying to be mean or critical - I'm simply trying to save you abit of heartache from having a young rabbit get pregnant.

Peg

P.S. Welcome to the forum!
 
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