HollyNFriends
New Member
Hi all,
We just adopted a 1-1/2 year old Holland Lop. She comes from a 4-H family who used her for show, and she was caged in a barn in a drop pan style cage with very little floor time. The girl used to spend a lot of time with her getting her ready for show last summer, but not so much since then. Despite that, she is easy to handle and manipulate, and relaxes very quickly after first being picked-up. The mother showed me some of the things they had to do to check the bunny over, as well as how to clip her nails.
I have a 5 and 7 year old who would love to show her, but we primarily took her in to be an indoor family pet. So far she's doing great being in her cage in the living room: meeting our dogs and cat (goes up and sniffs them right back; doesn't freak out when they give her a little "kiss"), approaches my kids and me when playing in the x-pen, and LOVES to be pet, especially getting her ears rubbed! We thought it would take her a few weeks to warm up to us, but she's loving us, her new toys, and the new attention and friends!
We've read a lot about indoor bunnies before getting her, so I feel like I've got some decent book smarts (including not picking her the way we were shown unless absolutely necessary and taking proper steps to litter train her). She's not spayed and I was hoping to put this expense off; I know it's best - especially since I'm litter training her. I jumped on booking the appointment today though, because after getting comfy with us, she got VERY frisky - which was a little scary for us newbies! So here are my questions:
What's you're experience with spaying an older bunny - do they really do much better with litter training and stopping sexual/mating behaviors?
I know they will hump other rabbits out of attraction or for dominance - should we be flattered or showing her who's boss? :bunnyheart
Like I said, she loves to be pet. When I rub or scratch her back, she sort of arches her back and gets all comfy. I figured it just felt really good - but now I'm wondering if she's getting in "position" and that this is possibly triggering the sexual aggression towards us after a good petting?
Thanks for helping me out!!
We just adopted a 1-1/2 year old Holland Lop. She comes from a 4-H family who used her for show, and she was caged in a barn in a drop pan style cage with very little floor time. The girl used to spend a lot of time with her getting her ready for show last summer, but not so much since then. Despite that, she is easy to handle and manipulate, and relaxes very quickly after first being picked-up. The mother showed me some of the things they had to do to check the bunny over, as well as how to clip her nails.
I have a 5 and 7 year old who would love to show her, but we primarily took her in to be an indoor family pet. So far she's doing great being in her cage in the living room: meeting our dogs and cat (goes up and sniffs them right back; doesn't freak out when they give her a little "kiss"), approaches my kids and me when playing in the x-pen, and LOVES to be pet, especially getting her ears rubbed! We thought it would take her a few weeks to warm up to us, but she's loving us, her new toys, and the new attention and friends!
We've read a lot about indoor bunnies before getting her, so I feel like I've got some decent book smarts (including not picking her the way we were shown unless absolutely necessary and taking proper steps to litter train her). She's not spayed and I was hoping to put this expense off; I know it's best - especially since I'm litter training her. I jumped on booking the appointment today though, because after getting comfy with us, she got VERY frisky - which was a little scary for us newbies! So here are my questions:
What's you're experience with spaying an older bunny - do they really do much better with litter training and stopping sexual/mating behaviors?
I know they will hump other rabbits out of attraction or for dominance - should we be flattered or showing her who's boss? :bunnyheart
Like I said, she loves to be pet. When I rub or scratch her back, she sort of arches her back and gets all comfy. I figured it just felt really good - but now I'm wondering if she's getting in "position" and that this is possibly triggering the sexual aggression towards us after a good petting?
Thanks for helping me out!!
