Less common than usual hormonal behavior?

[bunbunny]

Hi,

I have a question about my 5 month old Netherland Dwarf, Aria.

So being unspayed, I am pretty sure she’s hitting bunny puberty. She’s developed some of the textbook signs, such as being more territorial of her cage (she growls when we try to clean it now), peeing outside of her cage, etc.

However, she’s also developed some other behaviors that I haven’t seen described before in descriptions of bunny hormone behavior. 

The first is running away when I try to approach her to pet her/pick her up. Before, she was a total cuddle hog. I could pick her up and put her down and will and she loved to be pet, but now, she runs away from me while wagging her tail. If I persist in following her, she growls and finds somewhere to hide. I am not sure how to handle this – do I leave her alone and risk her learning this unsociable behavior, or do I continue to trying to calm her down but risk her becoming more frustrated?

The other is aggressiveness when I’m training her or offering her treats. Before, she was very well trained – she would respond to commands like “Come Here” or “Turn Around” with almost 95% accuracy. Now, half the time she doesn’t listen, and the other half of the time (usually when she knows I have a treat), she lunges at the hand holding the treat and growls/boxes to get the treat out.

Is this hormonal behavior? Have others experienced their bunnies doing these things?

I am a bit hesitant to get her spayed because I have had bad luck with bunnies (even when experienced vets are involved), but her personality has changed almost overnight! She seems really moody and unhappy lately, and I don’t want her to live like that.

Also, how long did it take for your bunnies to develop hormonal symptoms? Her seemed to occur over the course of 3-4 days. 

[MoveDiagonally]

Her behaviors do sound hormonal and when puberty begins it can come on really fast. Much like human teenagers. I highly suggest spaying her. Even if she wasn’t displaying hormonal behaviors female rabbits have a 50-80% chance of developing uterine cancer by the age of 4 if they remain intact. In the hands of a rabbit savvy vet the mortality rate for a spaying procedure is less than 1%.

Spaying might not “solve” all the issues as some of her changes in behavior could be a natural part of her growing up. For example, most baby rabbits don’t mind being held but as they come into adulthood the majority dislike it.

[LBJ10]

I agree with everything MD said. What you have is a teenage bunny who does what she wants, when she wants. LOL

Baby bunnies will often be cuddly and seem to enjoy being held. When they hit puberty, they will suddenly decide they dislike being held. It can literally happen overnight. It just means she is growing up and that is one thing spaying probably won’t “fix”. The vast majority of bunnies don’t like being held, you have to find another way to “cuddle” them on their own terms. There was that great meme in the lounge about cuddling with your bunny that was pretty accurate.

[LBJ10]

Hey, look at that. It was even a thread that MD started!

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/131062/Default.aspx

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