Should my feelings be hurt?

[DethronedbyQueenB]

Hi everyone,

     I’m glad to have found this place as I am new to rabbits.I have a question about my bunnies behavior, sorry this is so long but I’m including my background info as well.

 A few months ago my teen son came home with a small birdcage and 2 bunnies inside. Apparently some guy had convinced him it would be a good idea to buy them and assured him they were both males. 

We were not too happy about it but couldn’t give them back and I’ll admit…they were  cute. We don’t even know for sure what kind they are but hubs thinks a small Rex.

Sooo…I go to town and buy cages and all the necessities and help him get them set up properly.

After awhile the bunnies starting concerning me so I went on youtube, did some comparisons and realized…one is likely a girl. I return to town for another round of bunny cage shopping.

Fast forward a few weeks and a phone call…”Mom, ummmm…there are babies.” OH NO. Lots more research, shopping and fretting. 

(4 babies but one died due to being a peanut.) One is an albino but looks very healthy.

So anyway….about 4 days after the birth I go down into sons room, not even sure why, but I hear a frantic shaking of the cage so I look in and find a baby had somehow managed to get himself stuck inside a wooden tube snack treat thing. I freak out and get some help and with assistance (very scary and tense) we manage to cut him out. He’s healthy and happy now.

The shaking was mom trying to get my help. That really moved me and due to my own protectiveness I took all the bunnies except the dad who is in another cage right now. The mom and babies moved into my room.

I work from home mostly so I am with them mostly all day every day. With some minor bunny proofing, wall corners and wire covers, she has pretty much been free to roam for the past 7 weeks. She is pretty calm, litterbox trained and we have established great communication. We use body language and pats and noises. Ok, honestly…she mostly tells me what to do but I understand her well.

I felt very good about our relationship with some minor things. Because the babies are in a cage and she won’t stay in the cage she demands to be let in and out every morning around 4 a.m. I’m not getting any sleep here. She will shake, rattle and even stomped at me once when I ignored her. She doesn’t seem to be territorial about anything as far as me messing with babies or her areas, she lets me pick her up and put her down easily if I need to and overall very tolerant of me. She does lay next to me  and even occasionally licks me and climbs over me when she wants something, so I thought I was special. I’ve been pretty darn proud of it actually because she is so skittish with everyone else.

Wellllll…… Last night I was laying in bed and hubs comes in eating a rice cake and lays down on his side. Hubs has been pretty indifferent towards her and they basically ignore each other or she avoided him. She jumped up on the bed which I figured was because he had food. She thinks all food is hers to inspect and consume if edible for her. He’s laying on his side with his arm next to his body like a V and you know what she does?

SHE SNUGGLES INTO HIM AS MUCH AS SHE CAN. She wedged her body into the crook of his arm and just melted. He was petting her head to toe with her eyes peeping out of his armpit and even scratching her ears like a dog. I couldn’t believe it.

It wasn’t just how she was laying, it was the look on her face. Eyes half closed, total bliss. Like she was in luuuuurve.  Seriously, I was shocked. She started licking him back a bit and then later on when he got out of bed she even started licking where he had been.

Hubs thinks it’s hilarious but my feelings are a bit hurt. I know it sounds ridiculous but I can’t help it. 

Her lovins towards me seem to be in the context of “Gimmie what I want”. I am trained. 

Any ideas what that was all about?

On the rest of the subject, the vet suggested fixing all the boys (he doesn’t do females) and I am researching homemade indoor bunny condos big enough for 5 rabbits. Thankfully we have a large house.

P.S. Sorry for weird spacing, haven’t figured out how to get it to space how I wanted it to.

[JackRabbit]

First, welcome! Feel free to jump in with any questions or just to chat! There is one thing though . . . We love bunny pictures!

Second, I feel for you — I became a bunny mom (or grandma?) when my son brought home our first bunny and I didn’t say no!

Don’t let your feelings, be hurt by your girl cuddling with your hubby — you taught her that humans can be trusted!

I’m guessing the 4 AM thing is because that’s when she’s due to feed her babies. In the wild, mom’s feed their babies twice a day, and this is likely her morning feeding time although the babies are probably eating pellets by now (7 weeks) and hay mostly.

I would definitely find a vet who spays female buns and have mom and the girls spayed — female buns have an 80% chance of developing uterine cancer. I would also be looking into at ways to separate the males and females until all are spayed/neutered for least 4 to 6 weeks to allow the males fertility to die down (takes @ 4 weeks after neuter). Female hormones kick in @ 12 weeks (some sooner and some later) and the girls can get pretty territorial and bratty and you don’t want fights to break out. Once everybun is “fixed” you can work on bonding your group. Unless you can designate a bunny room, keep dog exercise pens (xpens) in mind — they are a great and least expensive way to give bunnies adequate space yet keep them contained and separated. (Cages sold as rabbit cages are just too small and are terribly expensive — xl dog crates are as small as you want to go for a bunny).

Last of all, congrats on your new bun family!

[DethronedbyQueenB]

Thank you for replying and the advice!
The babies are eating and drinking the regular stuff now and feeding at 4 a.m. indeed.

I hadn’t thought of dog pens but I saw where people were using the square sides from closet organizers and such to build a large pen. We have carpet left over from a remodel on our stairs that I was going to use to put on some squares to build ramps inside the area as well as carpet over my carpet.
Where to put the bunny place has been debatable but these should be easy enough to move around.
We have an unfinished basement that is huge and would be great for a super duper large area but there isn’t any natural light and I like having them in my room. There is a big mostly unused “playroom” upstairs with great lighting but again…I like having them closer. They are just so entertaining and nice to have around. The smallest place to put it would be my bedroom which admittedly I spend way too much time in instead of working in the office.
I’m hoping it would be big enough as they would be close and there is great lighting plus her favorite place to lay is on the vent in front of the window.
I measured the area to include her vent and it would be about 12.25 feet x 3.6 feet. Kinda long but narrow. If I add some layers, I’m hoping that would be big enough for 5 of them to eventually live together happily. If not, it’ll have to be the playroom. It’s also possible a good home for one or 2 would pop up but we live pretty rural and I’m too scared to advertise and they end up as less than a loved pet. Eeep.
I will price compare the dog pen idea, thanks again. The cost keeps rising heavily but I’m hoping to incorporate the cages and such we already bought into the set up by adding carpet to the tops for steps, jump areas and hiding spot. Those store bought cages were way too expensive and way too small once they grew older.
I’m prolly in over my head but hoping once it is all done and everyone is settled in that it smooths out more.

Now to try to suck up to her with some banana and hope I get a lick.

[MK]

Wow! I’m sure the bunnies are now MUCH happier then in a little birdcage! Welcome Yes, I second JR on the fixing the ladies, one of my first bunnies died of cancer because she was not spayed (I had only had her a few months and was planning on having her spayed, but it was too late by the time I discovered she had cancer) Also, I get the feeling jealous I always feel a little jealous when my buns pay attention to someone else, haha. I would say that if your husband is not as involved in the bunnies as you are, you will keep your relationship with your bun Oh, and pictures!

[LBJ10]

It seems like this is true for a lot of animals. The person who cleans up after, feeds, and otherwise cared for is not the “interesting” person. Nope, the interesting person that bunny wishes to explore is the one who ignores him or her.

LOL, isn’t that what makes men seem interesting? When they are “mysterious”?

[litheandgraphic]

Hahaha, I agree with LBJ. And I second the notion that you really should look into getting the mom bun, and the other females once they reach 6 months if you plan on keeping them, spayed, for their health.

Don’t worry – it’s pretty clear that she loves and trusts you!!

Welcome to the forum!

[Megabunny]

Five rabbits? Wow! You really have gotten into these babies. It’s great that you are giving them such a good home…be glad hubby lets you have them in your room. We moved to a new house and it took my hubby no time at all to announce there just won’t be any way for my guy to share the space. :-(. But then, my bun is MUCH bigger than yours. Still, I know what it’s like to want to be the one with the special touch and be the favorite human. But rabbits don’t care about that. I’m sure you’re still special to her though. With all those bunnies there will be enough need for sharing the attentionto go around.

[DethronedbyQueenB]

I ran to Kmart (only store in my town) last night and picked up boxes of “cube storage sets”. They were $20 a box and each box comes with 23 13 inch wired squares, they are great. Just to get through the night with hope for sleep I put together enough to make a 6×4 area with the cage inside and door to cage open.
Queen Buntilda and the babies can get out of the cage to run around but only she can hop on top of the escape ladder (strip of carpet on top of cage that leads out to my floor) to get out completely and into the room.
I got some sleeeeeeep. She let me sleep in until 7 a.m. and woke me up licking my face.

I’ll take some pics of everyone and the set up when I’m done- right now it’s messy with wire squares and bunny claimed boxes.

Megabunny- I have read about giant rabbits and those are very cool! If I was picking out a rabbit myself I would have chosen something bigger like that in hopes my pug could have a playmate. I tried to introduce the mom to him once and she walked up to him and threatened to thump him in the face. He wasn’t bright enough to realize she would whoop him so I’m not pushing the issue- for his safety, not hers.

[Flopsie]

Hi, not to change subjects on the topic, but you mentioned the vet will be fixing the boys but not the mom. Is there a chance you can find a rabbit savvy vet to spay the girl? The reason being that females that aren’t spayed have a very very high chance (80% if not spayed by age 2) of developing uterine cancer. So that can be an important thing to look into.

[DethronedbyQueenB]

I’m going to have to call other towns.
I live in the country, county population is 2500..
My plan is to get him done on the 24th so he can be reunited with the others as soon as possible.
The vet here said to give him about 3-4 weeks afterwards. He said he would do any other boys when they turn 12 weeks old.
He doesn’t do females but she is about 5? months old and I think I’m suppose to wait a few weeks after weaning so probably try to schedule a fix for the girls after we figure out which ones are girls so they can all be done same day and only have to make one long distance trip. That would be ideal anyway.
I’m crossing my fingers most of these will be boys.

[LBJ10]

Just so you know, it is recommended you wait 4 to 6 weeks post-neuter before reuniting dad with his family. Otherwise, you might end up like Roberta and have a second “surprise”.

[kirstyol]

Congrats on the baby bunnies!

Bramble is like that with me actually, he loves it when I pet him and its usually me that feeds him. If I am in the house myself he is very affectionate towards me most of the time, but if the other half is here its like Bramble doesn’t even realise I still exist, unless of course I have food. I feel a bit left out actually, its me that is the real bunny lover, the other half had never had bunnies before and I don’t really think he was too keen on the idea until he saw just how cute Bramble really was, 90% of the time its me that feeds him and cleans his litter box etc and it was me who rescued him in the first place, you think I would deserve to be the favourite!

[kirstyol]

Congrats on the baby bunnies!

Bramble is like that with me actually, he loves it when I pet him and its usually me that feeds him. If I am in the house myself he is very affectionate towards me most of the time, but if the other half is here its like Bramble doesn’t even realise I still exist, unless of course I have food. I feel a bit left out actually, its me that is the real bunny lover, the other half had never had bunnies before and I don’t really think he was too keen on the idea until he saw just how cute Bramble really was, 90% of the time its me that feeds him and cleans his litter box etc and it was me who rescued him in the first place, you think I would deserve to be the favourite!

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