General questions

[Coco]

Hi All,

Just had a couple of quick questions.

I have two bunnies, both are holland lops and around 5-6months old. One girl, one boy, not spayed or neutered. 

My first question has to do with the bunny girl, she doesn’t really like to be pet, but every morning when i see her and reach my hand out she’ll spend 30s to a minute licking it. She only really does this in the mornings, regardless of if i have washed my hands. (don’t think it’s a salt thing). During other times of the day, she some times doesn’t like being approached at all. I’m trying to understand her behavior. Do you guys have any thoughts on this?

The boy bunny i have is friendlier, never scared of us, but i don’t think he particularly likes being pet, just sort of tolerates it. He’s litter trained and never pees outside of his litter box, but does leave droppings outside from time to time. Would this change if i get him neutered? 

In general, i want to know if both bunnies will get friendlier with age?

Thanks for your help!

-Hanz

[Bam]

Bunnies as a rule decide when it’s ok for the human to pet them, and when it’s not. They can look quite insulted and hop away foot-flicking you if you try to pet them when it’s not time for you to pet them. They can also be very cross if you DON’t pet them when you should. This is why bunny-owners often refer to themselves not as bunny- owners but as bunny-slaves. That your girl licks your fingers means she’s grooming you. That means affection, you are friends.

Poop outside the box is often about territorail marking, but there’s no guarantee it goes away with neutering.

Both my buns have become cuddlier and cuddlier with time. One of them will now sit and doze off in my lap and be pet, in the beginning he only let me touch him when he was munching on a treat. This has taken a long time though, probably because he was an adult when I found him. My other boy sleeps at the foot-end of my bed and wakes me in the mornings and licks my nose-tip before we go to sleep in the evening etc – but that too took some time, like 1,5 years. It’s very interesting actually, to experience how your relationship with your buns evolve. They’re not at all like dogs in that respect, dogs just love you and that’s that (I have a dog too):

[tobyluv]

I assume that you are keeping the bunnies separated. They are past the age where they can start reproducing. It’s very easy for accidents to happen when you have rabbits living in the same house, that aren’t spayed or neutered. If you plan to bond them, you would need to get them spayed and neutered first. Spaying and neutering does usually improve litter box habits.

[Coco]

Thanks for the info Bam!

Tobyluv, we have them in separate rooms . Getting them spayed/neutered is pretty expensive, trying to find out what our options are.

Part of the discussion is to know how much friendlier they will get with time and how much of a impact neutring/spaying will have on their personalities.The cost of getting them “fixed” is around $600 to $800, which is a pretty hefty investment… although cost is all relative

[Author]

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