Spayed/neutered- Forgotten litter training AND humping?!

[narkut]

Hi, I have a few questions. I have two bunny’s aged 8 months, both were neutered and spayed 5 months ago. They are cage free house bunnies, Duke (male) and Lady (female).

Over the last couple of months Duke has been showing some aggression towards Lady. At times he’ll chase her and nip at her, and he’s constantly sniffing her butt, but they are best friends 90% of the time. I was advised he is going through a teenage stage and is fighting for dominance so I should keep them together to work it out, unless it starts to get dangerous (which it hasnt). Does this sound right to you?

Also, in the last few weeks they seem to have forgotten litter training! I keep finding wee patches around the room and no amount of vinegar is putting them off. Its also not in designated areas, it’s all over the room in random spots. So I have decided to limit their space to a small run area until they learn litter training again. Is that the right thing to do? Is it OK to limit the space of rabbits who are used to freedom for this purpose or is it detrimental? I feel so evil!

My next issue is, since limiting their space, I’ve notice Lady hump Duke! She has never done this before, not even before she was spayed! Did I cause this? Should I again just let them battle out the fight of dominance? The humping doesn’t cause fights, Duke just sits still and after a few seconds Lady grooms him and it’s all over.

Is this all normal behaviour for bunny’s of this age? Or could there be a medical issue? Or am I somehow causing them to act like this? I must add that there have been no changes at home or in their room and I have no other pets.

I would really appreciate some advice! Thank you!

[Mikey]

It sounds like something broke their bond so now they are trying to refigure out their spot on the totem. All signs are pointing to it, in my opinion, specially given their ages. What bonding tactics did you do before? You dont really want to let them continue getting more and more aggressive with one another, even if the aggression is only increasing slowly. It can easily lead to a completely broken bond and will make it harder to bond them together, and in worst case scenarios they wont want to bond back together at all which would mean youd have two single bunnies

[Dface]

Im with Mikey on this one, although judging by their young age, there may not have been a true bond at the start, and they are now just trying to work out a dominance thing. Sometimes bonds switch up for reasons only the bunnies understand .
Who was the dominant bunny before this?

If they are just working things out (which it very well sounds like might be the case), you can let them. As long as it isnt getting out of hand.

[narkut]

They have been bonded since they were babies, before they even came home with me. They never had a problem until recently. The dominance seems to have shifted over time. Ithe was Lady at first and it’s been Duke for the past couple of months.

What kinds of things could have broken their bond? Something I did?

Would u recommend I separate them from now just in case? Or keep an eye on them and no seperate if it gets bad?

[Mikey]

It would be their age then. Babies who are bonded arnt really bonded. Babies often get along with everyone so their friendships dont often count as bonds. Since theyve never actually been bonded and cemented, and are at the age to be bonded, thats what theyre trying to do. Keep them together, but stop ALL signs of aggression you see (chasing, biting [not nipping], fur pulling, boxing, ect). Allow mounting for about 10 seconds then pull the top bunny off, sit them next to one another, then pet them both for about a minute then let them do their own thing again. It sounds like your girl is going to be your dom bunny, so if you want to help speed up the bonding process you can put some apple juice or banana rubbed into your females head. It will encourage your male to groom your female, making her feel comfortable in her top bunny position on the totem

[narkut]

Interesting, I had no idea babies aren’t actually bonded! Thank you for the information!
I would have thought Duke is the dominant one as he is the one doing all the fur pulling, nipping, chasing and butt sniffing. Did you say Lady is the dominant one purely because of the random humping? Now that you’ve said this, I have noticed that Duke hardly ever grooms Lady although she always asks for it. I thought that was a sign of him being the dominant one, not her? I will definitely try the banana/apple juice idea, thank you, I just want to make sure I’m putting it on the right bunny so I don’t make the fight worse!

I gave them both a piece of carrot each this morning. Duke began attacking Lady for her piece straight away, even before he touched his own piece! I might have to start sitting between them and keeping them far apart at treat times!

[Mikey]

If she is the one mounting and asking to be groomed more so than he is, then yes, she is the more dominant one Nipping is usually a sign of “i dont like what you are doing” and refusing to groom is often “i dont want you to be the alpha”. So in a sense, they are both fighting to be the boss, but your girl seems much more persistent about getting to the top than your male who just seems a bit stubborn about it

Since your female asks to be groomed more, adding a bit of banana or apple juice to her head shouldnt start much of a fight unless she realizes hes getting a “treat”, then just make sure to give her a treat a bit after without your male knowing so she doesnt try to hold a grudge on you

Food aggression is also a thing some bunnies go through as they get older. We have to give treats to my Blue first, then treats to the other two or he will try to chase them away. If he drops his treat, he will almost instantly try to chase the other two away so we usually have him on one side of us, and the other two bunnies to our other side so we can stop any chasing as soon as it starts

[narkut]

Thank you so much, this is really helping! I always thought she was the dominant one, he used to follow her every move. But I then read his sudden aggression as dominance rather than annoyance. I’m really glad you’re opening my eyes to rabbit language.

I will try the banana on the head thing and see what happens. I’ll also be mindful to keep them apart when giving treats to avoid fighting.

[Mikey]

Woo! I learned bunny language a lot from this website and the rabbit.org website when i first got my boys Your boy does sound like hes kind of trying to be the alpha, but it also seems like he really doesnt care about it so much as long as he gets attention in return. To help keep them both calm if you think one or both is tense, you can try to pet them both on their shoulders (if theyll allow you; sometimes my bunnies look at me funny when i try, lol) while one is grooming the other

[narkut]

Neither of my bunnies like to be touched. Lady will on the rare occasion let me pet her but Duke hates it! I’m hoping that will change in time as they learn to trust me more.

So how long do you think this hierarchy fight will go on for? Or is it difficult to say?

[Mikey]

Understandable. I have one bun who only allows any human attention if he asks for it first; if you just reach to pet him, he will dash and glare at you from afar

It will depend on how fast your male stops being so stubborn or your female stops trying. Could be a few days, could be a few months

[narkut]

It’s been a while already so I’m assuming we still have a few months to go then! Thanks for all your help!

[Author]

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