We have been trying to bond 2 rabbits for 5 months. In the beginning, Teddy, the new bun, would pee in his pen about once a week on the towels in his pen. We removed the towels and it happened slightly less often. He would pee in his home somewhere like once every week/2weeks. I changed his litterbox and this changed to him not peeing outside his box for about 2 months. He would pee maybe during bonding or near the other bun’s pen every few days.
When the bunnies’ bonding sessions stopped progressing/ got worse 2 months ago, he started to pee in the front of his pen(where the other bun can say hi), about once every few days. They have gotten better in their bonding now, so we put them in each others homes and they seem generally okay with it. However, he always pees at least once in one of 2 places in the other bun’s home when we switch. These 2 places are very near where he used to pee outside of her pen . He will also occasionally pee at the front of his pen. It seems like 2 months ago, he started trying to be more dominant in the bonding? Not sure. He grooms her a lot less than he used to.
Since we got him 5 months ago, he has ALWAYS peed somewhere atleast once a week, in his pen when we are sleeping(in the beginning) or next to the other bun’s pen. Now, he pees atleast once a day either at the front of his home, near her home, or in her home. It’s usually near her home or in her home.
My other bun’s peeing habits also got a little strange since we got Teddy 5 months ago but she has only had about 5 accidents inside of her home. She also peed during bonding a few times. (Tho this peeing can be because they just had a lot of veggies) When we switched them in the past, they would territory mark eachother’s home and pee in it. Now, for the last month, only Teddy has been peeing and pooping all over her home. She, the mean one, has stopped territory marking and peeing. My girl bun is the one that has been really mean and resistant during the bonding process. She still nips him occasionally. He sometimes responds to her nipping( since 2/3 months ago) vs in the beginning stages he was pretty submissive and took the nips. don’t know if Teddy is try to be dominant now or he’s stressed.
Anyone have situations like this with their bonding buns? Should I be worried about this peeing or is it part of the bonding/territory process? I assumed it might be a UTI, but it has been 5 months ( don’t know if UTI’s last that long) and it seems like his peeing is territorial and calculated. The frequent peeing started about 2 months ago. Occasional peeing since the beginning.
Everything else about him seems fine. He eats and poops fine. He might be stressed from the other bun ):