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Do any of your bunnies seem grumpier with one another in the hot weather?

casu consulto

Mama Doe
I've got two pairs, and a single bunny, at the moment... In their hutches, the pairs are fine with one another, so no worries there... The past couple of days, however, they've been giving me some trouble.

I put them out in their runs every day, from about 10am-7/8pm. I've always had my two bonded pairs side-by-side in their runs, and this has never posed a problem. Although the four of them won't work as a group, due to Amber, my lionead x girly absolutely despising my mother/daughter pair, they're happy to sit in the corners of theirs run nearest one another and all flop near to one another, separated by the mesh of each run...

I keep my single boy at quite some distance from the four, because I didn't want fights to break out due to any referred agression. My intention was to inch him closer - literally by inches! - in the hopes he might be able to gain company of his own kind, even if not physically, until such a time as I find him a wifeybun. That's currently very much on hold due to my pairs all being giddy...

I sat and watched the other day as Amber, part of my male/female pair stared through the mesh and wound up Hazel, my mummy-bun in the next run. It would have been funny, it I hadn't known how Hazel would reaction. Amber's posture and behaviour was all really aggressive, and they then tried to chase one another, but could not... Anyway, Barney decided to chase Amber, Hazel flew after her daughter, Bella... It all calmed down. But the same thing has just happened again. I really would struggle if they both seriously tried to fight, as I obviously cannot jump into two runs at once. My mum refuses to take it seriously, snapping at me for getting tense. I try and explain that if they wanted to do serious damage, it'd take seconds, not minutes and there wouldn't necessarily be a warning, but she just thinks I'm being over-dramatic and snaps at me. I've made sure, at the moment, that each pair cannot see the other with cardboard and towels (adds shade, too!) and Edgar, my solitary boy, is on the other side of the garden happily oblivious...

What I'm wondering really is whether bunnies can get grumpy like humans due to the heat, and maybe take it out on one another?


.... on the plus side, after I got quite upset at the chasing/aggression by the bunnies and my mum snarling away at me, I cuddled Edgar and he licked my arm. :lol: Made me feel a lot better, because he's never done that before!
 
I've noticed Sora grumping a bit the last few days, she hasn't grumped for a couple of months so was a surprise hearing the noise again. Smudgie has an obsession with sniffiing the bottom of her feet when she's laying down and normally she just jumps up and moves away from him and lays down again in peace. Since the hot weather arrived though she's been adding a real grumpy grunt to the process and giving him a super mean "I'm hot and bothered so if you don't stoppit I will eat you" look :lol:

Left them with an iced bottle of pop this morning (usually it's just refrigerated water) though so hopefully it will cool her temper a bit...guess I'll find out when I get home :shock::lol:
 
Been getting more grumpy noises here, too. :lol: Barney has a fascination with Amber's back feet AND tail when she is flopped... They seem quite stampy and stroppy, not only with each other, but with us too when we're moving them from hutch/run. They've all calmed down here now, but I wish they'd stop scaring me like this.
 
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