Random Aggression

Hi, this is my first time using this so...

I have two rabbits, I was stitched up by the shop who told me they were 8 weeks and both boys, however, I had 4month old opposite gender rabbits. Unfortunately I didn't find out until They had a litter. They were both extremely cuddly, loved being handled, My female (toffee) used to be more manageable then the boy (bubba) but since her litter died she has been really off. She grunts, kicks, bites and runs away from me. We thought she was lonley and have put her in with my brother guinea pigs (they all get on amazingly) yet this hasn't helped. I don't know what I have done, I am only 16 and am saving my paper round money to get her done so she can go back in with bubba. Will this help??? Any tips on how to make her nice again???

Sorry for the long paragraph, I thought it needed explaining.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for replying, it means a lot

She needs spaying it will help loads! Both rabbits will need fixing really.Also don't put her in with the guniea pigs! Someone with more experience will come and explain why but its a major no no .

grumpy

Sherry96 said:

Hi, this is my first time using this so...

I have two rabbits, I was stitched up by the shop who told me they were 8 weeks and both boys, however, I had 4month old opposite gender rabbits. Unfortunately I didn't find out until They had a litter. They were both extremely cuddly, loved being handled, My female (toffee) used to be more manageable then the boy (bubba) but since her litter died she has been really off. She grunts, kicks, bites and runs away from me. We thought she was lonley and have put her in with my brother guinea pigs (they all get on amazingly) yet this hasn't helped. I don't know what I have done, I am only 16 and am saving my paper round money to get her done so she can go back in with bubba. Will this help??? Any tips on how to make her nice again???

Sorry for the long paragraph, I thought it needed explaining.

Thanks for reading.

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When you say her litter died. did you take them off her when they were very young. This could make her grumpy. She will need time to get over it

This kind of behavior can sometimes happen when a rabbit loses a litter. She'll probably just need a little time for her to get back to normal. If she likes your boy bun, it will probably help her the most to be in her cage next to his.

If the loss of the babies happened in the last few days, you will want to check her belly and nipples, to make sure that she hasn't developed mastitis, from the milk coming in and no babies to nurse. The nipples would be hard and painful to the touch if she has it.

I'm sorry about losing the babies. Hopefully your girl will be feeling happier in a few days.

peterjames said:

When you say her litter died. did you take them off her when they were very young. This could make her grumpy. She will need time to get over it

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No, it was shocking, one day I checked and she was suckling so I removed the male, she raised them for 2 weeks before she stopped, she dried up and seemed to give up with them.

Jbun said:

This kind of behavior can sometimes happen when a rabbit loses a litter. She'll probably just need a little time for her to get back to normal. If she likes your boy bun, it will probably help her the most to be in her cage next to his.

If the loss of the babies happened in the last few days, you will want to check her belly and nipples, to make sure that she hasn't developed mastitis, from the milk coming in and no babies to nurse. The nipples would be hard and painful to the touch if she has it.

I'm sorry about losing the babies. Hopefully your girl will be feeling happier in a few days.

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We thought that maybe she was depressed, but they died over a month ago and she is still being funny, and we have, the hutches and runs are next to each other so they can can see each other still. Thanks for the answer me and mum have her booked into the vets just incase but I thought I would heck on here

PrincessPomPom said:

She needs spaying it will help loads! Both rabbits will need fixing really.Also don't put her in with the guniea pigs! Someone with more experience will come and explain why but its a major no no .

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What's wrong with guinea pigs??? :/ my granddad kept them together when he raised them

Sherry96 said:

What's wrong with guinea pigs??? :/ my granddad kept them together when he raised them

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Years ago it was considered acceptable to keep rabbits and guinea pigs together, but there are several reasons why it's a bad idea. Being different species, they communicate in different ways, so won't understand each other in the way that 2 rabbits will or 2 guinea pigs will. Also, rabbits have very strong back legs and can easily injure a guinea without meaning to. There is a disease that can be passed from one to the other, I can't remember what it is just now. And guinea pigs need extra vitamin c in their diet whereas rabbits don't :wave:

ripminnie said:

Years ago it was considered acceptable to keep rabbits and guinea pigs together, but there are several reasons why it's a bad idea. Being different species, they communicate in different ways, so won't understand each other in the way that 2 rabbits will or 2 guinea pigs will. Also, rabbits have very strong back legs and can easily injure a guinea without meaning to. There is a disease that can be passed from one to the other, I can't remember what it is just now. And guinea pigs need extra vitamin c in their diet whereas rabbits don't :wave:

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Thanks my dad said he knows where I can get a cheap hutch until the end of the month. I will keep her close to bubba for as lon as it takes. And the vets have me specialised rabbit food so they are fed separately anyway, thanks again

She would benefit from being spayed, as this will atop her hormones and then once the boy is neutered they will ve able to be bonded together again

A cheap hutch probably doesn't have the right dimensions as most hutches aren't,rabbits need masses of space. It wouldn't be fair to keep her in a smaller than appropriate just because its cheap

Around 3-4 months old rabbits get the hormones and that can lead to the aggressive behaviour you are describing. It's a trigger for territorial behaviour. I imagine it's probably worse when you go into her space eg put your hands in the cage? The pregnancy might have mad it worse as obviously that's even more hormones to confuse her body. You will hopefully find that once you have her neutered that improves things as it gets rid of the hormone production

In the mean time, try to avoid situations that trigger the aggression, eg let her come out to you rather than lifting her out of the cage, and let her out whilst you do things in her cage/hutch so she's not there to attack you!

There is a chance she's pregnant again if the boy was with her when she had her babies, unless it's been more than 4 weeks since being with the boy.

But it does sound like normal hormonal female behaviour, but losing her babies wouldn't have helped. I'm surprised you saw her nursing, rabbits tend to only feed them mornings and evenings without anyone around to protect them from predators. I've had to tell quite a few people that the rabbit hasn't abandoned the babies just because they haven't seen them being fed and as long as they are covered and still look and act healthy, they're fine. But obviously since they died, she's not looked after them.

Putting an unneutered adult rabbit in with guinea pigs is risky. Rabbits are natural humpers which they use to communicate or let off steam, and guinea pigs are pretty fragile against a rabbit, rabbits are also greedy and can fight the guinea pigs for first access to the food. And usually, you may not see any problems until your pigs are always hiding and losing weight from stress. Rabbit bullying isn't always obvious, and when a rabbit gets moody a gp has no chance.

Best thing to do is to neutered both your boy and girl and try and bond them together.

As everybody else has already mentioned, she needs spaying. Entire female rabbits have an 80% chance of developing uterine cancer over the age of 5 years, she will also be very hormonal and "grumpy", especially if she has suffered the loss of her babies. She is most likely feeling lonely too, guinea pigs don't speak the same language as rabbits and so won't be very good companions for her. She could also hurt them by accident and rabbits can pass on a respiratory disease onto guinea pigs, which is particularly deadly to them.
I would get her and the boy neutered, and then bond them both together, 6 weeks after their ops. They will need bonding properly, so make sure you read up on bonding bunnies before attempting it yourself.

Min dimensions for a hutch is 6x2x2ft with a permanent attached run of 8x4ft. These are not cheap. I would recommend getting a little playhouse; you can often see these being given away for free or cheaply on local ad sites/papers. You can attach a run to these via a cat flap.

If you have a look in the "housing section" of this forum, you will find many examples of this time of accommodation. :thumb:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...door-Housing&p=5208014&viewfull=1#post5208014

PrincessPomPom said:

A cheap hutch probably doesn't have the right dimensions as most hutches aren't,rabbits need masses of space. It wouldn't be fair to keep her in a smaller than appropriate just because its cheap

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It's plenty big enough, it was used to house a giant rabbit, however the owner is getting another and is converting a shed

Thanks for all the replies, mum and dad are lending me the money to get her spayed and him neutered as dad got payed today, thanks again, hopefully she will get better soon (I was worried she was sick)