Funk
Young Bun
I'm having a huge problem with my bonded buns, which has been ongoing for about a month now and I'm a loss with what to do. Here's a bit of background info:
Buck: Gulliver, a rescue that we got through a local FB page (woman was going on holiday and didn't want him anymore). His background is unknown, though he was fully mature when we got him. He was neutered by us, and originally bonded to our original doe, Molly, who died last year at around nine years old. He has no known health issues. As far as we know, he wasn't living with any other buns before Molly.
Doe: Hilda, also a rescue. The only background we have on her is that she was dumped on the roadside with a litter of babies. We don't know her exact age, but she's almost doubled in size since we got her last June, so we'd say that she's just over a year, maybe 18months old. She has also been spayed and has no known health problems. We don't know the circumstances of her pregnancy, so don't know if she was living with any buns before she came to us.
Their initial bonding went well; we've successfully bonded rabbits before, and Gully and Hilda's was by far the easiest until around the start of December, and since then it has only gotten worse. Gulliver is not only humping Hilda excessively, but he's chinning everything he can access (including Hilda's back when he's not trying to hump her). We've done the putting them on top of the washing machine thing in a carrier thing, put them back into neutral territory and given them as much space as possible, but Gulliver is marking the neutral space and quite frankly, making Hilda's life miserable. He's acting exactly like an unneutered buck, and Hilda is reluctantly pushing him back a little, but otherwise is having clumps torn out of her. It hasn't descended into an actual "fight" yet, but we're worried it's heading that way. They aren't scrapping over food, but they aren't actively seeking each other out for company either, like they did before all of this behaviour started.
It might sound a bit crazy, but we think it might possibly be connected to the weather, and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this? This is Gulliver's second winter with us; last winter Molly was starting to fade health-wise, and the winter was much colder. This winter the temperatures have been almost 10 degrees warmer than last, so we're thinking it could perhaps be a case of Hilda being young combined with the weather. Has anyone else had their buck go crazy in similar circumstances? Would love to hear from you!
Buck: Gulliver, a rescue that we got through a local FB page (woman was going on holiday and didn't want him anymore). His background is unknown, though he was fully mature when we got him. He was neutered by us, and originally bonded to our original doe, Molly, who died last year at around nine years old. He has no known health issues. As far as we know, he wasn't living with any other buns before Molly.
Doe: Hilda, also a rescue. The only background we have on her is that she was dumped on the roadside with a litter of babies. We don't know her exact age, but she's almost doubled in size since we got her last June, so we'd say that she's just over a year, maybe 18months old. She has also been spayed and has no known health problems. We don't know the circumstances of her pregnancy, so don't know if she was living with any buns before she came to us.
Their initial bonding went well; we've successfully bonded rabbits before, and Gully and Hilda's was by far the easiest until around the start of December, and since then it has only gotten worse. Gulliver is not only humping Hilda excessively, but he's chinning everything he can access (including Hilda's back when he's not trying to hump her). We've done the putting them on top of the washing machine thing in a carrier thing, put them back into neutral territory and given them as much space as possible, but Gulliver is marking the neutral space and quite frankly, making Hilda's life miserable. He's acting exactly like an unneutered buck, and Hilda is reluctantly pushing him back a little, but otherwise is having clumps torn out of her. It hasn't descended into an actual "fight" yet, but we're worried it's heading that way. They aren't scrapping over food, but they aren't actively seeking each other out for company either, like they did before all of this behaviour started.
It might sound a bit crazy, but we think it might possibly be connected to the weather, and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this? This is Gulliver's second winter with us; last winter Molly was starting to fade health-wise, and the winter was much colder. This winter the temperatures have been almost 10 degrees warmer than last, so we're thinking it could perhaps be a case of Hilda being young combined with the weather. Has anyone else had their buck go crazy in similar circumstances? Would love to hear from you!