• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Neutered Buck Acting Unneutered!

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!
 
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!

Do you have any idea at all how old Gulliver is ? In middle aged/ older neutered Bucks a problem can develop relating to the adrenal gland. This presents in hypersexual behaviour

''Adrenal gland disease has been anecdotally noted in rabbits – cases seen have been neutered males that have returned to sexual activity. Abdominal ultrasound has been used to confirm enlarged adrenal glands.''


Full text here:

http://www.vettimes.co.uk/article/adrenal-disease-and-neutering-techniques-in-small-mammals/
 
Thanks for the reply!

It's hard to say how old Gulliver is - he was definitely mature when we got him just over two years ago, so it's possible that he may be nearing 4yo. The only thing I'll say about his behaviour and it being linked to hormones is that he's not consistent; some days he will barely try to mark anything/mount Hilda, whereas others, like today, he has been going non-stop. I'll definitely do some reading on the adrenal gland though, and keep a proper diary of his behaviour in case he needs to have any investigation done :)
 
I'm not 100% sure but the chinning kind of sounds normal and I wouldn't worry about it unless it is causing problems for you and/or Hilda. The humping is probably a dominance thing however it sounds like a real issue now he is tearing clumps of fur out of her.

Both of these good be associated with the weather as my bunnies are currently doing the same sort of thing, just luckily not as bad as Gully. I don't think they are becoming 'unbonded' though (I assume that's what you were thinking from talking about neutral territory and putting them in a carrier on a washing machine) and would say that the culprit is most likely to be because of the weather, however I am not an expert so can't really offer any advice on what it could be.
 
how long ago was Gulliver neutered? If it was recently it can take a month or so for the hormones to subside. Again humping is a dominant behaviour so he may be letter her know who is top dog (or rabbit).
 
Back
Top