Neutered Males

As some of you may know, I had my two bunny boys neutered on monday. I meant to ask the nurse a couple of questions but somehow forgot so, I was wondering whether somebody here would be able to answer them?
Firstly, how long are they supposed to be bedded on shredded paper/vet bed or towels? and how soon can I put them back on straw?
I was told to keep them indoors for a couple of days, but I don't think I could possibly put them back out into the garage just yet without something warm for them to stand on. Their run has a good layer of straw on the bottom as the floor can be quite cold at times - I didn't want to pop them back into it with just paper covering the floor.

Secondly, how long does it take for the hormones to diminish? The nurse said NO Girlfriends for six weeks (not that they have any at the mo), so is it safe to say that their urges will start to lessen within this time scale? I ask because now they're feeling a bit better, I'm seeing a little bit of aggresion still between the two of them and some attempts at humping one another. I am still going to continue keeping them together as it's happening less frequently as it was last weekend, and also a few mins after each scuffle, they are cuddled up and grooming one another! I suppose a little of this could be down to working out who's boss.

Also the boys seem to have gone off their pelleted food atm, but are still eating plenty of hay and fresh veg, is this normal?

Thanks

Student nurse to the rescue! lol

A lot of this is down to your observations and judgement. Healing rates are different for everyone (animal and human alike) and hormone levels are, too.

Bed them on what you think they're comfy on. If they still seem tender to you, keep them on a soft bedding. It'll take about 2 weeks, on average, for the incision site to heal comfortably. Vet beds are EXCELLENT for healing (my girls are ALWAYS on them), as any urine and other fluids soaks straight through, and the bedding stays dry. Just make sure there's something absorbant to take up the fluids underneath the bed.

The hormones should be gone by the six weeks the nurses told you about. In some rabbits it's shorter, in some it's a little bit longer. The hormones are all still racing around their systems now, so the behaviour you're seeing is still quite normal. They should settle down within about two weeks, I think.

But yea, their urges will lessen, and hopefully be gone, by that six-week mark.

Thanks for the help Maaike_Butter
It's always nice to know there's a person or two on the forum who knows more about the medical side of keeping buns, than us ordinary folk.
At least you have confirmed pretty much what I was thinking regarding the hormones and stuff - roll on six weeks time!
As for the bedding side, it looks like I need to pay the pet shop a visit.

I'm not sure whether petshops will have vetbed, you might be better ordering from somewhere like: http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1687 very good prices. I've been getting rather alot recently!

Tam