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Binx an 8 Month old English spot male, getting a bit frisky!

F

Frankie1236

New Kit
Hi,
My rabbit is an 8 month old English spot, recently I adopted a female mini lop, I think my male, (who previously showed no signs of bunny randyness :p) now smells the female on me, as he will not leave me alone, he isn't neutered, I don't plan on getting him neutered (personal preference) is there anyway I can calm him down with any other methods?
He comes in the house for up to an hour or two daily, but is an outdoor rabbit, while I think the attention he is now giving me is adorable, I know it can be a sign of dominence, I don't want him to turn out aggressive, or be sprayed/humped etc (he has not as of yet done this, the things he is doing at the mo are low grunting noises around me, licking, chinning, climbing all over me, following me, laying down beside me)

btw I do not plan on putting the two rabbits together, I only have her due to her previous owners not really giving her the care she needed,

If I was to get him neutered, would his personality change?
anyone with a male unneutered rabbit able to give me their opinions?
thanks

Kat
 
Is there a particular reason you don't want to get him neutered? Do you intend to get the girl spayed?

You will be able to see his true personality if he does not have hormones. Right now you don't know him, you just know his hormones and how they make him act.
 
As its hormones causing the terrotorial and sexual behaviour I dont really see any way to stop it without removing those hormones.

I had my bun neutered recently and his personality hasnt changed at all, hes just less agressive and less destructive. Havent seen him chin things for a while now and I think he is happier as he doesnt feel the need to rush around every morning chinning EVERYTHING including me and pooing everywhere to mark his territory.

Its like are you the same person when you dont have PMT? Of course you are! And much nicer to know too probably.
 
h's not agressive at all, YET hah he's just over loving if you get me, hasn't nibbled on anyone or anything either, doesn't chew his hutch neither,

the girl I've just got was from a neglected home, shes very skittish, got her last night, (basically the kids who had her lost interest etc didn't know how to handle a rabbit), and she's just adjusting to her surroundings, she won't let me touch her, probably because she's been mishandled, im gonna get her checked out at the vets because I think she may have a few problems, not sure if Rabbits get wet tail? but her backside was a bit mucky, poor thing, may get her neutered just cause she seems quite agressive at the moment,

Binx won't be going anywhere near her, he's one on his own so haven't a worry about babies, only reason I haven't had him neutered is cause I haven't had a need to yet, he's very well behaved, just these behaviour differences have started recently, hes just very loving, only thing im worried about is the spraying, which he hasn't done yet hah
 
Ah Im sure thats not good for laptops!! Its because hes in the teenager stage so I expect it might get worse :lol:

I would definately get her spayed as soon as you can as 85% of females develop uterine cancer by the age of 5 unless spayed. Thats a big percentage!

Seems like you have the makings of a perfect bunny family though, you can get them both neutered and then bond them. It will solve his issues, maybe some of hers, and hopefully she will take confidence from him and begin to trust humans again.

If you've only just got her easy does it, you dont want to scare her too much.

Wet tail is a hamster disease. If she has a mucky bum can you confirm whether it is true diorhea (spelling sorry) or just sticky poos? Its probably her diet. What was she being fed on? Try not to make any sudden changes to the diet. Can you tell how much hay she is eating (without disturbing her)?
 
nessar said:
Ah Im sure thats not good for laptops!! Its because hes in the teenager stage so I expect it might get worse :lol:

I would definately get her spayed as soon as you can as 85% of females develop uterine cancer by the age of 5 unless spayed. Thats a big percentage!

Seems like you have the makings of a perfect bunny family though, you can get them both neutered and then bond them. It will solve his issues, maybe some of hers, and hopefully she will take confidence from him and begin to trust humans again.

If you've only just got her easy does it, you dont want to scare her too much.

Wet tail is a hamster disease. If she has a mucky bum can you confirm whether it is true diorhea (spelling sorry) or just sticky poos? Its probably her diet. What was she being fed on? Try not to make any sudden changes to the diet. Can you tell how much hay she is eating (without disturbing her)?
Click to expand...

I agree with all of this, especially the bolded bit.

It sounds like she does need to see a vet if she is wet or messy. It may scare her but I think its important you do have a lot.
 
I agree with Sky-O and Nessar too. Neutering/spaying is the best thing for their personalities, health and for sociability. Plus less cleaning on your part from spraying and as regards to toilet training. At least then you have to option to bond them if you wished to.
 
I can't agree more with the other comments - spaying and neutering all round is the order of the day, best for temperament, best for health. Males can be done as soon as their "bits" are visable and females from about 6 months. After the op he could still be fertile for at least 6 weeks so why not get him done asap, let the hormones settle, get her done once she's settled in and had a vet check, then once she's recovered you can set about bonding should you wish to.

With regard to the new bunnys mucky bottom, this is often caused by a poor diet, ie too much museli/pellets and not enough hay. The diet should be about 90% hay the other 10% made up of a small amount of high fibre pellets (science selective are a good one) and suitable veg. Of course it can sometimes be a tooth related problem or other medical issue so it is wise to get her checked over and consider her diet.

I would be careful about bringing an outdoor bun inside for playtime at this time of year as, unless it is an unheated and well ventilated room, the temperature changes could be detremental to his health.

I assume you are quarantining the new rabbit for a while until you know she is healthy? Also, I would ask your bunny savvy vet about panacuring her.

Good luck and well done you for taking on a needy bunny.
 
This helps a lot, her diet was quite poor with her previous owners, I have left her today, gave her plenty of hay and straw, she's munched her way through a few bowls of the muesli, aswell as some fresh veg and a bit of banana, (highly doubt she had any of this with her previous owners, I only gave her a few bits of the veg etc to try and coach her out a bit so I could check her teeth)

I didn't get to see her teeth, but if its any state in which her claws are in, then I presume she hasn't had anything to wear them down, shes quite young at 3, albino too, a little blind aswell, (I just keep adding to the problems don't I hah) I've kept a see through rain cover over her today, so she can adjust herself to the new noises and her hutch, hopefully she will become more used to me, after I've gotten the vets out of the way etc, shes a lovely little thing, I dont understand why anyone would want to neglect such a cutie
 
How much museli was she fed before, do you know? Because it sounds like you are giving her way too much, so you need to cut down on it slowly. If you give her too much museli she wont eat her hay, and it is hay that keeps their teeth ground down. It is also good for their digestion and I'd say this might be why you are seeing sticky poos. Bunnies on here tend to get around an egg cup of pellets or two a day. What size is this bowl?

Also cut down on the veg, its fine that you are feeding it to her, its just any new foods should be introduced slowly. Only feed her what you KNOW she has been fed in her previous home, and introduce anything slowly and watch her poops. This is more than likely contributing to the sticky bum too.

So the first thing to do is to reduce her museli, but do it gradually. You should probably do this over at least a month, maybe more, so its nice and gradual. Then you can slowly switch her to pellets instead as they are better for most rabbits as they cannot selectively feed. Rabbits ADORE them too, my bunny charges at me when he sees his breakfast.
 
No idea how much she was fed before or what foods, I think she was given the basic, and not very often as when ever I saw her hutch it was empty, she was neglected, I fill up my rabbits bowls everyday, she has a smaller one as my english spot is a lot bigger, this will be her 2nd night with me, her poops shes done here seem the normal rabbit ball pellets, it could well have possibly been the state of her previous hutch, where she sat etc and the mucky bottom could of come from that, it was in a real bad state,
 
You will need to reduce your other rabbits museli too then. Its much better for them to eat their hay instead, rabbits in the wild arent born with a big bag of rabbit mix next to them!

As you dont know the brand of the food she was given you may have changed her food drastically and so should keep a look out for sticky poos or a sticky bum.

Litter training her will help with the mucky bum. I assume your other rabbit is litter trained already if hes allowed in the house? They will naturally use a specific corner anyway so it takes advantage of that and helps keep them clean and helps prevent fly-strike too. My bunny (no idea what his previous home was like, they brought him into pets at home and asked them to rehome him) had urine stains all over his bum, rump and legs when I got him. The vet reccomended I litter train him and it has cleared up.

Rabbit poos should be golden brown, dry and crumbly. Could you see if they are tomorrow? Their poos are a great indicator of diet and health. You can post a pic on here if you like so we can advise you how good or bad they are.
 
will do, Yeh Binx has one of those plastic corner things with the litter pellet thingys in them and he goes in that, doesn't poop etc in the house,

I'm glad to see she is grooming herself, her previous hutch was terrible so there was no way she would of been able to keep herself clean, her claws atm are a worry, they need trimming, I've never seen claws so long, she's booked in at the vets for saturday, so I shall let them sort her out then,
 
Yep one of those. Some hay in the litter box on top of litter can help encourage them in and and helps keep their bums dry.

I would ask them about her bum, claws and get them to check her teeth too. If she had a poor diet before she may have sharp spurs on her teeth. Get her first vaccination done whilst you are there too. Doubt they'll have got them done in her home before if they neglected her.

Sounds like youre on the right track to giving these bunnies very happy lives :)

ETA you can use storage containers instead of the corner litter trays if you like :)
 
Completely agree with everything previously said re diet, neutering etc, in fact if she is 3 years old it may be a good idea to get on with this as soon as the vet gives her the all clear regarding her general health and vaccinations (re uterine cancer as previously mentioned). Personally I would get him done too. Good luck with them both.
 
Frankie1236 said:
This helps a lot, her diet was quite poor with her previous owners, I have left her today, gave her plenty of hay and straw, she's munched her way through a few bowls of the muesli, aswell as some fresh veg and a bit of banana,
Click to expand...

This quantity of a low fibre food is the most likely cause of a dirty bottom. This is very easy to treat by giving a high fibre diet. The diet of a rabbit should be approximately 90 % hay with a small amount of veg and a tiny amount of a high fibre dried food.

Rabbits only need about an egg cup of dried food a day which is high in fibre. Most museli type feeds are less than 14% fibre therefore my advise would be to change this rabbit over to a high fibre pelleted food such as Science Selective and reduce the quantity to about an egg cup a day. I would avoid Excel as this can in some rabbits also cause sticky bottoms. The change over needs to be over a minimum of 10 days, you also need to reduce the quantity of dried food slowly to avoid them loosing weight too quickly which in itself cause problems. By reducing the dried food amount which is given you should find that this rabbit will increase its intake of hay which also will increase the fibre intake which will all help promote a clean bottom.

Older rabbits who have spinal problems or are arthritic can also develope dirty bottoms if they are unable to reach to keep themselves clean. Some dental bunnies also will have problems with dirty bottoms.
 
UPDATE

both rabbits are fine, my little white one got a clean bill of health from the vets and I was told I was doing everything right, her messy bottom was as I expected due to the bad conditions of the hutch,

Binx got neutered today, he is a bit groggy, been asleep most of the day, seems a little timid too, so i'm hoping the wares off, but otherwise, drinking and eating bits and is spending tonight inside to keep him warm etc

Kat
 
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