Snuggles keeps humping the other bunnies

[Lord Trellis]

So when I got snuggles she was apparently spayed but this morning she has taken a lot of fur off Lucky's back leaving a patch of missing fur and she keeps humping. Does a spayed rabbit hump excessively like this? Her previous owner said she was spayed?

 

[Shimmer]

Can you get proof that she was spayed? eg from her previous vet.
Is she definitely a female (and not eg an entire male)?

 

[Lord Trellis]

Can you get proof that she was spayed? eg from her previous vet.
Is she definitely a female (and not eg an entire male)?

She is definitely not male she has no balls. Her owner didn't show me any proof but I had no reason not to believe them. It just seems a bit strange. Is there any health concerns I wonder that could cause a spayed bunny to start humping? I was a bit sad to see chunks of fur missing from Lucky's back. He is looking a bit scruffy now. It will grow back in good time.

 

[Sky-O]

They can mount for dominance. Are they figuring out their hierarchy? How is Lucky reacting to it?

 

[bunny momma]

How old was she when you got her? If she was only a few months old she may not be spayed.

 

[Lord Trellis]

Lucky normally just gives up and lays there while shes humping him but he will jump up and run away from her when she bites his back. They seem to be ok today. I've been keeping them separate at night. Snuggles is said to be 2 years old.

 

[Shimmer]

Did you get the genders confirmed when they were vaccinated?

 

[Orenoko]

Lucky normally just gives up and lays there while shes humping him but he will jump up and run away from her when she bites his back. They seem to be ok today. I've been keeping them separate at night. Snuggles is said to be 2 years old.

Separating them may not be helping as she may feel she has to reestablish dominance each day.

 

[Sky-O]

Separating them may not be helping as she may feel she has to reestablish dominance each day.

I fully agree with this. The disruption is likely to mean they can’t fully work out what their relationship will be, so will continue to have these ‘debates’ about it.

 

[Lord Trellis]

They have been fine today, no humping or tearing out each others fur. I just didn't want anymore fur being torn out and the biting of his back. Bugs is also with them but she is very good at avoiding Snuggles humping. Lambchop sometimes spends the day with them when he has the run of the house.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Lambchop sometimes spends the day with them when he has the run of the house.

That’s your problem then. Rabbits need a defined hierarchy and cannot have ‘visitors’ now and again. It disrupts the bond and they will constantly be working on trying to establish who is top Rabbit. Rabbits are very territorial too. So they will see an occasional visitor as a threat, not as a nice social meeting.

The combination of separating Snuggles at night and the trio having an occasional visit from Lambchop is almost certainly what’s causing all the stress.

 

[Lord Trellis]

I will have to think of an alternative solution.

LambChop gets on with all the bunnies but I can't leave him with them at night because LambChop is a pro at jumping barriers and I don't want him coming into my room at night when I'm sleeping because he loves to bite me so he stays with Lacey. I will stop introducing LambChop to the others until I can work something out.

 

[Orenoko]

Not sure what your set up is but if they can see/smell each other all the time then there will always be a possibility of this, or worse, recurring. If you're going to have more than one bonded pair they need to be completely separated or consider whether they can be bonded as a bigger group (not saying that will be easy). You need to consider what is in the rabbits' best interests here in terms of how you're keeping them.

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[Lord Trellis]

Snuggles is really going for it today and Lucky is not happy. It got a bit tense earlier and I had to break it up.

 

[Lord Trellis]

Update there has been no more humping. Snuggles had a phantom pregnancy and stated to build a nest under the kitchen table with hay and anything else she could push under it but since then her and Lucky are getting on like no other.