H & B constantly at it.

Lisa1981 · Feb 5, 2019

Both my girls (Surleyb3 vets can’t be wrong) Harlequin and Beauty have been fine almost from the beginning but a few days ago we had honking in the hutch and this has now progressed to almost constant humping from both although mainly Beauty. I saw head humping once and stoped it but now there is a lot of chasing and humping from behind. Harlequin is starting to look a bit down by it.
They have been together over a month and are 15 and 16 weeks.
Could this be hormoanes kicking in? What is the earliest they can be spayed and should I separate for the time being?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

joey&boo · Feb 5, 2019

almost definitely hormones. Sadly you'll probably have to separate & rebond post spay

binkyCodie · Feb 5, 2019

that would be hormones yes

hormones usually kick in around this time, 3-4 months or so. its not uncommon. the humping, chasing and honking will be due to that.

as for when they can be spayed, it really depends on your vet. usually most will spay once they reach 1kg in weight, or 6 months old, whatever comes first. but I've known vets operate on bunnies that weigh less if theyre nethies for instance.

I'm not sure if I would separate. I suppose the problem is is that the humping and chasing could start a large fight, and if you're not around to separate them it could turn quite nasty. head humping is always dangerous as they can bite their tummies or private area and end up with a rather nasty wound. but you would have too rebond 8 weeks after spaying. then again, if they did have a major fallout it could make bonding almost impossible. I think personally I would separate, but I don't have much knowledge.

I hope somebody with a bit more knowledge can shed some insight - I don't have much experience, so I apologise for that

all of mine have been singles until fixing and then I bond them.

Lisa1981 · Feb 5, 2019

joey&boo said:
almost definitely hormones. Sadly you'll probably have to separate & rebond post spay

binkyCodie said:
that would be hormones yes hormones usually kick in around this time, 3-4 months or so. its not uncommon. the humping, chasing and honking will be due to that.

as for when they can be spayed, it really depends on your vet. usually most will spay once they reach 1kg in weight, or 6 months old, whatever comes first. but I've known vets operate on bunnies that weigh less if theyre nethies for instance.

I'm not sure if I would separate. I suppose the problem is is that the humping and chasing could start a large fight, and if you're not around to separate them it could turn quite nasty. head humping is always dangerous as they can bite their tummies or private area and end up with a rather nasty wound. but you would have too rebond 8 weeks after spaying. then again, if they did have a major fallout it could make bonding almost impossible. I think personally I would separate, but I don't have much knowledge.

I hope somebody with a bit more knowledge can shed some insight - I don't have much experience, so I apologise for that all of mine have been singles until fixing and then I bond them.

Thanks. I wasn’t sure so I thought I would ask. I will be ringing the vets tomorow to see what they say. Harlequin is almost a 1kg and is a neathi mix so maybe she could be spayed first if agreed or would it be better to have them both spayed at the same time? Beauty is quiet a bit smaller so probably doubtful with her at the moment but I can only but ask.

It’s sad I’m going to have to separate them but I don’t want any thing to happen to either. I havnt seen any fighting or aggression just chasing humping and honking. Although every time Harlequin goes to eat Beauty joins her try’s to hump her so Harliquine jumps out and stops eating

MightyMax · Feb 5, 2019

Lisa1981 said:
Both my girls (Surleyb3 vets can’t be wrong) Harlequin and Beauty have been fine almost from the beginning but a few days ago we had honking in the hutch and this has now progressed to almost constant humping from both although mainly Beauty. I saw head humping once and stoped it but now there is a lot of chasing and humping from behind. Harlequin is starting to look a bit down by it.
They have been together over a month and are 15 and 16 weeks.
Could this be hormoanes kicking in? What is the earliest they can be spayed and should I separate for the time being?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Awww Lisa sorry to hear this

Vets can spay from 4 months, and a kilo is a pretty good weight. Many vets would prefer to leave it until a bit later (5/6 months).

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/neutering28807.pdf

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/neutering/

It's difficult to know whether to separate, as they aren't fighting? I find that when things start to get tetchy, plenty of space and places to 'get away to' will help in the short term. You'll have to keep a close eye if you're keeping them together

Graciee · Feb 5, 2019

Yea I was in this situation

If possible I'd try not to separate, but obviously if you have to, you have to. That's what I did anyway

Lisa1981 · Feb 6, 2019

MightyMax said:
Awww Lisa sorry to hear this

Vets can spay from 4 months, and a kilo is a pretty good weight. Many vets would prefer to leave it until a bit later (5/6 months).

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/neutering28807.pdf

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/neutering/

It's difficult to know whether to separate, as they aren't fighting? I find that when things start to get tetchy, plenty of space and places to 'get away to' will help in the short term. You'll have to keep a close eye if you're keeping them together

Graciee said:
Yea I was in this situation

If possible I'd try not to separate, but obviously if you have to, you have to. That's what I did anyway

Iv just separated them as harlequin was being disturbed when eating and kept running away and not going back to the hay. Have just seen a binky I havnt seen in a while so I think Iv done the right thing. I’m so sad about having to do it but I think it’s for the best. Hopfully it won’t be for to long and that I will be able to rebound them.

Thank you for the links MM I will read them now.

Zigzag · Feb 6, 2019

Hi Lisa
Sorry to hear you’ve had to separate, but I’m sure you’ve made the right decision.

We were recently in this situation, and our baby girl’s hormones kicked in at different times from 3 months onwards. We got her spayed last week just before the 5 month mark- she was 1.3kg.

There was a fair bit of fur pulling from Zigzag our make rabbit before the spay, but we decided not to separate. I was mainly wfh and watching them closely.

Although you’ve had to separate I’m sure they’ll bond quickly after spay. X

Lisa1981 · Feb 6, 2019

Zigzag said:
Hi Lisa
Sorry to hear you’ve had to separate, but I’m sure you’ve made the right decision.

We were recently in this situation, and our baby girl’s hormones kicked in at different times from 3 months onwards. We got her spayed last week just before the 5 month mark- she was 1.3kg.

There was a fair bit of fur pulling from Zigzag our make rabbit before the spay, but we decided not to separate. I was mainly wfh and watching them closely.

Although you’ve had to separate I’m sure they’ll bond quickly after spay. X

Hi Zigzag

Iv noticed it in the last 4 days but it got almost constant really quickly and beauty started to to show early signes of stasis yesterday as well as the stress with Harlequin so that’s why I separated. I only saw one small amount of fur any where in that time but every thing else was so much worse.

Beauty is not so frantic now and is achilly spending time relaxing in her grass house and Harlequin is not constantly looking around her to see if she’s being followed and is able to eat more.

They can still see and smell each other though and be close through the mesh to the hutch if they chose to but the gaps are to small to do any thing through so I’m hoping when we rebond that will help to make it not so stressful.

Some times we’re out quiet a bit so can’t always be around to keep a really close eye on them both. We also don’t have a lot of spaces we can separate them in at the moment as they are not litter trained so they are taking turns between the hutch and the hallway and im switching them every four hours.

Lisa1981 · Feb 6, 2019

Just phoned the vets and they can be spayed at 4 months so are booked in for first week of March providing beauty is an aceptable size although in extream cases they can be spayed earlier but it makes the surgery more complicated.
Feeding herbs at the moment in with hay to keep Beauty eating but we very well may end up at the vets with stasis again.

Orenoko · Feb 6, 2019

Oh no, sorry to hear you're having problems with them! I hope Beauty picks up soon, and I hope everything goes well with their spays.

Lisa1981 · Feb 6, 2019

Orenoko said:
Oh no, sorry to hear you're having problems with them! I hope Beauty picks up soon, and I hope everything goes well with their spays.

Thanks. To be honest I can’t wait for them to be spayed. They both now so down that there not with each other but vet says I’m doing the right thing.

H & B constantly at it.

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