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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BEHAVIOR I don’t understand my rabbits

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    • Harmony
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        I rescued two abandoned bunnies off the side of the road on the 5th of July after seeing them there on the 4th. I love all animals so if I see any animal in need I’ll help them so I had to go back and get them because it was dangerous by the road and the weather called for thunder storm after thunder storm. So I have them now…..I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep them because I have a dog who likes to play with small animals (and gets sad when they die….he’s weird) but it looks like I’m going to keep them now and I was wondering if anyone could explain them to me. I’ve had a bunny before but she only liked my dad and her signals were crystal clear, “don’t touch me unless I say so *sassy snort*.” She lived a long and happy life though, being best friends with my dad and living in his work room and only tolerating me when I was grooming her or feeding her. So now I have these two bunnies a white and black dwarf boy and a black lop girl. So I guess I’ll list what they do that confuses me:
        They don’t seem to be startled by loud noises (especially the black one.) I had to build a cage for them and started using a loud saw absentmindedly and then realised I’m probably terrorfying the bunnies but no, the black one was spralled out breathing normally like nothing was happening and the white one was a bit startled but ultimately didn’t care. I use the vacume and they don’t care at all either. Could the black one be deaf? Or are they both just really calm?
        They are also really nice. They’ve never bit me once not even when I caught them. I hold them and I even had to shove medicine in the white rabbits mouth and he never bit me and just stayed a fuzzy angel.
        The black one is really nice too but she never acts like she wants me to pick her up and she always races for food like she’s starving. She’s started making nests but then poops in them. I’ve palpated her and felt nothing so idk if it’s false or a real pregnancy or if she’s just….horomonal? She can be sassy but not mean. More like if she could talk she would complain about the araingment of her cage but not blame you for it and dig and rearange everything on her own.
        And also they don’t seem to be afraid of dogs. When I first got them they had to stay at my boyfriend’s house and his dog met them and sniffed the cage and they completely ignored him and ate and explored and slept. When they first met his cats they huddled together and stayed dead still while one cat stated at them curiously and the other cowered in a corner because he hates new things. Soon though the white one and the cats were sniffing each other’s noses and the curious cat “petted him” (he thought about possibly batting him but then just gently patted the white bunnies back with his paw, it was kind of adorable.) Well now they’re at my house. My 5 cats don’t care about rabbits because of my other rabbit that I had. They pretty much grew up with her and delt with her asserting her dominance over them because my old rabbit was the queen bee of half the house (only half.) But my dog is another story. He never really got to meat her, only cry at the baby gate when she escaped my dad’s work room into the dining room. So now he sits in my room on my bed and cries and cries at the rabbits and they couldn’t seem to care less. He understands he can’t eat them and I don’t think he would if he could. He mainly just seems like he wants to play with them but he plays rough so it will never happen, much to his disapointment and sadness. But the black one has even sniffed him but mostly only ignored him and cared about food and the white one has been sniffed by him.
        The main things I’m worried about is if I’m reading them wrong. I’ve googled rabbit behaviors and ear signs and the white one hardly ever shows any signs of fear and the black one never seems afraid either but since she’s a lop I can’t really read her ears. And I worry about her especially because if I’m reading her wrong and she does turn out to be pregnate and have babies what if she feels thretened and eats them all? That’s really morbid and I really don’t want that to happen (prey animals eating meat sorta freaks me out because of scarry movies.) So I was wondering if anyone had bunnies that acted the way these do or if they could translate the bunny behavior because their immense amount of chill is baffling to me. The black one is Marie and the white one is Yu btw.


      • drwil
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          To answer a few of your questions:

          1. The black one is probably not deaf, if one is deaf usually it would be a white animal. Yours probably are just more relaxed than some bunnies.
          2. Making a nest follows a particular pattern: first digging for about a week, then carrying hay or straw in the mouth to build a nest, then lining it with fur. If she is not doing this sequence it is not a false pregnancy or a real pregnancy.
          3. Rabbits love to rearrange their cages to what suits them.
          4. If your rabbit is pregnant they usually do not eat their babies. It happens but not common like in hamsters. The nest building is a very specific sequence outlined in point 2. After putting down fur it is usually after day 23 of the 31 day pregnancy and most commonly the night before. So if pregnant you are likely to have babies this weekend.
          5.If she has babies DO NOT LET THE DOG NEAR HER. Presence of a predator is one factor that could make her kill her babies.
          6. Look up prey drive in dogs. It will tell you what breeds are the most likely to try to kill a prey species like rabbits or cats. Is your dog one of them?

          Hope this helps.


        • tobyluv
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            You need to separate the rabbits now. Hopefully, the female isn’t pregnant, but it won’t be long before she is pregnant if she is being housed with a male. And a rabbit can become pregnant immediately after giving birth. You could discover babies one day, and at the same time, the female could already be pregnant with a second litter. And if the female is pregnant and has her babies, you do not want the male to be in the same cage with the babies.

            You also don’t want any fighting. Rabbits that haven’t been spayed and neutered will very likely fight as soon as they reach puberty and their hormones come flooding in and they can severely injure each other. Keep them in separate cages until you can have them spayed and neutered, then a few weeks after their surgeries, you can start getting them properly bonded. Look at the BUNNY INFO link at the top of the page for an article on bonding.


          • Muchelle
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              If they lived by the road they’re surely used to loud noises, so it would explain why they seem not to mind.

              Did you take them to the vet? So that they can be vaccined and examined (and eventually spayed. With other animals in the house, I think it’s essential to keep hormones at the lowest possible. If they’re boy/girl you gotta be quick about it).

              If you have doubts about the black one being deaf or having a hearing impairment (that he might have got from an infection) just do a simple test and snap your fingers suddenly while the room is silent, in a position where he can’t perceive the movement of your hand. If his ears twitch or if he turns his head, he’s fine.

              If they’re afraid you can see it by their breathing, a scared rabbit will likely be breathing very fast and noisily and assume either a defense or an attack position. Just to be sure keep the dog at distance and give the rabbits plenty of safe places to hide if they ever are afraid or are bothered by barking.

              Good luck! I’m sure you’ll give them the best life


            • Harmony
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                So my dog isn’t on the list which is surprising but awesome :3 (he’s a catahoula leopard dog) and she hasn’t pulled any hair yet she’s just been making nests out of hay. She has been digging and it started last week out of no where I was woken up by her digging loudly everywhere. I’m not sure about her exactly carrying hay because of how I used to have everything set up until I finally got done with the big cage yesterday. Before yesterday they didn’t have a huge space and I had to move them a lot so I got compressed hay and put a circle in a litter box so she could eat and poop without getting it everywhere. In one of her litter boxs she would keep spreading the hay over it and making a little hole down into it but she does this after she’s peed and pooped in it so her bathroom stuff is all below it. I would end up dumping it out so it wouldn’t be dirty. In the big cage I just finished I put a metal nest box and put a circle of hay with a lot of paper and a lot more litterboxes so she can have her pick. Originally her nests were in her small litterboxes and it was so cramped but now she’s got a giant box so. But other than that and being crazy about food and not being ok with being held like she was when I first got her that’s the only pregnancy signs I’ve seen.
                Also I was able to separate them the other week (since they were surprisingly sprung on me I didn’t exactly have the space or any cages for them at all) and since there were abandoned together they’re already bonded. They never fought while they were together and just cuddled with each other for the most part. They never even seemed very interested in getting together in that way either unless they did it at night.
                And only the white one has been to the vet because he had an upper respiratory infection and I got antibiotics for it but I haven’t taken the black girl yet. (I’ve had to buy so much rabbit stuff I don’t have super big funds for them at the moment TT^TT but they will both defiantly go when I have the money because they seem so sad when they’re not together :< )


              • flemishwhite
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                • Muchelle
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                    I have the lucky combo then…my bun absolutely is again being picked up AND tried to murder the vacuum cleaner after I turned it on the first time xD
                    he growled, boxed, growled again then decided it was dead and made the most satisfied face ever.

                    He might be an exception though, because he is enemies with the broom as well, and that doesn’t make noise.

                    Chitchat apart, how are the two little rescued fellows doing?

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                Forum BEHAVIOR I don’t understand my rabbits