DESTRUCTO BUNNEH! (What happened to my sweetie pie? Haha)

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 7sd replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 1 month ago by Beka27.

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- 02/15/2011 at 8:54 AM
  Florida_Bunnies
  Participant
  47 posts
  Okay so when does puberty/teenage bunnyhood start? Because I think we are there with Nibbler. Here is what is going on.
  
  1.) He likes to jump up on the couch/bed and get in my lap and wants to be petted. Sometimes he just jumps up on me and digs at my clothes! I don’t really mind because it doesn’t hurt but of course it’s ruining my clothes. Then he stops digging for a few minutes and bites at my clothes like he is trying to pull them off! He never bites at my skin, just my clothes, what is up with this?
  
  2.) Apparently we have forgotten what litter training is. Nibbler is pooping EVERYWHERE! SERIOUSLY. He poops on the couch, in every single room he can get to, under the kitchen table, and his new favorite spot is in front of my dresser in the bedroom. OH AND he has started jumping up and pooping on my husband, is he “marking” him? When we first got Nibbler he loved to poo and pee on me, but he has stopped that but never really did it on my husband. Haha. OH AND he loves to get between my husband and I. I think my bun might be in love with me and be jealous? haha.
  
  3. PEEING! OMG. He keeps peeing ON MY COUCH. We have only had this couch for like, 7 months and I keep having to take the covers off and clean them because he literally pees on them EVERYDAY. (His urine doesn’t have a smell though, I thought that was odd…) It just leaves white marks wherever he pees so it’s very visible and unfortunately my couch cannot be spot cleaned because of the type of fabric it is, so I have to take the covers off and wash them in the washing machine, it is a pain! I don’t know how to discourage this behavior because he can now jump on the couch very easily and I feel bad for shooing him off because it used to be that he just got up there to cuddle with us or to sleep on one of the pillows we have on the couch (He looooves to sleep on the pillows with a fleece blanket).
  
  4.) Back to the pooping actually. He gets mad when I clean his poops up! If he sees me doing it he runs over to where I am cleaning and will poop again! Or he thumps. Seriously he is so territorial!
  
  So do I have a teenager? Any tips for my destructo bun? I’m thinking of placing more litter boxes throughout the house to see if that might help… not sure if it will though!
- 02/15/2011 at 9:00 AM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  Hi beth
  
  I had to giggle while reading this Nibbler sounds exactly like a hormonal teenager! How old is he? Boys can be neutered around 4 months old. I’m unsure when hormones kick in for males (as I have a female) but I do know the hormones can kick in pretty early for rabbits!
  
  Yes, his litter habits will be very off until he is neutered. He sounds pretty territorial and sounds like his poops are as well. My girl used to spray when she was unspayed. Same can happen to boys as well and I hear it may smell !
  
  Have you given him a blanket to dig in? There are some bunnies that LOVE blankets! Mine loves to dig dig and smooth it out! I call it snow plowing because it looks so cute
  
  I wouldn’t allow him onto the couch for the time being if he is peeing on it.
- 02/15/2011 at 9:07 AM
  Florida_Bunnies
  Participant
  47 posts
  Yep he has blankets. As a matter of fact he has a blanket in pretty much every room. I was trying to be a good bunny mama and I got him the fleece type that I read weren’t as dangerous to bunnys as normal blankets, so actually what I did was go to the craft section in Wal-Mart and just picked some fleece fabrics and had a large sheet cut and I made blankets for him myself! Haha.
  
  We estimate that Nibbler is about 5 months old now I guess. We took him to the vet in December and she wasn’t able to determine gender yet, as his little testicles haven’t descended but his other parts I guess are still kind of ambiguous. But I’ve been checking lately and it definitely looks like a little boy part to me… . But since we didn’t know NIbbler’s exact age she wanted to wait a few more months to make sure that he/she was old enough.
  
  I guess I’ll have to find a way to keep him from the couch. I guess when he is out free roaming whenever he jumps up on it I’ll have to pick him and and make him get off, hopefully he’ll get the idea…
- 02/15/2011 at 3:01 PM
  Monkeybun
  Participant
  10479 posts
  Sounds like neuter time
- 02/15/2011 at 8:50 PM
  cactuspancake
  Participant
  536 posts
  Lol yeah my bunny is still doing the same thing. He goes on the couch AND the bed >.< I hate it! He's leaving mad poops EVERYWHERE as well. I just had him neutered almost a month ago so we’ll see what changes!
- 02/16/2011 at 12:05 AM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  Uh oh….looks like you are in need of our “Bunny Gone Nutty Page” Review.. Definitely sounds hormonal. Both genders can get a little challenging during this age. Being at 5 months, the testicles most like would have descended by now.. Boy parts and girl parts look very similar. Sometimes the testicles though can be pulled back when a bunny is startled (like if you pick him up).
- 02/16/2011 at 12:31 AM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17230 posts
  Hmm… sounds like Leopold before he was neutered. He’s still pretty naughty, but he has stopped peeing on things (he used to love to get up on the couch so he could pee). Interestingly, he found himself sulking in his cage tonight. He had been out earlier but he would not leave the carpet alone. He kept chewing on it in several different spots and I kept shooing him away. Since I was trying to study, he found himself going to bed early. I wasn’t getting much done when I had to get up from where I was every 2 minutes to go stop him. Sheesh!
- 02/16/2011 at 5:43 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Call the vet today and set up a time for another exam and the neuter ASAP after. In the meantime, keep him in a more confined area, or spaces that can easily be cleaned up (i.e. no upholstered furniture, no beds, limited carpeting). There’s not a lot you can really do until after he’s been snipped.
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