My Buns are acting strange

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 16sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 5 months ago by DethronedbyQueenB.

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- 11/12/2014 at 1:08 AM
  lizyfoxylizy
  Participant
  8 posts
  I am new to the forum, I appreciate the knowledge and expertise.
  
  I have 2 buns- both males, Kirk and Dale. I adopted them from someone else who go them from a pet store and claims they didn’t get along with their cats. They were fine for the first few weeks, but then one day I was awaked from sleep to the sound of them flighting in their cage (they had a 4 level ferret cage). I came out and there was hay and pellets everywhere on the floor, and even tufts of hair, but they seemed ok- lying beside each other, stepping over each other etc. I thought i had fed them too many raspberries and they were hyper so i went back to bed. I caught them fighting again a few hours later, chancing each other around very fast, and one pulling the other down when he tried to go up to another level. I separated them in the cage for the day and i got another 4 level cage that night and they’ve been separated ever since. I don’t want they to hurt each other. I looked into getting them neutered, but I live in a small secluded town with only 2 vets, and neutering costs over $400 per bun, and I don’t have that kind of money right now, though i would like to get them neutered eventually. They haven’t spent any time together since separated but their cages are across from one another.
  
  Since I separated them the less out going one, who always seems a little more scared and doesn’t like me to pick him up or touch him very much, seems to be happier, or at least I think so. He sometimes runs around up and down all over the cage and jumps on top of the house i got him. He stand up inquisitively a lot and eats his greens excitedly when i put them in. The more dominant one, Dale, who i assumed had been the more aggressive one, seems more sad recently. He doesn’t eat when i put some of his faves in front of him (but he will come to it a little later), he spends a lot of time in the corner, and doesn’t run around the same way as Kirk. He is ok with me if i pet him and pick him up, though does seem to be nudging me less then before which i always assumed was “stop it go away” but I’ve read is more of a demand for petting so i did, but now is asking less. I feel like Dale may be sad and depressed. Could this be because they are separated? Am i over thinking it?
  
  I appreciate the feed back
- 11/12/2014 at 11:23 AM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17238 posts
  It sounds like Kirk is happy to be away from Dale and Dale is like “hey, where did that other bunny go?”. Stress can definitely make a bunny behave differently. Perhaps Kirk is feeling more himself now that he is away from the source of his stress. Dale could very well be the dominant one and was behaving aggressively, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t want a friend. Hormones do funny things. A bunny with behave one way, but that isn’t who they really are.
  
  Do you have an animal shelter near by that adopts out rabbits? You could call and see if they know of a low cost place to get your boys neutered.
- 11/12/2014 at 11:31 AM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17238 posts
  Oh, but do take Dale to the vet if his food intake in down. You want to make sure something else isn’t wrong.
- 11/12/2014 at 4:05 PM
  lizyfoxylizy
  Participant
  8 posts
  I know it would be nice for them to be together but im just so scared of coming home to a mangled bunny corpse because they were fighting. watching one get dragged down the ramp was so terribly horrifying. WOuld it be ok for them to play together sometimes in a pen?
  No lost cost places here- its a town of less than 20,000 ppl with only 2 vets, very secluded. Dales food intake seems to be ok- he def eats, just not as excitedly as Kirk who loves to munch his kale right away. Dale will eat, just more slowly and not excitedly, like before.
- 11/12/2014 at 5:10 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  $400 pretty steep for a neuter. Have you checked a little farther away for other options?
- 11/12/2014 at 5:14 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  Once they are neutered and their hormones calm down (4 to 6 weeks post-neuter) then you can start re-bonding them. In the mean time, you should consider looking at other cage options as ferret cages don’t provide adequate floor space for bunnies — xpens are inexpensive options, and many people use NIC grids to build cages as well.
- 11/12/2014 at 5:43 PM
  lizyfoxylizy
  Participant
  8 posts
  i will look into other options. I plan to get a puppy pen to allow them to run around for a while.
  
  unfortunately I live far up into northern Canada. There ARE no other places. This city is the one people come to as the “big city”. Closest other place is literally 6-8 hours drive away. Literally. I looked into taking them both to the major city (over 1000 km away) because of the cost but its probably just not very comfortable for them to fly or drive for that long
- 11/12/2014 at 5:47 PM
  DethronedbyQueenB
  Participant
  205 posts
  How old are they? Are you for sure, for sure, for SURE, they are both males?
  My boys did that until one got pregnant.
  
  Welcome to BB!
- 11/12/2014 at 5:55 PM
  lizyfoxylizy
  Participant
  8 posts
  well when they lie down i can see the shiny pink bumps of what i assume are the testicles on their behind, and i def know one is for sure male as i saw his penis once when he was having a hormonal moment. So no i haven’t been told by a vet that they are both males, but from observance, im 98% sure they are both males.
- 11/12/2014 at 7:02 PM
  DethronedbyQueenB
  Participant
  205 posts
  Yeaahhh…I would think so as well then.
- 11/12/2014 at 7:18 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  Um, there is very little difference between young boy buns and young girl buns “down there”, other than the testicles. Literally, sometimes the only real difference you can see is that the girl part looks like it has a little slit/line as the opening and the boy part looks like it has a little round opening. Bald patches on either side are a good indication that testicles belong there, but there have been an awful lot of mistaken gender IDs in bunnies. I was able to ID Kieko as a girl by using a really good picture from the web, and using a magnifying glass to look “down there”.
  
  Dethroned — I love the way you asked that! Sounds like something I would do, but mine is usually “are you really really sure?”!!! Nothing like some extra unexpected babies from a pregnant male bunny!
- 11/12/2014 at 7:32 PM
  DethronedbyQueenB
  Participant
  205 posts
  Yeah, especially when we never even knew he was pregnant!
- 11/12/2014 at 8:10 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17238 posts
  When you say “behind”, where are you referring to on their body? The testicles are actually forward on the abdomen in relation their other bits of anatomy. They aren’t in the same place as on dogs or cats.
- 11/12/2014 at 8:31 PM
  lizyfoxylizy
  Participant
  8 posts
  they are not dangly bits, more so like on the back of their abdomen- i can see them when they lie down with their legs out.
- 11/12/2014 at 9:13 PM
  Roberta
  Participant
  4355 posts
  Bunny boy bits tend to be wing shaped, long and thicker at one end and slightly pointed at the other.
- 11/12/2014 at 9:22 PM
  lizyfoxylizy
  Participant
  8 posts
  been trying to snap a pic to compare online….
- 11/13/2014 at 5:28 PM
  DethronedbyQueenB
  Participant
  205 posts
  Is it bad I’m lookin forward to a bunny bits pic just so I can see a furry bunny?
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