Hi April, I have a similar sounding pair. Guin is a messy female, leaves hay, hair, and shredded cardboard everywhere. She demolishes a carfboarf box and leaves me every single piece of evidence. She drags things around, moves her “furniture”, and leave lots of stray poop for me to clean up. She just started chewing through the limoleum floor. She will chew an electric cable into a thousand tiny pieces. She was spayed a year ago. Lancelot is super duper calm, extra uber relaxed, and a perfect house bunny. The complete opposite of Guin. They are a bonded pair. None of her behavior has rubbed off on him. They have been bonded for 5 months, and it took me 2 or 3 months to bond them. She is bossy with him and nips him sometimes, and that makes him withdraw from her, which makes her upset, which makes her nip him some more, it’s quite a cycle. So I have to do couples therapy with them sometimes… It’s hard to tell if a bunny’s habits will rub off onto it’s mate. Sometimes it happens, othertimes not. The only thign I saw rub off, was Guin started to squeak while eating, after seeign that Lancelot squeaks while eating, and I find it cute and pet him. So ow she squeaks too, so I will pet her some more.

I am smiling right now, because this is familiar to me 😀 I got Thor first, then bonded Crysta to him. She destroyed my hay box (death by chewing), and the rug (shred-fest) but the payoff is that she defers to Thor and they get along. I don’t know if another female rabbit would’ve gotten along so well with my calm, but bossy boy.

Thor started to chew a fraction more after the bond, but we have a good relationship, to the point that when I say “No”, he stops chewing and I redirect him to something better. Have you considered that your boy might also pass on good traits to Belle? I say this because (while not the best example) Crysta copies Thor’s more confident behaviours, like pulling hay out with front paws, and throwing toys out of the way in one swift move, without walking around them like she used to. I also saw her try to lift a big tunnel out of her way, and this was not her behaviour when I first got her. It looks exactly like how Thor gets things done. Just a thought.

I think chronic chewers need dig boxes and secured/ heavy or weighted stuff to tear apart at (stuff that’s attached to something else so it doesn’t move). It may also be that Belle needs more exercise time (bar chewing). I’ve heard a few stories of rabbits preferring to do their business on soft blankets vs. litterboxes, so there may be a connection, I don’t know.

Thor also sat there when Crysta tried to hump him. He just ate his hay, and Crysta looked like she was climbing a mountain, haha. Maybe it’s a good thing that he doesn’t react, but I understand it is not your primary concern.

There’s no way to know for sure if your boy will be exactly like Belle. If Belle uses the litter box relatively well, and is a healthy little lass, those are two positives. There’s always a reason an animal does something, even if it’s just to be playful. If you figure out the “why” it may help you figure out a solution.