9 week old Buck circling another

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This topic has 5sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 7 months ago by BinkyBunny.

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- 04/14/2020 at 1:17 PM
  DobPac
  Participant
  2 posts
  Hi all
  
  My wife and I have a couple of 9 week old bucks. Paco is a little bigger than Dobby, who is the slighter and scraggier one.
  
  For the past few days we have noticed Paco circling Dobby for about 10-15 seconds. I have read this could mean a couple of things, one of which is a dominant gesture.
  
  I caught Paco doing it this evening and then immediately putting his head down for it to be groomed by Dobby.
  
  Is this typical behaviour for a couple of bucks around 9 weeks old? Is there any behaviour we can encourage to stop this from happening or will it only be rectified when we get them both neutered?
  
  Any feedback would be appreciated, thank you!
- 04/14/2020 at 1:20 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  Sorry for the delay in approving your post as the forum is not officially open and one of our forum leaders is also having a harder time logging in at the moment as we continue to fix the glitches and issues but in the meantime she emailed me her response and I am pasting it here– this is from Forum Leader “JerseyGirl”
  
  This does sound like typical hormonal bunny behaviour. You may also start to hear a humming sound and see some mounting attempts. This can very quickly turn to fighting, so you will need to separate the 2 until they are both neutered. If the testicles have descended, that can be done now. If you are currently sheltering-at-home due to covid19 and are able to monitor the bunnies more then normal, you might be able to put them back together with little to no issues. But do be prepared for that not being the case. Hormonal behaviours can stop right away post-neuter but typically, it can take a number or weeks to settle down. You may have to go through a bonding process after they’ve recovered. You can find out more about that here. https://binkybunny.com/infocategory/bonding/
- 04/14/2020 at 1:29 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  Also – check out this link as it will help you deal with the behavior while you wait for neutering. https://binkybunny.com/infocategory/bunny-gone-nutty/ (Scroll down to Temporary Solutions)
- 04/15/2020 at 12:50 PM
  DobPac
  Participant
  2 posts
  Thank you for the quick reply.
  
  I’m not sure if it makes any difference, but they’re both brothers from the same litter and seemed to have already bonded quite well. I would imagine we won’t be able to get them neutered for the next 4 weeks or so with the way things are at the moment.
- 04/15/2020 at 8:15 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17023 posts
  Unfortunately, everything tends to go out the window once hormones kick in. It doesn’t matter if they are siblings or not. Baby bonds are often broken during this time.
- 04/16/2020 at 2:59 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  Dittoing LJB10, but just be sure to look at the temporary solutions — especially to have a plushy or toy bunny help them work out the result of the hormones until they get neutered. You can circle the toy bunny or whatever around one of the humpy bunnies and that will get them redirected rather quickly. This may help prevent future fights too.
  
  Note if you don’t get them neutered at the same time, the be sure to bring the second bunny WITH the neutered bunny on the car ride home after surgery and be sure to pet both bunnies so they get the other’s scent on them, otherwise when you bring a bunny home that has been at the vets and handled by others, this can cause an unbonding because of all the unusual scents.
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