Advice please..

[Sarah]

My lovely rabbit Storm has been living with us since September and in February we got him a lady friend as he seemed a bit down.
They bonded fairly quickly and having been living together for about 6 weeks happily. Both are neutured also.
However yesterday, for the first time Storm tried to mount Sky (the girl rabbit) but he decided to try and mount her face! She wasn’t having any of it but it didn’t seem to bother her too much and they have been fine since. Today however, my daughter was stroking him and he bit her, it’s the first time he has ever bitten anyone and I am a bit concerned he might be a bit down for some reason. Does anyone have any experience of a change in temperament and any advice to bring him back to the happy rabbit he usually is? Any help would be gratefully received!

[Mikey]

Never let rabbits hump eachothers faces. Serious damage can be caused if the bottom bun decides to bite

Are you sure they are bonded? What did you do for bonding?

Is it spring where you live?

[Sarah]

Hi mikey, thanks for your response.
I hadn’t actually considered that they might not be bonded as they seem so happy together. The bonding process we went down was them living in side by side pens for about 3 weeks, swapping toilets, food etc to help with scents. After Sky was spayed we then tried so stress bonding which was the major success. After a couple of days of this they were spending time together in Storm’s territory with no problems, and a week or so later they started living together. We haven’t had any fights and they spend a lot of time grooming each other and snuggling together.
Regarding the mounting, it’s the first time we have ever seen any of this from them, we went to separate them but Sky moved away each time he tried it. She doesn’t seem to have taken any offence, they still seem ok together, but he does seem unhappier today.
It is just starting to be spring and nice weather here.
Any advice you may be able to give would be much appreciated, everything I have read seems to refer to pre-neutered rabbits, or aggression from the start, neither of which apply to us.

[Bam]

How is his appetite and poop? When a pet suddenly acts out with aggression, you should always make sure there’s no physical problem that could be the cause. It’s for example not uncommon for bunnies get gas pain. When they do, they tend to lose much of their appetite and poop less. Some buns become very grumpy when they molt.

As Mikey says, backwards humping is very risky when the humper is a boy. If the humpee gets annoyed and bites, there can be very bad injuries to the humper’s penis. So separate right away when you see tendencies in that direction.

[Sarah]

Thank you for the replies – a lot of the information I have been able to find relates to un-neutured bunnies or bunnies that bite constantly, neither of which apply to us.
In respect of the mounting, he only tried it a couple of times and before I could get to him to separate them Sky had untangled herself and gone away from him. I have kept an eye on them today and there doesn’t appear to be any indication of a repeat attempt, and she doesn’t seem offended, they are acting as normal to each other.
Since Storm bit Kristen I have restocked his food in case he was hungry, left his favourite spot open to him incase he needed some space, and put out some cooking pads in case he is too hot (the weather has just started to change to warm sunny weather). I also checked him over in case he got bit by Sky or had any visible signs of illness, but nothing so far. I did give him some oat hay yesterday as a treat which he hasn’t had in a few weeks and caused a few blackberry poos – possibly he was feeling a little off because of tummy problems (poos are back to normal today and his appetite and drinking is fine).
He doesn’t seem himself today though, he seems a bit moody, which was how he was every now and then before we got Sky.

[Mikey]

It could be spring, I think. Often when spring comes, rabbits might go through hormonal phases on and off which can cause them to be moody and mounty. Since this is kind of how he was before he was neutered, I would assume its a hormonal phase. If it continues for more than a week, I would consider going to a vet just to make sure everything is ok health wise.

[Bam]

They absolutely can have a “hormonal relapse” in spring. It happened to Bam when he’d been neutered more than a year, he started pee- and poop marking the sofa again. It went on for a couple of weeks, then it went away.

[Sarah]

Thanks so much for the advice.
Today Storm seems like a completely different bunny, back to his usual self! I will keep an eye on him as advised though and definitely get advice from the vet if needed. I noticed while I was reading other posts yesterday people suggesting papaya enzymes to help with moulting. Is something you would recommend at all?

[Author]

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