Bunny marking?

[Sully&Dino]

Hi everyone, 

We have two buns Sully and Dino. We got our female Dutch about 2 years ago. Dino, our male Holland Lop is about 6 months old. We worked really hard to bond the two of them and finally, after Dino was neutered (3 weeks ago), we got them to love each other. Now that they are bonded, they both have full reign of our room and their one cage. Unfortunately, when we come home from work, there are little brown gifts on our bed and sometimes liquid gifts . We know it is the baby because Sully has never done it, and on occasion, Dino will jump up on the bed in the early morning hours (5:30), while we are still sleeping and poop or sometimes pee on my husband’s side of the bed. We are noticing also that he tends to only do this on his side of the bed the morning and when we are not there. When we are home in the evenings and the weekends or Sully is on the bed with him, he does not do it. I am confused because I would have through that marking would stop if they are bonded. I wanted to see if anyone had any theories or ideas about what is going on here. If so, I welcome any advice or suggestions on how to stop it. 

Thanks!

Monica 

[Kiki]

If he was just neutered then it is probably residual hormones etc. But some bunnies just do that forever too. Also, you may want to check the forum about bonding, because everything I have read said you can’t bond babies until after they are neutered. Idk, I have a lone bunny, just saying all the stuff I have read says bonding takes a lot of time etc.

[Sully&Dino]

Thanks for your responses! We introduced them and did a lot of monitored introduction sessions with them before he was neutered. Then, once he got fixed, they started to groom each other.

[Sully&Dino]

Thank you for your response! We did a lot of monitored introductions before he was neutered. Once he was fixed, they began grooming each other, eating together, and snuggling without any issues. From all that I’ve read, I am under the impression they are bonded.

[kurottabun]

Could you elaborate more on the bonding process before and after Dino was neutered?

Also, is there pee and poop elsewhere apart from the bed? Putting aside the bunny bonding part, oftentimes bunnies love to pee on soft surfaces and also places that humans spend a lot of time in (e.g. the bed). Some say it’s because those places smell the most strongly of human, so bunnies feel like they should mark that area as their territory instead (hence the territorial poop and pee).You can try getting Dino’s scent on a blanket or shirt and then put it on the bed to make it smell more like him.

[Asriel and Bombur]

I also just want to note that males can still produce sperm for up to one month after a neuter, so even if your girl is spayed, I would not put them together. 3 weeks is also way too short after a neuter to really start bonding them because of things like his scent changing (yes, his scent will change) and in general his hormones may still be wonky for another few weeks. I’d really be cautious to have them housed together.

None of that is solidly bonded behavior. You need to do several monitored sessions of overnights. You can’t just see those behaviors and keep them together and think things will be fine. Split them up, bond them patiently starting in neutral territory, If you didn’t bond in neutral territory this can mess with it a lot. You really need to be patient and not just see positives and think they’re bonded. 

[Author]

Messages