Conflict With Your Bun

[WallsOfGab]

Hey, this may sound absolutely ridiculous but… does anyone have those times where you’re just having a lot of conflict with your bun?

I have to say, I’m grateful that I’ve probably won the bun lottery when it comes to having a bunny who is forgiving and doesn’t leave a trail of destroyed furniture or carpet or messes. 

However, for the past couple of weeks it’s just been him and I going back and forth at each other. Stomping matches, him getting upset when I tell him to get off the bed (not yelling, not stomping, just saying “get off the bed please”) in which he does with a stomp and a sort of growl sounding noise. He had a period where he was just focused on the carpet when I wasn’t looking. He’ll pee on the bed when I’m not there or leave little poops and of course, I get mad, so he gets mad. 

This all really started when everything was borderline perfect. He would sleep in bed with me and sprawl out and flop over and cuddle. Then one day at 7am on a Sunday morning I woke up feeling warm… with a puddle of pee… and it all just went downhill from there.

I guess this sounded more like a diary than an actual question, but I’m so frustrated. Do things get better from here? I swear I try – I tried inviting him to the bed again, I’ve been trying to keep him off. I have a picnic blanket over my bed for messes now. Will this pass? It’s a struggle right now..

(for background, he’s a year old as of February and I got him April of 2017 – he’s also been neutered since August)

[kurottabun]

Could be the “Spring Fever” kicking in. If you’ve read around the forums, you would see that Springtime is generally when bunnies get a bit crazy and bunnies who have been neutered/spayed can even display hormonal behaviours during this period.

Since he was only two months old when you got him last year, his hormones may not have kicked in yet. It’s his first Spring as a fully grown adult, so that may be a factor why he is acting this way.

[Mikey]

Rabbits like to pee and poop on soft things. Either stop getting mad about instinct or stop allowing him on your bed. Some rabbits have perfect litter habits, but there are still many that dont. For example, my Bombur leaves me 1 pee a day and anywhere from 5 to 20 poops. Perfectly litter trained; just likes to mark his spot.

I want to add that rabbits will pee near/on their humans to show love. Although gross, hes possibly telling you that he loves you

[WallsOfGab]

Thank you, kurottabun! I actually had no idea that it could effect a neutered rabbit like that. He’s definitely a bit crazier than his “normal”.

As for the bed, there’s no way to prevent it. Hence the picnic blanket. No way for me to quarintine the bed or for him to be in a different room from it. I’ve tried even an x-pen around my entire bed and putting it up every morning and taking it down every night to go to sleep. It was heavy. He also could clear it… I have a low platform bed, and the xpen rested on the platform. Cleared it and had fun hopping around on my bed so I gave up on that. Will also jump on tin foil (and loves to tear it up, actually…and pee on tin foil. LOVES. to pee on tin foil. No grid on the bed could stop him. Had a cat thing that sprayed air and made a small beep that worked at first, but he toppled over. Nada. I think I could lay concrete around my bed and I’d still find him on the bed.

So you can see why it’s been a struggle when he went from really enjoying the bed to play in and sleep in, and at times hopping on the bed, only to run straight to his box ’cause he wanted to pee… and having him do this for months only to start this behaviour now. To his credit… it has only been one or two poops.

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