Couple of behavior questions

[YandereCapybara]

Note: These are not the causes of a spay, I don’t know why they’re doing this, no environment changes or anything out of the norm

Case 1:

So basically, recently, Gary has taken to climbing on me.
If I sit down, he will do his best to climb onto my shoulders, where he will perch and do a funny little “flop” so that his legs are dangling on my back.
However, if I attempt to get him down/touch him, he immediately hops off and stomps away,

Case 2:

Mickey has become a shut-in, and doesn’t like coming out of his cage for more than five minutes.
Only comes out if he sees my mom or I, gets a head rub and jumps back inside his cage.
He’s not nervous or scared, he just likes doing stuff inside his cage (playing, sleeping, eating)

Case 3:

Gary keeps biting and licking his cage bars from the outside.
Both bunnies are only kept in their cages at night. From around 10AM-12AM, they’re allowed to wander around in the kitchen, living room, study, piano room, dining room, laundry room and library, so it’s not caused by a lack of freedom. However, both bunnies seem to only like hanging out in the laundry room for some reason, and the furthest they’ll go is our kitchen, where Gary likes to beg for scraps and attention.

Case 4:

Mickey is repeatedly chinning his teddy bear.
It basically looks like he’s imitating a chicken/turkey, and it goes on for 4-5 minutes.

Case 5:

Mickey keeps licking his bed.
No idea why.

Case 6:

Gary just flops on the grass when we go outside for his walks.
Basically ends up falling asleep, no matter how hard I try to motivate him to get up and run.
He does his exercising indoors instead and ends up binkying into people and scaring the heck out of us if we aren’t expecting it.

Case 7:

When Gary and Mickey are in the same room, Gary has recently taken to lying on top of Mickey’s back, forming a bunny X.
Both of them just stay like that for a long time, and they just flop there, waiting for someone to pet them.

Case 8:

Gary likes to flip over a lot, but ends up trancing himself at least half the time.
Too many times have we woken up and thought the little fella was dead.

Also, on a side note, does anyone know how to avoid kicking/stepping on bunnies?
We’ve had so many close calls since Gary likes standing behind our feet.

[Nutmeg]

I don’t see much wrong with any of it – most seems pretty normal as Bunny’s are not like cats and dogs – so they have been spayed and neutered then?

1. – OMG I WOULD LOVE IF MY BUNNY DID THAT!!!!! – I would love it so much that I had to put it in capitals!
2. – Some bunny’s just do love their own space. It’s like how my husband is an introvert and I’m not lol. As long as he’s acting fine and eating and pooping fine that I wouldn’t worry.
3. – My one bunny does this – she will chew on the bars outside of he cage.. it’s like “Hellooooo.. you’re already out of your cage” lol Just make sure its not constant as that could damage their teeth. I had a bunny that didn’t like any kind of hardwood floors or linoleum – only carpet. Not sure if that could be the cause.
4. – He is marking it as his… is he neutered? He may start humping it too (mine does lol)
5. – My bunny loves to lick and chew on towels and blankets – I wouldn’t worry if he’s not eating it….
6. – The Grass is probably nice and refreshing – dogs do this too – let him ejoy the sun and cool grass! Unless it becuase its too hot – rabbits can’t sweat and regulate their body temp like we can and can over heat easily.
7. That also just sounds ADORABLE!
8. This one is a head scratcher and mine flop over too, but on to their side – which when they fall asleep they look like they could be dead… but if he’s flopping onto his back and truly trancing him self than I don’t have experience with that.

Lastly… I try to almost shuffle my feet so that at most I would accidentally nudge them, but the don’t have full access to the house so I’m not always on high allert for them. But that is most bunny’s, getting underfoot hoping you have treats lol.

[YandereCapybara]

Thanks Nutmeg!
I was pretty confused about the things they were doing.
No, they are not spayed since my mom has a natural aversion to doing things that she feels is “unnatural” to animals.
Been trying to convince her, but man, it’s tough

[Nutmeg]

Ahhh gottcha – I do have to warn your mother (not you, as I know you agree) two un-neutered male bunnies will almost never live peacefully once they hit sexual maturity.
Rabbits are VERY territorial and often can, and will, fight to the death. As your mom is all about natural she needs to understand that in the wild rabbits have LOTS of room to establish their own territories and are able to get away from each other.

From everything I am reading I can logically assume your bunnies are young still – once they start to reach true full sexual maturity (usually around 3 to 5 months depending on the bunny) they can not be alone together anymore.

If she does not want to neuter them than they NEED To be separated into their own cages for THEIR OWN SAFETY! (which you said cages – plural – so it sounds like they each already have their own)
They probably wont even be allowed out and alone together for their out of cage play time either with out fighting – and they go for the eyes and the “boy parts” when they fight! As they fight to kill. 

When their hormones come to a peak and they start to fight – and they will 100% Fight – and they are stuck together with no where to get away they will start to chase and circle eachother (called the bunny tornado) which will result in one trying to kill the other or them trying to kill eachother.

*** TRUST ME, Please, I know you are looking at them all snuggled together thinking there is no way…. I thought so too when my two were young… but young baby rabbits are used to being together.. once they grow up a bit that all changes. I had to separate my two for this reason, and they have just been fixed 2 weeks ago (after being 100% separated for 3 months) and I am starting to PRE-Bond them now, which will result in properly bonding them in a few weeks so that they can be back together again 24/7.

They will also lose all ability to be litter trained at this time (with no neuter) as they will be marking their territory – this mean Spraying PEE all over the walls (mine hit 3 feet UP the wall) and Pooping Everywhere!

Have your mom (and yourself) read up on our bonding section here:
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aff/11/Default.aspx

And please know I am not saying this in a mean way… I had no idea what goes in to keeping two bunnies together until I ended up with two myself. So I want YOU to learn from MY Mistakes so that your bunnys’ stay safe and happy. 

Just another point for your mom to ponder – 80% of female bunny’s will not live past the age of 3 to 5 years old due to getting uterine cancer because of their reproductive organs constantly being in over-drive… Once they are spayed their life expectancy increase to MORE than DOUBLE that at 10 to 13 years old!!
** Ask me how I found That Fact out the hard way

which option do you think your mom would want for a girl bunny…. and 80% chance of being 3 years old and Dieing of cancer or 10 years old of old age? What would the bunny prefer?
I just had my girl bunny spayed two weeks ago and she’s doing great.

WOW that was a LONG reply lol. But please know that it comes from a place of me wanting to help!!!

[Nutmeg]

Ps – I’m happy to help! Bunny’s were a big learning curve for me too, as they don’t act like “normal” pets lol but trust me – they grow on your so fast!

PLUS they can be litter box trained (much harder to do when they aren’t neutered, as I mentioned) and mine love to play tug of war and have head rubs.

OH and bunny’s, once they start to grow up, HATE being picked up – it feels like a bird of prey coming down and picking them up.

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