Help. Not sure if this is the right place.

[Kmh2019]

I have a male havenna rabbit and he is neutered. He was neutered as soon as we found him on the interstate. I also have a harlequin lip that is not spayed but I’m starting to believe she is pregnant but she’s only 5 months old and we’ve had her for about two weeks. When I brought her home, I put her cage beside my bonkers. They smelled and yadayada. Then I let them out in the bathroom together and THEY BONDED IMMEDIATELY!! So I figured well. I’ll put them together in the living room. Still bonding. Put them together in the cage. Still bonded. And to this day they still bonded. Until last night. Bonkers LOVES this rabbit. He’s always hiding under her. Licking her. He’s so sweet to her. But her on the other hand. Is not sweet to him anymore. I woke up and realized that bonkers was out and sleeping on the cat bed with the cats. I swear I closed his cage before going to bed. I was finding PATCHES of hair all over the living room. Thinking nothing of it I left him out and let him do his thing. Well, they was going in circles around the Christmas tree. ( awe how cute) not really because she wasn’t playing. She was determined to kill him. She grabbed him by the neck and just started pulling and yanking and attacking him trying to bite his face and I immediately placed her back in the cage. Picked bonkers up and I’ll remind you that bonkers never lets me pick him up. I picked him up and he snuggled into my neck and was breathing heavy. I’m terrified. I will not let the other rabbit bully him. I’d rather let bonkers out and destroy everything before this rabbit bully’s him. ANYWAYS. He went into the crate to get a drink of water and she tackled him again. He was running everywhere from her and his ears was down. He was making a squeaking noise and she sounded angry. I’m so hurt because I thought they was really getting alone. But now he can’t even go into the cage for his hay. I was thinking about selling her. But my husband wants me to put her outside on the porch because she was my birthday present. But I also think she’s pregnant. Please someone. Help me

[Bam]

Hello and welcome to Binky Bunny. This is a good place for your post.

First of all, you must separate the rabbits right away and make sure they can’t reach to hurt each other through cage bars etc. If Bonkers is in love with the girl, he could try to approach her again, and she’d go berserk on him again. I assume you have checked him for injuries. Bite wounds can be washed with dilute iodine solution or chlorhexidine or just plain saline. Triple antibiotics cream (without a painkiller) or fucidine cream can be used on superficially rabbit wounds. Hopefully the fur took most of the impact.

if the girl bun actually is pregnant, it would be normal for her to chase the male away. Pregnant does as a rule do that. If she’s not pregnant, she could have a false pregnancy, and you should not attempt any further bonding until she’s spayed and has healed.

A rabbit pregnancy is 31-33 days long, so it can be a while before you know if she’s having babies or not. Meanwhile she needs extra food. She will also need nesting material.

[Asriel and Bombur]

That’s really cold…

She’s acting out of hormones and instinct. Did you do any research about bunnies and putting them together? They aren’t like other animals. You can’t just put them together. They have a complex hierarchy and need to be fixed first then go through the proper bonding process, She can get pregnant as early as 3 months and if your male was neutered less than a month before you put them together, yes she can get pregnant. She’s honestly hormonal, and if she is pregnant of course she’s going to act aggressive. She doesn’t need to be sold and she doesn’t need to put outside. She needs to be spayed. She’s not bullying him at all. She’s doing what a normal rabbit who is either hormonal or pregnant will do. Get her to the vet asap and find out if she is pregnant.

[Bam]

It is true as A&B says, that rabbit bonding is often a complicated and lengthy process. We have a special section for bonding and there’s also bunny bonding info on our info-page.

However, in the situation you’re in now, I would strongly suggest that you (temporarily) stop all attempts at bonding the two buns. First of all you must find out if your girl is pregnant or not, regardless if she was already pregnant or if Bonkers has impregnated her (males can have live sperm in their vas deferens for 6-7 weeks post neuter).

Putting her out on the porch doesn’t really sound like a good option. Her reaction to Bonkers is instinctive.

I can understand how this is very stressful for all four of you, and during stress none of us think very clearly. It’s so great that you’ve come here to get tips and advice, because it’s often not so super-easy to be a rabbit owner – and that’s why these forums exist.

Please keep us posted.

[sarahthegemini]

You put an unspayed female with your boy immediately without letting her settle, getting her spayed or doing any pre bonding. She’s also possibly pregnant. What did you expect to happen? Rabbits are complex and cannot be put together without following proper protocol. And now you want to put her outside or sell her because she’s acting how ANY rabbit in that situation would act?

Please read up on bonding. If you’re not prepared to go through the whole process then rehome her to someone that can provide for her but do not just put her out to live on your porch. That sounds like she’d live a very solitary miserable life.

[BB Administrator]

Let’s not let this spiral please — A&B and Sarah — While many of us are well-educated in rabbit care and behavior , others reality may be completely different. While it is monumentally frustrating to see what we may feel is “obvious”, not everyone starts out having this information. It is literally brand new. No, they most likely did not do “research” or they were given wrong info.. This is why we are here. To educate and help them. If this new member was aware of what we know already, they wouldn’t even have posted what they did (as these are rabbit basics and so this means this new member has very little experience.). If a person is asking for help, it is counterproductive to “scold” them on what we think is obvious with questions that leave a judgmental tone. “What did you expect?..You can’t just”       While the facts given are very helpful in your posts, the other aspect contributes to a declining tone and a new member may either get defensive or just leave. Then the rabbit receives no help. 

I know it can be very challenging, but please leave the judgmental tones at the door and focus on educating and giving info that may help this person take better care or make important choices. If they choose not to receive the info we give them, that’s on them, but let’s not shame them away.  (Plus, someone else in the future, who may come across this post in google search or via this forum, may be helped if they are dealing with something similar  – so it will still be a valuable thread regardless if the OP learns from it or takes our advice) 

KMH2019 – You have been given great advice already.   I also wholeheartedly agree the others and especially with what A&B says:  “She doesn’t need to be sold and she doesn’t need to put outside. She’s doing what a normal rabbit who is either hormonal or pregnant will do. Get her to the vet asap and find out if she is pregnant.”      This is a situation that can get better.   Once you find out what’s really going on, and then get her spayed, and she has had time to heal (and her hormones to settle down), you can go through the bonding process. I ditto what Sarah’s advice is — read up on bonding.  Also, read the bonding forum section.  Lots of things you can learn from — others success, challenges and mistakes. 

Helloworld!!

[sarahthegemini]

You know what BB, you’re right – if I hadn’t found this site, I wouldn’t have known anything about bonding. I would think that they could just be put together like cats or dogs and they’ll tolerate each other at least. I sometimes forget how uninformed I was before coming here.

Having said that, I think the post that OP wrote came across as very cold. To me it very much sounded like ‘well it hasn’t worked out, let’s get rid or move her so we don’t have to deal with her’ which is not the attitude to have when dealing with animals. I do hope the coldness was unintentional and that I’ve just read too much into it.

These issues are very much ‘fixable’ if tackled in the right manner. I will reiterate that reading up on the bonding process is essential so that OP knows what she has ahead of her and can take appropriate action.

[LBJ10]

I agree with the others. Her behavior is a normal response an unspayed doe would have if she is pregnant or experiencing a false pregnancy. She starts off “loving” the male, then as things progress, her hormones are telling her to drive him away because she won’t want him around when the babies come. This is what you would see out in the wild as well.

Whether or not she is pregnant remains to be determined. It would be best to take her to the vet to determine whether she actually is pregnant or if she is just experiencing a false pregnancy. Then you can come up with a plan of action moving forward.

In the meantime, it would be best to separate them. You don’t want there to be any injuries. After she is spayed, you can work on bonding them for real. And when I say for real, I’m referring to the lifelong bond that rabbits can form with each other without those pesky hormones getting in the way. There is no need to rehome her or to have her live on the porch. All of this can be fixed by having her “fixed”.

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