HELP THIS HUMPING MANIAC

[Bunbunbunbunbunbunbunbun]

My neutered rabbit has been obsessively mounting and peeing on my bare feet, even nibbling on them after licking them dry. Very weird! He is neutered……is it just a display of dominance?

[jerseygirl]

Hi there

Sorry you’re living with such an amorous rabbit at the moment!

How old is he and how long ago was he neutered? Did you get this done or did he come to you already desexed?

Have you been around other rabbits or gotten any new pets recently?

Last question: is it Spring in your part of the world? Even desexed rabbits can have a bit of a hormone rise in Spring.

[Bunbunbunbunbunbunbunbun]

Thank you for responding!

I adopted him yesterday and they told me he is neutered and is about a year old. it was his first time in my home. He was just chilling with me on the living room floor and ran to my foot, starting humping (honestly thought he was having a seizure) it, and peed. I stopped him but he did it again, clinging onto my leg and nibbling it. He wasn’t upset but wow it was weird. It’s going into autumn/fall where I am.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Uh-oh, do you have proof that he was neutered, like a vet passport? Did you get him from a reputable place like a rabbit shelter?
This sounds a lot like the behaviour of an intact rabbit.

I’ve been fooled once by people while adopting a cat. The family told us that it was a spayed female. It never appeared to us to ask for paperwork. After a couple of weeks our “female” started spraying everywhere and when we lifted a leg we saw a little surprise (actually 2 surprises).

[Bunbunbunbunbunbunbunbun]

I got him from FUR(friends of unwanted rabbits)

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

I don’t know the place, so I can’t say if they’re reputable. Did you get any paperwork with him? If he keeps on doing this, best take him to a trusted rabbit-savvy vet to check if he really was neutered. Neutering in rabbits is often done by removing the whole testes, so a vet should be able to see that.

Not every vet can treat rabbits, even though they may claim so. Rabbits are exotic pets and many vets don’t know much about them. Check our list of trusted vets to see if there’s one around who can help you: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/116849/afnp/276220/Default.aspx

[Sr. Melangell]

Oh dear, my Olly is 3 years old and occasionally has a romantic dance with is blanket, not very often though, one day he tried to play leap frog with me when I was cleaning out his cage.

I would get bunny checked see if he still has boy bits, if the vet says he has, well you’ll have to get him neutered, but boys still have their little man moments out of the blue, all I do is ignore Olly when he does that, its just natural, it only lasts for a few minutes, also ask the vet to check bunny’s scent glands, because if he is neutered the scent glands can still fill up with a waxy smelly stuff, it smells like coffee, well it did on Olly, but he cleans them himself now.

[Wick & Fable]

I suspect he was recently neutered, so he may be going through a hormone spike, where these behaviors are magnified before dissipating.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Bunbunbunbunbunbunbunbun]

I pray to god that’s true because wowowowowowow he did it again and again and again.

[Bunbunbunbunbunbunbunbun]

Also before he does it he marks me with his chin scent. Could it be that he doesn’t want me in his territory?

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

No, it means you’re his “property”. It’s called scent marking.

[Bunbunbunbunbunbunbunbun]

Thank you and wow I guess I’ll have to put up with it for now. Any advice to stop it?

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Sorry that your first experience with bunny ownership is so rough Rabbits are wonderful pets, but puberty can turn them into monsters temporarily. These are hormonal behaviours, the only you can really do is take the hormones away by neutering. Hormonal behaviour is the main reason why rabbits are dumped after their cute baby-time. A teenage rabbit with fully raging hormones is a little terror with only one thing in mind (as you can see).

Wick’s suggestion is also a good one, I hope that he was indeed neutered as they said. If he’s been just neutered it should take less than 6 weeks for him to calm down. Let a vet check him out if it persists (or if he really drives you nuts with his behaviour, which I can totally understand).

If you want to read more about the body language of rabbits and how to communicate with them, this is a site I often show to people: http://language.rabbitspeak.com/
You could try to show your dismay the bunny way, by thumping your foot, turning away etc. But be careful, rabbits have many ways of showing dismay with other rabbits. These range from mild to extreme, and you don’t accidentally want to tell him that he’s the worst piece of fluff who ever lived. Read up on the website how rabbits communicate their discomfort level, and try to practice it on him. Maybe he’ll pick it up.

[Bunbunbunbunbunbunbunbun]

That is very helpful thank you! Although it’s strange it is indeed very funny

[jerseygirl]

If you can find out is he was very recently desexed, that would explain a lot. Some buns will have increase in hormonal behaviour right after the op.
You could give him a stuffie toy so he can have his way with that rather then your foot.

This is from Binky Bunny advice about young, unneutered rabbits (Bunny gone nutty) but still could be useful for you. 

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Temporary Solutions (Until your bunny is ready to be neutered/spayed) 

• Extremely Amorous – Circling, Honking, Chasing, Mounting, Nipping (love bites). Though cute at first, this can quickly get annoying, especially if your arm or leg gets assaulted.  Try and redirect this behavior — Get a toy bunny (aka: stunt double)  or something your bunny can work out his/her frustration on.  Your bunny will catch on very quickly if you make the “Stunt Double” circle him. Once that’s been figured out, it’s all over for the stunt double. No date, no dinner, no nothin’. Just straight to bunny funny business. 

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