Its been a while but a few questions

[Xxventanaxx]

Hello there everyone!  Its been a while since I have been on the site but I have not needed any help which is good for a first time bunny owener .  But I have a few questions.  Number 1 Lux has been biting her cage bars a lot and I mean alot.  She doesnt get out everyday and I know she could be bored but its just with how much we both work its hard sometimes.  We always pet her and kiss her and hug her multiple times a day but sometimes shes in her cage for 8 hours alone.  I try to go home on lunch breaks since i only live about 2 miles away but I sell cars and sometimes I cannot.  Is her biting because she is bored or in too small of a cage?  I thought maybe to small of a cage so I bought a new two story 54″ long wood cage for her tonight that should be here in a few days.  Number 2 Lux is all of a sudden peeing in her watle dish more then before.  Its 3 or 4 times a day now which is really starting to make me worry.  Before it was maybe one a day or once every 2 days.  How do I stop her from doing it and how do I train her to drink from a bottle. Number 3 is when we pet her she makes grunting noises like if we pet her somewhere and she didnt see us coming.  Its like a cute squeak and can last a few seconds. Is this bad?  And she also lunges at us if we put our hands in her cage from above not the front.  Number 4 when she breaths out of her nose if she is close to my ears sometimes she whistles through her nose.  Is this bad?  And the last questions is with the veggies we give her its mostly kale, parsley for the two main ingredients then also cilantro, mint and arrugala and a type of lettuce that begins with an E.  Last couple days its only been kale and parsley because the other veggies go bad in the refrigerator fast and I dont know how to keep them from going bad.  She runs around and poops normal so overall I think she is in good health.  Also I believe she is around 5 months now and I was thinking about spaying her so maybe she wouldnt be as aggresive but I have read that its dangerous and I dont want her to die.

[LongEaredLions]

1. This is likely from boredom, or too small of a cage like you stated. The larger cage you bought should hopefully help this problem. Additionally, could you add an x-pen onto the front of the cage? If she doesn’t get out everyday it would be nice for her to have space to binky and run around. Adding more toys might help too. You can try hard plastic baby toys, clean plastic lids, toilet roll tubes, brown paper boxes, and brown lunch bags.

2. Is Lux litter trained? If you notice a significant difference in the bathroom habits or consistency of your bunny, the best course of action would be to either call or visit your vet just to make sure there isn’t anything else going on. Otherwise, try moving the water bowl to a different area of the cage, one where she doesn’t typically pee, or invest in a crock type water bowl that hooks on the side of the cage so she can’t pee in it. Water bottles typically aren’t recommended for bunnies as they often have trouble getting a suitable amount of water from them.

3. Grunting is normal and usually happens when a bunny is scared, mad, surprised, dominant, etc. Make your presence known to your bunny by approaching her from the front and talking to her when approaching her to avoid startling her. Avoid reaching in the top of her cage as well, approaching her from the top may frighten her as well. As rabbits are prey animals, hands or other objects approaching from the sky can scare them.

4. Bunnies typically have pretty silent breathing, so whistling through the nose could be an indication she has blocked nasal passages for some reason. You might want to ask the vet.

5. You can prevent veggies going bad by thoroughly washing and drying them as soon as you bring them home, then wrapping them in paper towels and placing them in a non-airtight container. Place them in the vegetable drawer of your fridge.

It is recommended that you always spay female bunnies. In addition to often presenting aggressive behaviors, intact females have a 60-80% chance of developing often fatal reproductive cancers. This risk can be virtually eliminated by spaying. Fixed bunnies also have better litter box habits, can be bonded with other bunnies, and do not contribute to rabbit overpopulation. If you find a rabbit-savvy vet, the chance of death as a result of the surgery is much less than 1%.

[sunshinesocks]

I can help with a couple of these but not. But I would start with:

Spayed females are likely to live longer lives than their unspayed sisters. Up to 80% of unsprayed female rabbits develop uterine cancer by the age of 5.

So you should spay her. She’ll live longer… pick your vet carefully, they should be doing these regularly. If you can’t find any on the lists here for good vets in your area, I found mine by speaking to a shelter in the area (that the boys came from) and they recommended the vet they use for all their rabbit work. To a vet that does it regularly its a relatively routine op and should come with minimal risks.

This should help with a number of your behavioural issues as she is likely hitting the stage where these behaviours are going start setting in.. and potentially increasing as she becomes sexually mature. Especially biting, aggression and territorial behaviours (such as urinating)

Next – I would suggest prehaps getting a stuffy? I know several people have had success simulating company with a stuffed toy and can recommend where to get them from – but generally embroidered eyes and safe for small children works unless she tries to eat the toy.

Finally – are there any opportunities build more activities in to her cage to pass the time better? Even silly things like hiding food in toilet roll middles or under cups distracts rabbits for a while so they get less bored. More space is great but to utilise that space, give her more activities and try regularly changing things up. A lot of rabbits get bored if something has been in their space for too long…

Also keeping veggies good can be helped by washing the fridge down if any have gone bad. And also keeping them in water in the case of soft leaved lettuce etc to stop it wilting.

[Xxventanaxx]

Thank you so much for the suggestions so far. The nose doesnt whistle all the time so I dont think there is a blockage. She isnt 100% litter trained for we have tried too like putting her hay above the litter box etc. She poops and pees a lot in the litter box but still poops on the outside and pees in her water.

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