Male rabbit acting strange- spring fever?

[Laurenf]

I have 2 rabbits that been bonded together for the past few months and they are sharing a room together.  My rabbit Harper (male) has been acting out for the past week or 2. I haven’t seen him do any flops or binkys, but he does lay down on his tummy. He has been super destructive which isn’t typically like him. He’s been chewing up my gym mats and biting towels I have laid down on the ground. (Winter the female has hock sores so there’s blankets everywhere) And pretty much every single day I’m waking up to his litter box digged up with litter and poops every where. It’s extremely annoying to clean up every morning before work and sometimes my boyfriend comes home to a mess too. I have used the same litter since October and nothing in the room has changed. Could this behaviour be spring fever? He’s also been a lot more nippy with Winter the female he’s bonded with. He hasn’t tried to mount her and they’ve never done that sort of thing to begin with. He does have a trichoblastoma lump on his lower back but he was checked by the vet a few months ago and he wasn’t concerned.  it’s not broken or bleeding or anything bad. I really don’t know what else could be causing him to act out like this. And I would typically see him flopping a couple times a day.

[Bam]

It could be spring fever. Rabbits really become markedly more active in the spring. Do you see any marking poop or peeing away from the box?

Some of it makes me think teeth problems -excessive chewing of non food plus not flopping could mean some sort of discomfort/pain. Being grumpy and nippy and not flopping could also be a sign of some kind  discomfort. How is his appetite? Is there any type of food he normally likes but suddenly seems to not want? Has he lost any weight?

 

[Laurenf]

Not any more droppings than usual. His appetite has been good,  he has lots of hay to graze on and I’ve started giving him rosehips which are really good for their teeth. I took a look at his teeth and they look okay as far as I can tell! He has a vet visit on April 30th for a nail trim and his vaccine so maybe I could move that up if I’m still worried. I didn’t wake up to a mess this morning, thank goodness! I’m starting to think maybe he’s been acting out for attention, my boyfriend and I haven’t been spending as much time with them this week as I would normally like to. I spent a good amount of time in here with them last night and he seemed like his old self and he laid on his tummy a lot of times. He’s not much of a binky-er and I haven’t seen him flop (he mostly does it when he’s sleeping) but maybe I wasn’t seeing it because I hadn’t sat down in here for a long period of time.

[Bam]

I asked about poop because sometimes a hormonal (yet castrated) bun will mske a “poop-barrier” along the perimeter of his/her territory. Marking poops are often extra big, shiny and reeking of what’s often described as “fried onion” 🤣

Rabbit behavior is to a great extent hormone-dependant, so the rapid change in amount of daylight that occurs around the equinoxes seems like a more plausible explanation than lack of human interaction. Some buns even get “autumn fever” around the equinoxe of autumn as well,much to their owners’…well, delight 😬 🤣

If his appetite is good, if he’s keeping a good weight and if the adverse behaviors seem to be tapering off with regards to frequency and intensity, this could very well be spring fever. I have experienced spring fever with both intact and neutered buns and well, the best word to describe it is … woow 😳

It’s self-limiting though, and the bun doesn’t necessarily express the same change in behavior next spring or the spring after that. I had a bun (Bam, my profile pic bun) who only displayed “spring fever” 14 months after his neuter, then never again.

It”s great that you have a check-up appt at the end of April! Unless sth acute happens,  I dont think you need to move that appt up.

 

[Laurenf]

thank you so much for your insight, that all makes a lot of sense! 😛  It’s funny because I’ve had Harper for going on 3 years now and I don’t remember him acting any different in the spring, I don’t think I even knew about spring fever until I read about it recently. All his other behaviours seem normal (eating/drinking/pooping) he was just being a little jerk for awhile but I’ll keep a close eye on him this weekend. He hasn’t been mounting my female bun Winter, and I haven’t noticed her behaviour change at all. How strange! Silly bunnys 😉 🙄

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