My girls are becoming Mothers…?

[CSP]

Hi all, sorry if this is a repeated post! Am not sure whether every bunny reacts differently in regards to hormones changing from being young adult to an adult.

So Sugar & Cocoa(both girls) are having their transition from babies to adults. They are approximately 6 months old, and have been staying together ever since I brought them back. Hence I have no issues with bonding them as they find security by just staying at each other’s sides. They groom each other everyday, shares their food(with some food snatching here and there), sleeps together side by side at night.

In the past 1 week, I found out that Cocoa actually starts to hump Sugar, and she does that very frequently in the night, where they are back to their cage. I’ve resorted to sleeping in front of their cage and separate them once they thumped their feet and starts to circle. Things got worse when I tried to let them out of the cage for their daily floor time, when Cocoa keeps pooping everywhere and even pee-marking corners. She will even hump at Sugar. After a few days, Sugar began to hump Cocoa, but was lesser than when Cocoa humps at Sugar.

So today when I came back from work, I found out that one of them actually started pulling fur out of their dewlap and left it on top of the pee pan. It wasn’t a lot, like 2 or 3 balls of fur, but it is quite scary given the fact that they are actually very tiny. I tried to search their dewlap area and underbelly area, and I am unsure of who started fur pulling reaction. Anyway I cleaned their pee pan together as usual, and removed the fur. (Is it the right thing to do?)

I managed to queue for my vet for spaying on 13 July, was thinking is this case normal? Or can I do something to stop them from pulling their fur out in the meantime?

Their current living condition: caged at night, allowed to roam for a few hours while I clean their cage, but for now they are caged in. Allowed to roam only under my supervision.

(And yes my groomer has confirmed that they are both girls)

[Gina.Jenny]

Girls will hump. I have two girls, both spayed last August, both bonded to a boy bun, and they both still hump their boy bunfriends. Humping when unspayed can lead to fighting, so I would suggest keeping them apart til they are spayed, as if they fight, it is possible they will permanently break their bond

[tobyluv]

I would also suggest keeping them apart until after their spay surgeries and recuperation. Besides possibly breaking a bond if they fight, rabbits can cause serious injuries to one another if they fight.

[CSP]

They don’t seem to be fighting as of now.. They are still grooming each other. They have stopped humping for a couple of days, just poop or pee marking once a day. I googled and found out that does actually have ‘false pregnancies’ symptoms. Could it be this issue?

[jerseygirl]

Yes, intact females do have false pregnancies or pseudo-pregnancies. It was likley their hormones coming in and the humping that set it off if that is what is happening. It usually resolves itself. You might want to let the vet know if they are experiencing a false pregnancy. The vet may want to wait until its well over before performing a spay. There is actually increased blood supply to the uterus. Due to their age, Im not certain if this is an issue, so definitely run it past the vet.

Are you sure the fur wasn’t from one pulling it from the other?

[CSP]

Thank you jerseygirl for the info Yes, I spotted Cocoa pulling some fur out, but it stopped after just 2 days. Not a lot of fur was being pulled out.

Right now only Cocoa seems to be marking the entire cage with her pee, other than that they are still very loving at the moment.

Was thinking to send them for grooming this weekend before their sterilisation on 13July.

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