Pair of young bunnies– help

[Nishi]

Hi everyone,

I just joined, but I’ve been getting a ton of useful information for my eldest bun since I adopted him last year at 6 months from someone rehoming him on craigslist. He came litter trained, and although super fearful of humans for a while, he didn’t cause any trouble. I was looking into getting him a friend, so he wouldn’t be bored. Last Sunday we went to get the hotot dwarf I wanted. But– I ended up with a 3rd young bunny because my boyfriend talked me into getting his own as I’ll be going a 5 hrs drive away for grad school. 

So for now (until I move away) I have 2 new bunnies in the same house, one nearing 11 weeks and one 12 weeks. They are from the same breeder but not from the same litter and both have really different personalities. They are separated from my eldest, who is neutered. 

Mokona- a cross between a lionhead and a Netherland Dwarf so far is not too social. Whenever my boyfriend picks him up, he will stay perfectly still, but once he gets put back on the floor, he will thump.  He thumps pretty randomly at times too. He also seems to be getting territorial, he keeps rubbing his chin on absolutely everything and will pee/poop everywhere randomly.

Plue- a hotot dwarf is just incredibly energetic, jumps on your lap, digs at you, comes up to the cage when I approach, etc, but generally squirms around a lot if picked up. At first he seemed pretty submissive to Mokona and was getting along with him and grooming him, but just now started humping back and chasing him back. 

So a few questions:

1) Is it time to separate them given Plue is starting to assert his dominance too? They’re both male and can’t be neutered until the earliest at 6 months. 

2) How can I socialize them well? Tips for bonding with young bunnies and how to make sure they continue being “ok” with being held– this is necessary for vet visits, nail clipping, etc, needed!

3) Should I bother trying to bond Plue to Kyuubey (“QB”, my eldest) before he gets neutered? He’s the one I was planning to keep with me when I move. I introduced them briefly in the bathtub a couple days ago and Plue started grooming Kyuubey, which I took as a good sign. 

I’ll appreciate any tips on this, thanks! 

[lunaLu]

Hi I didn’t want to read and run, so to start with all buns should be neutered and left a minimum of 8 weeks for the hormones to settle before you attempt to bond. Any bonding before this will likely result in fighting and once they fight it’s very hard to bond. With regards to handling, firstly don’t pick them up unless necessary. You need to sit on the floor with them and develop a bond and trust first. This old take a couple of weeks, just sit on the floor with them with their cage door open and let them come to you, buns are very nosey. Start by offering some treats, dried herbs are good as baby buns shouldon’t have veg before 6 months, or hand feed pellets. As they happily come to you for food you can’t start to stroke them. Start with their head and work up to being able to run your hand fro nose to tail, and then work down their flanks. When you can walk up to them and run your hands all over them then you can start to address picking up. Buns naturally dislike being picked up as they are prey animals. But you can get them used to it, although I still don’t pick mine up unless I have to.once you are able to put your hands on them without running away start moving your hands into a position ready to lift. Start small, just lift their feet off the floor and if they run away don’t charge after them and force them to do it again, go back to stroking and treats. Try again each day as long as the bun isn’t stressed , make sure you have a firm hold so they feel safe and can’t harm themselves. With regards to the thumping it could be hormonal, which will be resolved with neutering, or they could just be a grumpy bun, my male nethie stomps every time we put him down, it’s like an express middle finger along with a foot flick. Remember buns are highly intelligent and they are hard to build trust with however once you build that trust it’s completely worth it, you get back what you put In. Best of luck

[Nishi]

Hi Luna thanks! Will wait on the bonding then, that was making me nervous.

The thumping is probably both hormones and grumpiness, I think.. bunny puberty has hit this one hard. I can’t wait until this one is neutered but our vet won’t do it until they are 6 months old at least so we will wait.

I will check what herbs would be good for them, they are too young for veggies. One of them is very friendly and would hop on my lap the very first day, the other I’m trying to get to warm up to me and my boyfriend. My oldest bun was terrified of us at first but with lots of patience and treats he has become a sweetheart– good to know I won’t have to wait until they are of veggie eating age to bribe them with treats!

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