PLEASE HELP

[Koala]

My older female bunny is almost 6 months old now keeps humping my younger female bunny, from the back and on her head. I kept reading that it’s normal but is there a way I can get her to stop? I get really uncomfortable and try to spray her with water but she still does it. Neither of them are spayed.

[Hazel]

She’s hitting puberty, so this behavior is very normal. However, you shouldn’t let it continue or your rabbits will end up fighting. Separate them until you can get both of them spayed, then you can go through the bonding process. 🙂

Also, young rabbits are difficult to sex correctly, so it’s important to separate them immediately just in case one of them is actually a male, or you might end up with a litter.

[Koala]

Will she ever stop her behavior of humping or will it continue? I don’t plan on spaying her because I might want to breed her later on

[Bam]

They won’t stop if you keep them intact. They may not even stop if they get de-sexed late, because by then it has become a habit. The intensity in the jumping can decrease with age, but they wont form a reliable bond.

Discussions about intentional breeding are prohibited by the forum’s rules, so I won’t go into that. If you are intent on keeping your rabbits intact, they should be housed separately. It’s best for them to be housed so close to each other that they can see and hear and smell each other, but not reach through grids to bite. Rabbit teeth can cause considerable damage.

[Q8bunny]

Hi Koala,

Spaying is actually recommended not only to improve behaviours like mounting and litter habits, but because it greatly reduces the very high incidence of reproductive cancers in rabbits (especially in females).

Also, you may not be aware of this yet, but on this forum we do not condone breeding or discussions about intentional breeding (for a number of good reasons).

Our aim is to promote the caring for healthy and happy house rabbits living their best lives, while educating people that rabbits are not just easy breeders (whether for meat or for “fun”).

[jerseygirl]

Just a quick note first:  the subject of intentional breeding is not allowed for discussion on the forum. Please see our Forum Rules and guideline for more in this.

The humping behaviour will probably continue and the younger one could start doing it also as she matured. They might trigger some pseudo-pregnancy in each other aka false pregnancy.

Female rabbits are at high risk of developing uterine cancer or other uterine disorders. We usually recommend they be spayed for their long term health.

 

[jerseygirl]

Sorry, I had not seen Q8Bunny’s post before I submitted my own.

[Q8bunny]

And I hadn’t seen Bam’s 😂

[jerseygirl]

Me either 😳 I swear that wasn’t there before.

Sorry for the repetition, Koala.

[Koala]

Sorry! I was not informed but I will not do it again, thank you! But I just wanted to say that I love my bunnies and they are my children so I of course will not be doing anything for fun or meat. I just don’t want to keep them separated for so long. Thank you for all the help!

[Author]

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