Sudden Behaviour Change (involves mounting)

[MerLyn]

Help, I don’t know what’s going on with bunny!

History: Female, about 1 year old. She had been put in the same cage as a male in October and gave birth to two dead babies in November. When she was pregnant back in October and we didn’t realize she was I recall her running away from him pursuing her- which I retroactively was able to attribute to her being pregnant. Since then she has been briefly coupled with the male periodically but nothing ever came of it. It often seemed like she was pregnant though, she got really fat a couple months ago and would sometimes dig what seemed like a nest. I guess this is like a phantom pregnancy rabbits sometimes get, except she actually did get really fat. After a coupling in mid-March I really thought she was pregnant but when no babies came a month later I thought everything was over. There might have been one more coupling a few weeks after that.

One sign that went against her being pregnant was that she was always receptive to the male, sort of. She is a very aggressive bun who constantly tries to get the better of the male during mountings- meaning he’ll get on top of her once or twice but chases soon ensue where they go around in circles at each other each trying to get on top. Sometimes she wins- especially after tiring him out and she freely mounts him. I know females don’t let the males mount them during pregnancy, but I never knew if that means the female wouldn’t mount the male either. She never gave any trouble though, she would submit if he did the mounting before chasing him against after.

Anyway, this all changed abruptly about two weeks ago. I put the rabbits together and when the male got on top of her the female started making an ungodly noise. It was like a frantic squealing noise which is truly terrible to hear. I have no idea where this came from or why. She had actually stopped looking pregnant all together (no longer so fat- not that it rules out possible pregnancy). I’ve been wanting to breed these rabbits but have had months of attempts that didn’t work out (not constant attempts, just a couple times a month at most and mainly waiting to see if she had anything), and now we have this! I tried to put them together a couple times on different days and every single time the female makes this absolutely horrendous noise. Has this happened to anyone’s buns? What’s weird is if the male is outside her cage and trying to get in she’ll go over and look at him and such, no weird noises then. It’s only when I put them together and he mounts that she makes these sounds. The first time it happened I had to immediately stop the mating attempt because the noise was so scary.

Basically this is making me think she could be pregnant even though I didn’t have the feeling she was. This would presumably be her new way of resisting the mount, though I fear if she’s not pregnant maybe she’s just fed up with him and doesn’t want him to touch her? That seems kind of strange if true, I don’t think a bunny would suddenly turn that much against another bun, so those of you with experience with pregnant buns (or even non-pregnant ones) how have they reacted to the males?

[Sarita]

Why are you putting 2 unaltered rabbits together? If you are trying to breed them – we do not allow the subject of intentional breeding on our website.

If not, then I would highly suggest you get your rabbits altered before you put them together.

[MerLyn]

Sorry didn’t realize intentional breeding was off-limits, I was just looking for a message board to get bunny help and found this one.

I swear I am not an evil person though and I have some very nice buns, even if they are intact.

[Sarita]

No problem – I do hope though that you will consider not breeding them as there are many homeless rabbits in shelters out there and it can be a challenge to find good homes for the babies.

Spaying and neutering will keep them healthier as well and then you can bond them together so they can be companions once they have been altered.

[MerLyn]

The male is 5 years old, isn’t that too old to neuter? A procedure at that age might not be the best I’d think.

[Sarita]

No, an experienced rabbit vet can neuter a rabbit this age. You may want to do blood work prior.

How old is the female?

[MerLyn]

She’s only 1 so no problem.

[Sarita]

Do you know of any rabbit vets in your area?

Spaying the female will also eliminated her risk of uterine cancer which is up to an 80% chance in upspayed females.

[KatnipCrzy]

It sounds as though your female rabbit could possibly have reproductive system problems.  Have you had her checked by a vet?  Although by no means am I trying to diagnosis what could be wrong- I have heard of female dogs crying in pain and unable to “breed” or get pregnant if they have reproductive abnormalities.  I would get her checked out by a vet to see if they think there are any risks of her carrying and delivering a pregnancy full term with normal babies.

[BinkyBunny]

It is true that breeding discussion are not allowed, but I will allow this if the discussion continues only to educate to get this female the help she needs. But any actual discussion of breeding will not be allowed.

[Beka27]

Welcome here.  I don’t think you’re a bad person… I hope we can help you and you will consider getting them spay/neutered. Most rabbits that are physically ABLE to breed can get pregnant very easily, and repeatedly. Since after all this time she has been unable to successfully carry a litter to term, that makes me wonder if it’s a bigger health risk to keep her unspayed. Also, I wonder if these attempts at breeding may be causing her pain?

Here are a few links regarding spay/neuter:

Spay or Neuter My Rabbit? - Dana Krempels, Ph.D.

FAQ: Spaying and Neutering - HRS

To Breed or Not To Breed - Dana Krempels, Ph.D.

If you have any other questions regarding this or need help finding a rabbit savvy vet in your area, please ask!

 

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