Territorial Bun

[Brianna]

So i have officially had this rabbit for about two weeks. My school has an AG wing and there’s some classes that involve bunnies etc. My friend brought some bunnies from her sister and i just fell in love with one of them. Her name is Rebel and she’s about 4 months old. She was very sweet and didn’t mind being pet, as long as you didn’t walk around with her too much. she seemed to really like me. she shared a hutch with a brother and sister. I’ve had her home for going on three days and suddenly she’s territorial. the first day she randomly hissed and almost bit my 9 year old brother for no reason. she won’t let me touch anything in the cage. she also won’t use her litter box. i can’t even pet her without her lunging or freaking out. i needed to clean her cage bc she pooped and peed everywhere and she didn’t wanna get out or for me to touch anything. Since she’s so big i just had her in the clean bath rub while i changed her cage. She didn’t mind, and then she didn’t want to leave the tub. i’m scared i’m gonna get bit but i NEED to clean her cage again bc she’s struggling with potty training. someone please help me! she also keeps randomly jumping in her cage (i haven’t messed with her she’s just going crazy in there) i love this big girl and want to make her happy.

[jerseygirl]

This is about the age that female rabbits can become quite hormonal and show a territorial side. Rabbits can be really challenging through their teenage phase!
They can also be “cage aggressive” so removing her to the tub while you do her cage is a good idea. Or a pen to run about in will keep her distracted. Avoid reaching in to get her out of the cage when you do need to move her. Either, put the cage down at floor level and let her hop out herself, or if cage is up higher, hold a tray or basket at the door with a treat in it and see if she’ll get into it. That way you can carry her in it, over to where you want her. 

 Do you know if she was around older male rabbits before you got her? 

It’s hard for kids to resist the impulse to touch. Do make certain your brother understands when not to invade her space. He may already be wary! It probably won’t be like this forever, so there is plenty of time for you and him to both develop a better relationship with her. Desexing can result in a calmer, less territorial rabbit also. And it often helps improve litter habits.

How do you have her cage set up currently? Are you using bedding and litter? (That can make training take longer). Does she have hay in her litterbox?
Is the box a good size or has she out grown it?

[Brianna]

Her cage is on the floor and i usually just open it and let her hop out when she’s ready. Her litter box has a mix of newspaper. and paperbedding (a tip from a friend). I keep some hay in her cage but she doesn’t eeally do anything with it but push it out. The only male she was with was her brother who was the same age as her.

[Deleted User]

If she’s that territorial, she could possibly be pregnant. Bunnies don’t see family units the way we do, and when hormones kick in all they want to do is fight and breed. The fact that they were kept together at a prime age for breeding, could very well mean she is potentially pregnant. If she starts pulling fur you will want to be checking to see if she’s making a nest.

[Brianna]

She’s not pregnant, her brother was not mature enough to breed.

[Deleted User]

If his testicles had dropped, he can breed. Males can begin breeding as early as 2.5 months.

[Brianna]

I am aware, and his haven’t dropped.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Brianna on 2/16/2018 1:59 PM

Her cage is on the floor and i usually just open it and let her hop out when she’s ready. Her litter box has a mix of newspaper. and paperbedding (a tip from a friend). I keep some hay in her cage but she doesn’t eeally do anything with it but push it out. The only male she was with was her brother who was the same age as her.

I use newspaper under the litter too. It seems to save on the amount of litter I go through. 

For litter training, it’s worked best (IME) when the cage or pen floor is kept bare and the only absorbant material is contained to the litterbox. Since they poop the most where they eat hay, the hay is in the litterbox or in a rack over it. So the rabbit can only get to it if they are in the box.  That said, I have a few who like to pull the hay outside the box and eat it there.  But they pee in the box so Im good with that. 

Does she not eat hay? What type do you use? ie. alfalfa (lucerne) or a grass hay like Timonthy or Orchard? Oat hay? 

Regarding the other issue, how is she toward you once she is out of the cage? Is she only acting aggressive when she is in it?

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Asriel and Bombur on 2/18/2018 11:57 AM

If his testicles had dropped, he can breed. Males can begin breeding as early as 2.5 months.

This is something Ive not been super clear on. I know, certainly in the wild, that the females can become pregnant as young as 3 months old. But they are around older males. Im not sure when male rabbits actually become fertile even after the testicles have dropped. Different texts cite different ages. There would also be a variation with breeds. 

I do advocate separating rabbits around this age (as Brianna has done) due to the hormones changing how they are toward each other. Risk of fighting etc. But Im not really certain how great the risk of pregnancy is when they are both this young. I might have to look into it further.  I do know of someone who keep to undesexed rabbits of same age together, despite my encouraging them to separate them before babies came along. In this instance, it wasn’t until they reached 6-7months old before that happened. Afterward, I discovered the 2 owners intended that to happen for $$ which really, really annoyed me, given I was up to my eyeballs in fostering rabbits one of these owners had “saved”. 

ETA: Sorry Brianna if Ive hijacked your thread. 

[Brianna]

My bunny doesn’t eat hay. She just kinda plays with it and such. It’s timothy. I’ve let her run around my room the past few days and I think that’s opened her up quite a bit. She lets me go in the cage now. She even has been running around and binkying. When she lays down, she tends to just kind of flop really hard and roll onto her back and then back onto her side. She seems a lot more happy. She’ll thump at me because she always wants to run around the room! I let her out after I get home from school for 20 minutes or so. If i have work i let her out when I come back, but if not I just let her out whenever I see fit because seeing her run and jump is very cute and makes me happy. She is very vocal and making these weird noises lately, not sure how to describe them, a buzzing maybe?

[Sirius&Luna]

A buzzing noise is a hormonal noise – are you planning on getting her spayed? I think that would solve a lot of these problems.

The other thing is that it’s really essential that hay makes up the majority of her diet, to prevent teeth and poop problems . What do you feed her if she doesn’t eat hay? It’s worth trying different varieties of hay, and limiting the other things you feed her to encourage hay eating.

Also 20 minutes isn’t really long enough outside her cage – you should be aiming for a few hours out every day at the very least

[Brianna]

She really doesn’t like any hay. I feed her pellets and she loves them. No i am not getting her spayed.

I am a student and also have a part time job so there’s no way i can let her out for hours and hours, that’s a bit insane. She seems happy with the 20-30 minutes i give multiple times a day.

[Sirius&Luna]

A diet of just pellets is not healthy, and will end up causing you expensive health problems. It’s important to try and encourage her to eat hay, and the best way to do that is by limiting the pellets you give her, and leaving her with just hay for the majority of the day. Since she’s young, that should be all it takes to get her eating hay, but if that doesn’t work then you could try grass or hay stacks. A rabbit’s diet needs to be 90% hay.

You don’t need to let her out for hours in a row, as long as you let her out for 20-30 minutes multiple times and it adds up to hours. There’s really no need to call it insane to give your rabbit adequate exercise though.

[Deleted User]

Are you planning on having her spayed ever? Female bunnies over the age of 3 or 4 have high risks of developing reproductive cancers, which make emergency spays necessary. Also, like S&L said, that hormonal behavior won’t go away until she is spayed, which would help with aggression and territorial issues.

For hay, you can try orchard and oat grass, as many bunnies prefer those flavors over timothy. You can also experiment with different brands of hay. For example, my boys love Oxbow timothy, but won’t touch another brand of it. They also prefer orchard to timothy any day. But hay is so important for them to keep their weight in check, help keep their teeth from being needed to be grinded down, and helps with overall gut health.

[Wick & Fable]

Welcome to BB Brianna! Hay may not be the favorite food of rabbits, but like children and vegetables, the least-liked food is often the most important.

Rabbits have a very specific type of stomach, designed to break apart vegetation. The fibers in hay are the key that keeps their stomach turning. Without hay, their stomach cannot move other food around and this causes a lot of suffering for a rabbit. Unfortunately, it’s not a question of if, but when will a rabbit show those signs. Rabbits are prey animals, so they will often hide signs of discomfort until it’s really impairing them. Also, a rabbit on only pellets may become very fat, which leads to a lot of other health problems, which can stretch from their feet (i.e. developing sores –> open wounds due to the weight), fur maintenance (i.e. the rabbit cannot reach all parts of itself to groom and rid of dirt), and butt sanitation (i.e. pellet-rich diet = excessive nutrient diet = high cecotrope development = not eating all cecotropes = poopy butt = attractive for bugs to lay eggs in and organs in that butt region can become soiled/infected).

Every owner has parameters that limit our rabbit care, but the difference between a good and a bad owner is the willingness to take action when you realize improvements are within your capabilities. It’s great that you want her to be happy, so learn what you can and do what you can to ensure that. As a student and employee that can be hard, but remember your rabbit’s life satisfaction, health, and happiness is contingent on your actions. Even if I’m deathly ill one day, I still need to go out and buy hay for Wick or he will suffer the consequences. Adding an x-pen to surround the cage so she has more space is a really important start. If that’s already the set-up, perhaps expanding it when you leave and shrinking it back when you’re back home (so it’s not taking up a lot of your walking space) can be arranged.

Members can also chime in to make the arrangement better for her. Can you describe the size of the cage, the flooring, what’s in it, and how you serve her water?

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Brianna]

Her pellets have hay in them. She literally just doesn’t eat hay. I leave it in there and she throws it completely out. She also tends to enjoy her cage but once in awhile she’ll want to leave.

[Brianna]

She isn’t really aggressive like she was. As soon as I open the cage she runs out to me. No i was not planning on spaying her. My teacher told me she would be fine.

[Deleted User]

Every rabbit pellet has hay in it, but it is not the same. Have you tried other types or mixing things in with it? Do you space out non-hay feedings? Non-hay feedings should occur every 10-12 hours because there will literally be hours where there is nothing for her to eat but hay. I know we keep sounding like broken records, but we really can’t stress it enough. Your bunny could honestly get very sick from not eating hay. GI stasis can be a very expensive and deadly disease, and the best way to help prevent it is by eating hay.

Also yes, bunnies can enjoy their cages, but they should be getting at least 3 hours of exercise. A lot of people here will argue for 6 hours. But your bunny does need to be able to run around for a few hours (even in 30 minute increments) a day because they can become depressed and ill if not given the chance.  

A lot of bunnies are fine without spays, and I get that money can be an issue, but in the long run a spay will be so beneficial for your bunny. There have been members on here who did not spay their bunny, and the bunny did die from uterine cancers. So please don’t rule it out. Especially if you ever bring another bunny home and want them to be friends, they both will need to be spayed/neutered first. I’ve linked some articles for you about unspayed females and reproductive cancers.
http://sawneeanimalclinic.com/downloads/uterine_cancer_in_rabbits.pdf
http://binkyabout.com/uterine-cancer-in-rabbits/
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/uploads/219/38708/Uterine_Adenocarcinoma_in_Rabbits_Jan-Feb_20130001.pdf

[Wick & Fable]

It’s very good that her pellets have hay in them, but the act of eating hay is very important, in addition to the actual consuming of hay. Technically, humans can live by swallowing all the necessary vitamins and minerals in pill form, but with rabbits, that’s not the case. A big item is that their teeth never stop growing. Rabbit’s back teeth (molars) grow outward, into their cheeks (spurs), which can cause a lot of discomfort, flesh torn, and bleeding until it’s filed down by a veterinarian. Only the act of eating and grinding on hay files down those spurs so they don’t cause the issue. Chewing on toys and other items may help a bit, but they do not address the far back molars at all. Actually, if I were to identify anything as being “the most important” thing to know about rabbit care, it’s hay. It’s superbly important.

You raise a valid observation, and it’s good that you’re learning her preferences. Lots of rabbit do not like eating hay. They’ll throw it around, poop and pee on it, dig through it, etc.. but they need to eat it. 80-90% of her diet should be hay, whether or not she likes it. She doesn’t understand the health consequences of not eating hay. Also, since she’s eating mainly pellets now, her dislike and unwillingness to eat hay is only getting stronger. I encourage to just Google “do rabbits need hay” and see the large number of different sites, organizations, and rabbit owners, breeders, etc. who all agree and lecture a lot of information on why a rabbit needs hay. It’s a really understated topic because a lot of people just think “Rabbit eats carrot.” That’s what the cartoons say! So it’s hard to un-learn that and truly understand how important hay consumption is for rabbits, but I urge you to begin going down that track and purchasing hay regularly for your rabbit. As suggested above, try different types and brands. Limit pellet presentation to just one time per day. Put a bowl of limited pellets down (1/4 cup for every 2lbs she weighs), and once that bowl is empty, take it away and don’t give her any more until the next day. That is how the large majority of users here feed their rabbit pellets because they are wary about rabbits eating just pellets, rather than hay. You need to take away the candy (pellets) or they’ll never eat the healthy food essentially.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Wick & Fable]

There are some (minority) cases where an unspayed female rabbit doesn’t act hormonal and doesn’t develop cancer; however, the large majority do. A very large majority. Since she is showing hormonal signs, you should seriously consider getting her spayed. The presence of hormonal behaviors means she is now, and will forever until she’s spayed/dies, be thinking about mating and/or territorial possession. That can take a toll on pet-owner bond and the overall happiness of a rabbit. Also cancer, as mentioned above, is quite rampant.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Manda]

HI Brianna! I too had this problem with my first bunny ( I had NO CLUE what I was doing LOL) and I was too scared to spay her. However, eventually I did get her spayed and she turned out to be the most sweetest, laid back bun i ever did have and she lasted 13 wonderful years. I know a lot of people sometimes think bunnies are equivalent to hamsters but they are in fact a good mix between a cat and a dog lol My bunnies don’t seem to want to eat their hay after it’s been out for a while but i have learned that if it is available to them they will pick at it while they wait until the next “bowl filling” of pellets ( i only give about 1/2 cup per day) i used to keep my buns in a large dog crate but found that she was a lot better when her space was bigger so I know you are a student but if you can give her a larger space that might help. Rabbits in the wild roam over 2 km a day or something crazy like that so it is important for at least 4 hours of exercise per day. They do enjoy their spaces though so I can see that your buns probably loves her space- Mr Buns has a bedroom and free roam of the house and you think he cares about joining us in the living room? Never- he’d rather be in his room! So if you cannot spay her then I say increase exercise time and space and she will be a bit more calmer because she won’t be so pent up- I always ask myself- would I want to be in this space 24/7 hours a day? Good luck

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