Thistle keeps humping Fern

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Hi everyone, long time no see, I’ve been really busy with college and stuff so I kinda stopped going on here. But anyways, lately, within the past week Thistle has decided to hump Fern what I consider to be an abnormal amount. They are both spayed and neutered. Fern (my female) seems to just sit there and take it most of the time, but sometimes she tries to run away. I think I am honestly more bothered by it than she is (she’s a very mellow bunny). 

But I just don’t know what made this start happening, they’ve been bonded for a really long time and Thistle occasionally would hump her but now I feel like he’s been doing it an abnormal amount. 

Now my question is should I be trying to prevent this by perhaps spraying him with water if he tries to hump her? (Which I have done on occasion if he just won’t leave her alone- but it doesn’t deter him for long!)

And also is there anything I could do to perhaps direct his behavior so he isn’t constantly trying to hump her?

Otherwise they are both still healthy and happy! 

Thanks!

[RabbitPam]

Hi,
Ordinarily I wouldn’t think of this, but BB’s bunny Jack used to hump his lady friends an inordinate amount also. After an examination it was discovered that he had some bladder issues (stones, possibly, but not sure I am remembering exactly) that was causing it. Very hard to make that connection, so it was a relief to all when it was finally discovered.
So, I would suggest a check up with your vet, particularly his bladder, to make sure he really is healthy. If he is OK, ask her for some advice on what’s going on.

[JackRabbit]

This may just be a coincidence, but since RabbitPam mentioned it . . . My girl bun Marlee started humping her bonded buddy and we thought she was trying to pull a power play on him. It happened enough that we were concerned for their bond. Took her to the vet and the vet said that she appeared to have a little “calcium sand” that may be irritating her bladder, so the vet gave her sub-q fluids to help flush it out. I was skeptical, but Marlee was like a different bunny by the next day and the humping let up significantly. About 1 1/2 months later, Marlee got grumpy and the humping started again so back to the vet, more fluids, same happy bunny again. I remembered reading about Jack’s calcium issues, so we’re experimenting with some of the veggies that BB found worked for Jack.

Marlee still bites Moshi’s butt, but we’ve found that sometimes she’s trying to get him to play with her by doing this. When it starts to lead to humping, Moshi has learned to toss her off (she’s smaller than he is), and we’ve learned that it may be time for more fluids.

[Megabunny]

JR. Would your vet consider giving you fluids and needles to do your own if it’s going to be a regular thing?

[JackRabbit]

Megabunny — she said she would do that and show me how, but that the bags come something like 5 to a pack and have to be used within a month after opening the pack and that it may be cheaper to just bring her in and they’ll use their bags whenever she needs it.

[Megabunny]

Oh. Bummer

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Hmm perhaps that would be a possible idea. Especially since it seems to be a recurring thing that peoples bunnies who have calcium in their bladder often hump more… Because the humping does seem rather excessive. I’ll possibly make a call to my vet sometime next week and see if there is any open appointment times. Do you know if it’s unusual for you to ask them to check their bladder? AKA would they charge me more if I specifically asked for that? Or is that a usual thing that they do? Thanks for answering everyone!

[JackRabbit]

I haven’t been charged more for the vet expressing her bladder to check her pee, but was charged for the sub-q fluids since that was in addition to the exam. Now that we know about the fluids, we can make a vet tech appointment just for fluids.

[JackRabbit]

BTW, I had originally taken Marlee in under the assumption that maybe she had a UTI. The vet wanted to try the sub-q fluids first and if that didn’t take care of it, we’d do a culture, etc. The vet wasn’t able to get much out of Marlee’s bladder the first time we took her because Marlee peed on the way there so she did an ultrasound to check her bladder.

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