Unbonding?

[tdwp2481]

My bunnies been bonded when they were at the foster home and have been fine with each other and slept in the same litter box. But now when ever Johney gets in the same litter box as Andy, Andy runs away and sits at the corner of the cage some times even for an hour he just sits at the corner of the cage are they unbonding?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

How long have you had them? They may just be stressed out and taking some of it out on each other….I’d add another litterbox and see if that solves the problem the first. Are they both spayed/neutered?

[BinkyBunny]

Does this only happen with the litterbox? I know that Jack is the boss here – but he’s a rather nice, cuddly and giving boss, but IF he wants to be alone in the litterbox, he will give Rucy a little nudge/nip on her bum to get out. I just give them two boxes so that if she’ gets booted out she’s got another one.

If this is all that is happening, and you don’t see any aggression or any other signs, it might be that Johney is the dominant one, and Andy is letting him have the box. There may have been a time when you weren’t around that Johney made it clear that this was HIS box when he was in it. And so Andy is just letting him have it when he jumps in, then goes over the corner to wait, but just decides to hang out and chill. Does he look tense or relaxed when he’s in the corner?

[BinkyBunny]

Kokaneeandkahlua – how funny, we must have been posting at the same time! No one had replied, I post, but it doesn’t allow me to post, and then I try again, and there you are!

[tdwp2481]

Andy kinda just sits there and grooms him self but when Johney comes by Andy runs away and Johney follows but sometimes Andy lets Johney groom him this all happened in the last 3 hours and Johney isn’t neutered.But we do have a litterbox on each floor

[BinkyBunny]

hmmm. how old are they both?

EDIT:  I just read in your other post about littertraining issues.   Okay, so now that I know they are fairly new to your home and recently came from a Foster mom, and  one is not neutered….this COULD be that there is they are re-establishing who’s dominant in the new place.  This can sometimes happen.   Just watch carefully that they work out their issues without fighting.   Looks like Andy is giving Johney the lead.  And hopefully Johney will accept that passive behavior and then they can settle down again.

 

[tdwp2481]

They have started going in the same litter box like they have before I don’t know what happened while I was in school but now their fine.

[tdwp2481]

I found out why Andy has been running away from Johney. Johney keeps trying to mount Andy. Today Andy was thumping like crazy so I watched him for five minutes and Johney ran up and tried to mount Andy. Help?

[Beka27]

mounting is how they establish dominance in a relatationship, but since Johney is unaltered it is also hormone-related. unneutered buns will hump their mate, stuffed animals, slippers, even their humans legs or arms. this is also sometimes accompanied by spraying of urine.

mounting is natural in a rabbit pair, like i said to determine who is the “top bun”. you have to make sure that Andy is not becoming aggressive and that Johney is not mounting the wrong way (mounting Andy’s head). if he mounts the wrong way, Andy could bite his genitals and cause an infection. i would not allow the mounting to go on for longer than 15-20 seconds. since you are not able to watch them continuously, i would suggest that you separate them into two different cages until after Johney is neutered. after the surgery and healing time, you can begin to reintroduce and start the bonding process. if you leave them together now, it is very likely that one or both will get badly injured.

we had a member recently who has two buns that got into a fight. the one bit the other’s ear and it ended up needing to be amputated. this is very serious business. what is your timeframe for neutering Johney?

[tdwp2481]

I don’t know yet I’m still finding out prices

[BinkyBunny]

Oye, well, this does sound like Johney is being relentless and Andy is getting fed up, so I too worry that this could lead to aggression as Beka has cautioned. So though, I hate to recommend separating them, from your description, the tension is accelerating. Even if voilence doesn’t fully break out the stress for the passive bunny can lead to digestive issues – even if the dominant bunny allows him to eat.  I ditto Beka on this – The safest thing to do is separate them when you are not able to keep an eye on them until you can get Johney neutered.

How old is Johney?.

 

[Beka27]

i know, in this economy things are tough. also try contacting local rabbit rescues or shelters. they may know of a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. i have heard some folks say they were able to get their boys neutered for as low as about 50 dollars.

[tdwp2481]

Johney is going on 2 years

[BinkyBunny]

Two years…and they have had zero problems until now? Well, then though it would be a good idea to get him neutered, they have lived together this long, so I am figuring it has more to do with being in a new place. Try gong through the bonding steps and try stress bonding to see if you can settle this situation down.

[Beka27]

do you know why he was not neutered while in the rescue? i find that kind of strange that they would adopt him out in a pair without that having been done first. have you contacted the rescue again to see what they say about the bond breaking? can they neuter him for you at their reduced cost?

also, were they bonded the whole 2 years? i got the feeling from you that their bond was somewhat new. can you tell us more about their history at the rescue?

[tdwp2481]

I don’t know too much about how long they were bonded at the rescue. But they seem fine how Johney hasnt tried mounting Andy again. And I schedualed for Johney to be nutered next week thursday when I’m on winter break

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hi tdwp!   I’ve been reading yoru posts and I agree with Beka, that is rather strange the rescue didn’t have him altered before adopting him out.  I am glad to hear you’ve got him scheduled for one though.  I also wanted to add that you just might want to introduce another litterbox into the picture.  Although I have a male/female pair, I’ve had to put two litterboxes, two water dishes & two hay troughs in their cage because sometimes Bonsai (the male) gets really hissy with Daffodil over these things (asserting control/dominance) so I’ve nipped it in the bud that way.  Anyway, it is something to try while you wait for the neuter, although if injuries start to happen it may be best to separate them before it gets too serious.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That’s really unfortunate the rescue would adopt out an unaltered bun, especially one that is bonded.

If they are having aggresive fights, it may be best to seperate until you can neuter the other one. If they aren’t fighting, just doing some mounting then that’s pretty natural-I have a trio and my one male will hump the female if anything upsetting happens (company visiting, I cook and the smoke alarm goes off etc )

[MooBunnay]

That is great that Johney is going to be neutered I think that Andy will thank you for that. If it were me, while Johney is healing I would recommend putting him in a cage right next to Andy where he can still see and smell, and lay down next to Andy, but not hump him, because Johney will need some time to heal before “exerting” himself. It is generally not good to separate bonded bunnies, but in this case I would be concerned that Johney would try to mount Andy and hurt himself, or Andy might get upset and get in a fight with Johney and hurt him. If you do decide to separate them after Johney’s neuter, I would recommend that you supervise them when you put them back together, you might have to do some “re-bonding” exercises if they don’t get along perfectly right away.

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