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male bunny behavior problem

22 10:33:19

Question
QUESTION: Dear Dana,
We had had a male and female (both non-fixed) rabbits for nearly 2 years in separate cages without mating problems. About 8 months ago, Oreo (our male) managed to sneak out of his cage and get Kiara pregnant. She had 1 surviving female baby. He sneaked out again & 3 months after the 1st birth, Kiara had a male baby. We blocked his cage door, but in his determination, he collapsed the entire cage & about a month after the 2nd birth we had 7 more. We lost 5 of them about a month or so later and now have a surviving male and female.  We since put Oreo in an escape-proof cage and after the last birth, decided to put the maturing 1st male baby in with him  (baby about 3 months old at that point).

Here is my problem: Since we introduced Oreo and baby (which we did slowly and what we thought was successfully), Oreo has not tried to escape to be with Kiara. But he spends what seems like a lot of time mounting the male baby. Vigorously. After a couple of weeks together, the baby began mounting Oreo. The behavior doesn't appear to be angry, in fact they spend a huge amount of time grooming each other and laying on top of each other. When one is removed for a time and they are reunited, they immediately run circles around each other for several seconds until one mounts the other. Now the second male baby is getting mature and needs to be separated from Kiara and the other female baby. We have started introducing him to the other two and they take turns mounting him, mount him at the same time, or practice a sort of "chain-mount." The mounting sometimes is on their head instead of the back-end, or on the side, or anywhere they can get to each other. I have searched everywhere for info on this behavior and have found absolutely nothing. Is the mounting a form of territorial fighting or dominance assertion? Or is it substitution for not having a receptive female available? I don't know if it is fine to let them continue doing this or if I should try to stop it. And if I should try to retrain them, I have found nothing on how to go about it.

Please help!! Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,
Sunny

ANSWER: Dear Sunny,

The behavior you describe isn't exactly a "problem."  It's absolutely normal behavior for healthy, unneutered rabbits.  But it can lead to fighting and misery.  The only safe solution is to have both the male neutered ASAP by a competent, experienced rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and then, when the females are old enough (and mama has recovered from her pregnancy and lactation) have them spayed.  Unspayed, unbred females have a very high risk of uterine cancer, so this is good not only to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but also to keep them healthy.  Please read:

www.rabbit.org/health/spay.html

and

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/spay.html

Mounting is not only a sexual behavior, but an expression of dominance.  So once the male baby starts to smell like a real male, the father might not take so kindly to this activity, and ferocious fights can result.  Don't separate them, since they are bonded, but take them both to the vet *together* and have both neutered at the same time, to reduce the risk of unbonding.

Same thing for any bonded rabbits:  never separate them, even (or *especially*) when they are sick or need to go to the vet.  They should always go together for moral support and to maintain the social bond.

I'd have this done ASAP if these were my rabbits.  You don't need any more surprise pregnancies!

Hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your quick response. I suppose I should have mentioned before that my only income is from Social Security Disability. Translation: not much. My daughter and I have just enough to keep everybody well-fed, housed and entertained and we keep our fingers crossed for no emergencies. After the 1st pregnancy, I called every vet within an hour of here and the least expensive place charges $130 per rabbit, including the pre-surgical exam. Times six, that's $780. Even if we did one a month, it would be impossible for us. We have no desire to give them away. They are members of our family of course. And we have no way to know if they'd be treated well in another home. We're in the process of building one huge cage, boys on one floor, girls on another, so we know there won't be any more surprises. But we have no idea what to do about the situation. The youngest boy is not happy to be chased constantly by the other two grown males. And in the past few days, we've noticed the females beginning the same behaviors on occasion. If my financial situation betters, I will absolutely get them fixed ASAP, but is there anything different I can do in the meantime? Thanks again for your help.

Answer
Dear Sunny,

I wish I could tell you there was some other way to make peace between the rabbits, but there isn't.  Neutering is the ONLY way to solve this problem.

I wonder if you might be able to contact your local rabbit rescue group:

www.rabbit.org/chapters

and see if they have a low cost spay/neuter program so that you could at least have the males done, and then do the females as money permits.  You might also ask the local vets about a payment plan.  The $130 fee is actually quite reasonable, as spay/neuter charges go. But you do want to be sure the vet is experienced and competent with rabbits.  Find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps.

Dana