A few general questions

Question
My bunny circles by feet a lot when I am trying to get ready for work or just when I am walking around.  Whenever I am in the bathroom, he will circle my feet and if I don't spend time bending down and petting him, he will start biting my pant legs (not hard though).  I was told that he was neutered but I am not 100% sure.  He is 6-9 months old and I tried looking but I can't really tell.  Is there a way to tell by myself if he is or not?  I have heard that circling the legs and biting is a sign of sexual tension.  Also, my bunny, Benny likes to go to the bathroom with us.  I put a litter box in there and he uses it but then he gets out and makes sure he poops all around the toilet.  He is potty trained and only does it in this room.  Some other questions I have are : He love it in our bedroom but pees down the side of the bed (next to the wall) and therefore I can't let him in there anymore.  The girl that had him before me said her boyfriend hit him once for peeing on the bathroom floor, picked him up by his neck and threw him in his cage.  Since that happened he cries when we try to hold him...we have never hurt him.  Will he get over this and warm up to us holding him? How often should I clip his nails?  Do I need to bathe him?  Thank you for your time and help!

Answer
Hi Christy,

I would have concerns he is not neutered.  Don't take anyone's 'word' for it.  You can check yourself, but be aware that male rabbits can pull their testicles into their body if they want to.  Generally if they are intact and you are on floor level and they are hopping around you, you can usually see if they have a 'package' or not.

He is either neutered but still has high hormone levels, or he is still intact, by his behavior.  

Neutered males will still circle.  In their case, it's a sign of affection (rather than hormonally-driven behavior).  I have a 6 year-old male who loves me and circles me when he's out playing.  He also will lightly nip my pants as you describe.  That's more of a grooming/pay attention to me kind of thing.

Rabbits mark territory by dropping fecal pellets.  They also will try to mask over scents by dropping fecal pellets.  A few pellets here and there isn't a big deal.  Going to the bathroom full blown outside a litterpan is a big deal.  In this case you need to put an extra litterpan down in that spot.

I'm sorry to hear about him being abused under his former owners care.  That kind of thing can (and probably has) scarred your rabbit and he obviously is not over it.  rabbits need a lot of time to build trust in others and all it takes is one bad event to destroy it and it makes it harder for people like you to try to rebuild the trust such an idiot destroyed.

I would probably not try to hold him unless absolutely necessary right now (ie vet, having to go in a carrier, nail trims, etc).  He needs to build up trust in you guys and have a lot of good experiences with you.  Interact with him with pets, be on the floor with him.  Unfortunately your husband will probably have a harder time gaining your bunny's trust because your bun knows it was a man that hurt him.  Not your guys' fault, but that is what happens.  Patience is going to be required.  As long as your husband doesn't take it personally.  In these kind of cases it can take months or years for the rabbit to trust people again.  One of my gals took two years to get back to normal.  It was long, but I have to tell you, it was so, so worth it.  She's one of our happiest bunnies now.

But I would suggest at this point letting the rabbit control how much interaction he wants to have, and who he wants it from.  That means less grabbing and petting if he doesn't want it, less picking up (again, unless necessary).  He has to tolerate some handling by you so that you can do needed things.  But when he;s out exercising, let him come to you, sniff, hop on you.  Don't always reach for him.  Sometimes ignoring him will make him come up to you in a sort of 'why aren't you looking at me?' thing.  It's kind of interesting but they are wonderful that way.

And because of the trauma he went through, I strongly, strongly recommend that you get him checked out by a good rabbit vet and explain what happened to him so that he can have a thorough checkup to make sure he isn't masking an injury that needs to be fixed.  Rabbits need an annual wellness exam, just like dogs and cats do.  If you don't have a good rabbit vet yet, go to:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Soceity-recommended rabbit vet in your area.

Nail trims:  generally every s-x to eight weeks.  You will have to see how fast his nails grow and how fast he wears them down (if at all) to determine what the best interval is.

Never bathe your rabbit.  Extremely stressful for them to be put in water.  Will be very scared of you picking him up after this.

Write back anytime.

Lee