housetrained male keeps spraying

Question
hi there i have a few rabbits two of which are kept indoors a dwarf lop and a lil bunny lionhead
the lion head is new and we got her to breed with the male i keep indoors when she gets older
the male i have hasnt been nuetured cos i want to cross the two breeds
the male i have is quit well housetrained and is about 3-4 months maybe a lil bit older hes a really good rabbit in the sense he loves being cuddled and is always licking me, doesnt chew much an is potty trained well half trained anyway,
the problem i have started mainly when i introduced the female lionhead is that he doesnt urinate anyway but his cage which is good but he is starting to spray not jus around the room but me aswell also the female bunny if they are together.
is there any way i can stop him doing this im trying to teach him by hitting him (gently) on the nose the putting him in his cage for a few hours but it doesnt seem to be working he knows when hes done wrong as he tries to run away when i go to put him in the cage (he never runs from me otherwise)


i will have him nuteured after the first  litter but i need to wait for a while for the lionhead to mature properly before i can breed them

i have two other girs which the male has been around but i never had this problem untill now
i have looked for an awnser on this site an various others but can only get nueturing as a solution thats not very helpfull to me

oh one other thing is the half being potty trained as i said he will only urinate  in his cage but he will poo absoloutly everywhere not a major problem jus a bit annoying hoovering up every half hour
i would be very gratefull of any advice you can give me on training him and also breeding them would be helpfull i specifcally want to breed this male as he has an exceptional temprement for a rabbit an also a lot of character
please help
thanks
oli

Answer
Dear Oli,

The spraying has nothing to do with urination.  It's territorial/sexual marking behavior.  The only way to stop it is with a neuter operation.  Punishing him will only escalate the problem:  rabbits *cannot* be disciplined with negative means, as they see this only as a fight, not as a dominant animal putting ont he brakes.  They're not at all like dogs in this respect.

The poop marking is the same thing:  he's marking his territory, as almost any un-neutered male mammal will.  There is just no way to stop this except with a neuter.

Before you breed your bunnies, please read:

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

Even though he has an "exceptional temperament" please know that there are thousands of needy rabbits out there with wonderful temperaments who need homes.  Every new rabbit bred deprives a rabbit of a life.

I hope this helps.

Dana