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Back again.

22 11:35:06

Question
Well, I'm back again and I've got a story and some more questions.

First off, the dutch that I though was female, was actually male. Initially, he looked female, but recently I looked over him and saw that he was male. That changed some things but it wasn't anything big. So now he's Tyler, a male dutch, going on 4 months.

Later on, I went to the same place that I got him to find him a companion. Of course I took him with me, and I had a good time watching how interested he was in everything. I go there to find that pretty much all of the rabbits they had were young-uns. But there was one that did stand out, in that she was larger. It turned out that she was there for quite some time, she was about 4 months old, going on 5. I took the opportunity to see how they would like each other. Sparks flew. They were instantly in love with each other. Before you know it, they were licking each other, grooming each other, and Tyler even took the opportunity to try to mount her. I stopped him right away, because we don't need anything happening... So of course I took her home.

At the time I didn't have much money, so I had to resort to putting her in a cardboard box for a lawnmower. She was in there for about 3 days until I got enough money to buy the largest rabbit cage I could find: it has two little shelf things for levels and it also came with ramps. Needless to say, she, Sabrina, loves the cage, she has a ball running around in it. Tyler is still in the cage he was originally in, and he's fine with that. Just about every day I let him run around and play in the room, but I don't let Sabrina (we'll get to that later). But, sometimes I let them visit each other in each others cages, and they do very well. Tyler does attempt to do stuff every once in a while, but it isn't very often. Most of the time they end up licking each other and grooming each other constantly and then maybe laying down with each other. Every today, they laid in the corner of Sabrina's cage for a good half our, either just laying on top of each other or grooming each other. I always keep a good eye on them though, because they haven't been fixed yet. They both will be old enough to have it done in about a month and a half. Other than that, they a both doing very well with each other.

But there are some concerns that I do have, and one problem. My concerns are of both of them. Tyler seems to be a little more aggressive with his home, I believe its because he can't spend his time with Sabrina (the only side with abuse on it is the side of his cage that's next to her cage). Is there anything to help this? Also Sabrina is really skittish around people. Since I did get both of them at a pet store, I feel that Sabrina didn't have a good experience with them there, while Tyler did. Is there anything I can do to ease her?

My only problem is with Sabrina yet again. She seems to have a peeing problem. It never fails, every time I let her out of her cage, she will find a corner, ANY corner, and pee in it. Even in her cage, she isn't very strict on her pee spots. On the bottom floor, she has a litter corner, and she stays to that very well. But on the other levels, I find that she will pee in just about every corner, even her hay bowl which is at the top corner. What is the best way, if any, that I can remedy this? I haven't let her out of her cage much because of that reason. The only time she hasn't done anything is in Tyler's cage, she has never pee'd in tere. I'm trying to make all of our experiences with each other the best and I want to do it the best way. You've been great with Q&A in the past and I appreciate it. Any help is very grateful.  

Answer
Dear Rich,

Congratulations on your new family!  And seriously, unless you want it to be a bigger family, you need to find a good rabbit vet NOW:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and set up appointments to have Tyler neutered and Sabrina spayed.  They may be young, but they are able to reproduce pretty young, and you can't be too careful.  It is *incredibly* hard to find safe homes for baby bunnies.  Trust me.  I know.  :(

You can read more about this very important procedure here:

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

and here:

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

It's possible that Sabrina had a bad experience with people, but it's actually more likely that she just has a shy personality.  Lots of bunnies are like that, and you need to court them carefully, on their terms, to win their trust.  Here's how:

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

Sabrina's litterbox habits will improve once she's spayed, but in the meantime you need to encourage her to pee in *one* corner, not all of them.  The problem is a combination of things:  (1)  She doesn't want to soil her cage, which is her home, and she wants to keep it clean, and (2), she is marking the corners of the home as her territory.

(1) above is actually a good sign.  It means she is fastidious, and will probably have good litterbox habits once she's spayed.  (2) is more difficult, and this won't clear up until she's spayed.  You can try the litterbox training tips here:

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

But until she's spayed, you'd be wise to just give in and put a litterbox (filled with Feline Pine or other pelleted sawdust litter--THE BEST!) in each corner where she pees.  This will help her learn what a litterbox is for, and encourage good box habits later.  You should also try to put a box in her cage so that she won't feel as if she's dirtying her home when she needs to go.  

Eventually, you may be able to let them run free all the time.  But until they're fixed and litterbox trained, this won't be so easy.  I hope you can get this done soon.  All our bunnies are cage-free, and Tyler will probably be LOTS less aggressive once he and his lady love are "fixed" and able to run around at their free will.  Just be sure to "bunny proof" the house (making sure all electrical cords and chewable items are out of reach) beforehand.  But you'll love living with house rabbits!

Hope this helps.  Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana