Drastically increased sexual aggression after birth

wawacrates · Jul 22, 2011

Hello everyone. This will be my first post on this forum

My female rabbit, Esset, recently (and without my knowledge) at some point became impregnated by my male, Ellipsis. The litter was born yesterday/the night before and I'm alittle concerned.

Ellipsis has always done the whole "grunting and mounting/attempting to mount" thing on an occasional basis, but it seems that the day Esset gave birth, whenever I let them out of the cage, mounting is literally the ONLY thing he wants to do. Is this normal? He's never shown such a level of diligence. Perhaps something to do with post pregnancy hormones?

Consequently, I've decided to keep them in separate cages, which is painful for me, even more painful to only let them out for a few minutes as I don't want to risk another pregnancy, but it seems like the right thing to do. Just waiting for the spay/neuter appointment on august 19th. My other question is this:

My rabbits live in their respective "dog crates" in my closet (it's a fairly large closet; more than 7 feet deep and 5 feet across). The kits are in with Esset (in the larger crate), what am i going to do when the kits start moving around and inevitably and effortlessly exit the crate at their own discretion? They (Esset and Ellipsis) still poop everywhere in the room so I can't let them have free reign of the closet yet (hopefully that will get better after the surgery), but I WANT TO ENSURE THAT THE KITS HAVE REGULAR ACCESS TO THE MOTHER, as Esset wouldnt be able to exit the cage to get the escapees if I'm not in there with her. Do you think the kits would instinctively re-enter the crate as they came in or get lost? Anybody have a problem similar to mine and solve it?

I apologize for such a long post, call it uncertainty and stress about possibly harming the kits through ignorance; I just love these rabbits very much and am starting to feel a little silly calling the vet the same way new parents would call a pediatrician. thanks!

Pharfly · Jul 22, 2011

Rabbits can get pregnant within hours after giving birth, so if he mounted her she is most likely expecting again. She will be too far along for a Vet too spay her on Aug 19, the surgery will turn into a c-section and the kits will likely be put too sleep. Which will be harder on her and your wallet.

Do you have any chicken wire or smaller mesh you can put around her cage so the babies can't get out? When I got Nova she was very tiny (8weeks old btw) I had her in her dog crate for a week before I noticed she could get all the way through the bars. Lucky for me she was going back into her cage durning free time. So she had a week where she could go in or out of her cage any time she wanted but she chose too stay in her cage. She only ever started too escape( jumping on things too get out of the play pen) was when we got Smokey, a few nights I woke up too find her sprawled out beside his cage.

wawacrates · Jul 22, 2011

yes, pharfly, i have become aware of my rabbits' priorites and motives. lol; although nature could have found a way, i doubt it's happened in the very small window of time provided (i'm always in there with them when theyre out of the cage, and the only thing i do is push him away if he tries to get on top of her). The mesh sounds like a very good idea. thanks for the advice

does anybody have an opinion or experience with my first question? thanks

plasticbunny · Jul 22, 2011

wawacrates wrote:

Ellipsis has always done the whole "grunting and mounting/attempting to mount" thing on an occasional basis, but it seems that the day Esset gave birth, whenever I let them out of the cage, mounting is literally the ONLY thing he wants to do. Is this normal? He's never shown such a level of diligence. Perhaps something to do with post pregnancy hormones?

He can sense that she is ready to get pregnant again.

Please don't take Pharfly's warning lightly. It take a mere second for a bunny to plant his "seed". There was a post on the forum recently from an unsuspecting owner, who's rabbits were together for a very short amount of time after the birth of an unplanned litter. Thirty days later, the bun had 5 more kits.

For the sake of your buns and your wallet (and your sanity), separate them until one of them can be fixed. And if you do the male first, wait another four weeks after his neuter because he can still get her pregnant.

pamnock · Jul 22, 2011

The kits need to be prevented from leaving the crate. They may escape at a such a young age that they may not be able to make their way back. Tiny kits can be difficult to find because they sometimes wedge themselves into small places. We have had kits escape from very small wire (1 x 2). I'd advise surrounding the cage with 1/2 x 1/2 wire that can be bought from the hardware store.

wawacrates · Jul 23, 2011

I certainly take the warning seriously. They have been separated since i suspected pregnancy and will be until they're both spayed and neutered on the 19th. Trust me, all warnings and advice are greatly appreciated. Just got some mesh stuff today and intend to put it up tomorrow. Thanks again everybody

By the way, ellipsis has returned to normal, only occasionally attempting to mount Esset.