Female Humping male!!

[betty_jack]

Hopefully someone can help me decide what to do.
I have a male which if 4 and already had the snip a long time ago and a female that is 6 months old.
They have been fine together since getting her at 10 weeks.
But now she had been making a nest and decided to start humping my male, its not causing any fighting but I am worried that she will tire him out chasing around all the time.
Do you think its time to let her have a litter or neuter her? or will it simply just pass and she will go back to normal.
In the mean time they are still really friendly to eachother and cleaning eachother etc.
Thanks in advance for any help
Laura

 

[elrohwen]

Don't let her have a litter - get her spayed! Spaying is extremely important for female buns due to the high rate of uterine cancer at 2 years. I'm not really sure how having a litter would help anything? She would have the litter, then go back to being aggressive towards your male. And then you would have a bunch of babies to deal with. Not a good idea.

Her hormones have kicked in and she is now being territorial - perfectly normal for a female bun. She needs to be spayed and then rebonded to your boy after her hormones settle down.

 

[aurora369]

It really does sound like she has hit sexual maturity.

If the male was neutered a long time ago, then she's having a false pregnancy. She thinks she is pregnant even though she is not. Rabbits will build nests, pull fur and in some very extreme cases even lactate when going through false pregnancies.

Personally, I would just get her spayed. Since she is bonded so nicely to your male, it would be shame to separate them and upset them. If she is spayed quickly, you can probably keep them together with out having to separate them. Just make sure he is not bothering/humping her while she has to recover.

-Dawn

 

[betty_jack]

Hi thanks for your replys, i've had to put a barrier between them today because the female is making very loud noises towards the male and in general i think that they are un settled about the whole situation because not much food is getting eaten!
I also think she is argueing with him over there tunnel because they wont go in together and usualy love it.
It just seems to be the female with the problem so your theory makes sense, he was cleaning her this morning!
They have just got a puppy pen between them so they can see each other.
I hope they can go back together tho i'll be upset if they dont
To be honest i do have one place for a rabbit already and i own an aquatics shop where i sell pet stuff too so i would easily be able to remhome....but i think i'm edging on babies so that i can surround myself with bunnies incase some thing happened with my old girl, coz i love her soooo much :inlove:

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Right now it is probably hormones. Getting her spayed should help, but it can take several weeks for the hormones to calm down enough for your to notice a difference.

Humping can also be a dominance thing. My Penelope humps Korr, both are fixed and have been for a few years (Penelope about 2.5 and Korr almost 4). It is her saying I am the boss. As long as there are no fights because of it and it isn't constant, you don't need to worry too much.

 

[betty_jack]

well I did think it would be a domance thing but then changed my mind because off the phantom pregnacy.
If it means they can be together then i will have to get her spayed, its not really causing fights as such but i'm guessing thats more to do with the fact that my male has no teeth!
I'll have to start my search for a possible better vet then because I'm starting to think me usual doesn't have a clue!! :shock:
Do you think they will bond again after she is done?

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Male/female pairs where both are fixed tend to get along well. If they are getting along now, they should be able to get along after she is spayed and healed.
It is good to use a rabbit savvy vet.
Here is a link to a list of rabbit savvy vets. http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=9

 

[betty_jack]

Thanks for the link, i cant find any for lincolnshire tho