help/advice pls

[baobeithebuns]

i have 2 bunnies, about 17 and 16 weeks old..
i have had them since they have both 8 weeks. i never planned on getting 2 bunnies, but that’s another story.

now i love both of them so much, but i’m not sure i want to keep my second bunny.

i got a lion head first, because this is the same bunny i had growing up and he was always tame, really gentle, didn’t dig.. just high maintenance and sassy, which is exactly like me lol.. so she is exactly how my boy was, same everything. very light, not destructive, allows me to groom her with little fight.. very hoppy and happy..

my second bunny is a holland lop, and i don’t really know much about this breed but she is a lot bigger than my lion head.. she is VERY destructive and almost “rude”. she doesn’t care about anything. she tears up my apartment. she constantly is scratching at my floor, even though she has digging boxes and buckets everywhere! she responds to “no” and stops. but as soon as you are gone she goes to a new spot or right back and does it again. she always tears up the bottom of her pen. she refuses to let me brush her and forget clipping her nails, haha as if. she is 80% litter trained so there is that.. i know the 20% will come with spaying and yes this is happening as soon as they’re both old enough.

i am just getting to a point where i don’t want to let her roam anymore.. i just keep her in the pen and let my other bunny roam because she isn’t bad and i feel like a horrible person doing this.

i think my bunnies have bonded, they do groom and cuddle, everything. they have started sleeping separate though because the humping was getting too much, and i don’t want them to fight (they have not yet) so i am just taking advice from other and being safe.

i have been thinking a lot the last week or so maybe rehoming would be better for her? but i don’t know if i want too, or if i should.. it’s been really stressing me out and making me feel upset because i love her, but her personality is so much..

is it bad that i am thinking of potentially rehoming my lop?
do you think my other bunny will be effected by this?
i just need some advice, please no rude responses.. i already feel bad for even thinking this way.

sorry if this post is all over the place.. my mind is all over the place with this.

 

[zuppa]

It is not bad, if you feel uncomfortable you should try rehoming her.

I have a bit similar situation one of my lop girls in my avatar she is very defensive and she bites pretty often, and I am pretty sure she loves me she's just scared just had some bad experience where she had lots of stress and a little non-stop barking dog and some nasty nephews visiting so I think it is just her defence and I have to try and work with her, I think it is quite possible and she's not that bad, also I think if I'd give her up her next owner will have to be more experienced and more patient than I otherwise she'll go to the next hands soon.

I think that all her rudeness her rage is her way to show you she's not happy maybe she's just bigger and needs more room or more exercise or something, maybe you can find somebody who has more experience and can work with her. So I think it is not bad if she will be happier somewhere else, just make sure she's going to someone who will be able to deal with that and fix that.

 

[baobeithebuns]

It is not bad, if you feel uncomfortable you should try rehoming her.

I think that all her rudeness her rage is her way to show you she's not happy maybe she's just bigger and needs more room or more exercise or something, maybe you can find somebody who has more experience and can work with her. So I think it is not bad if she will be happier somewhere else, just make sure she's going to someone who will be able to deal with that and fix that.

this is fair, except they both get free roam and have had it since i got them, the only time they are caged is when i’m sleeping..

but lately i have been leaving her in the pen (about 6” by 4”) because she is so destructive... and since she won’t let me trim her nails i don’t trust her on my couch or bed or carpets.. she shreds up the cardboard so fast which is ok. but it goes so fast she hits hardwood in no time.

 

[A & B]

My Holland Lop is the same way, which makes me wonder if it's just the breed. My boy is destructive and is I guess rude in a way. He eats everything of mine despite having tons of toys. My bun has a dig box and like yours, he still scratches and digs at my floor. Just this morning, he was digging at the blanket and eating it even after I put toys in the way. It's like he obsesses over digging in that spot. I will pick him up and put him on my bed and pet him but the moment I stop petting him he runs over to that spot he was digging at and does it again. He also nips me if I'm in his way or if he wants attention. At this point I just let it be.

I get how this is frustrating for you. Maybe spaying her will help but there's no guarantee. If you belive she would do better in a different home, that's your decision and yours alone. If I were you, I would probably wait until after the spay to see if it changes. You may end up causing some depression in the other bun if you rehome her. You just have to decide what's best for you and don't feel guilty if rehoming is what's best for you both.

 

[baobeithebuns]

My Holland Lop is the same way, which makes me wonder if it's just the breed. My boy is destructive and is I guess rude in a way. He eats everything of mine despite having tons of toys. My bun has a dig box and like yours, he still scratches and digs at my floor. Just this morning, he was digging at the blanket and eating it even after I put toys in the way. It's like he obsesses over digging in that spot. I will pick him up and put him on my bed and pet him but the moment I stop petting him he runs over to that spot he was digging at and does it again. He also nips me if I'm in his way or if he wants attention. At this point I just let it be.

I get how this is frustrating for you. Maybe spaying her will help but there's no guarantee. If you belive she would do better in a different home, that's your decision and yours alone. If I were you, I would probably wait until after the spay to see if it changes. You may end up causing some depression in the other bun if you rehome her. You just have to decide what's best for you and don't feel guilty if rehoming is what's best for you both.

thank you for this.
it very well might be the breed and maybe this breed isn’t suited for me. i guess i should have done a little bit more research on lops before taking her on as well... it just all happened so fast and unexpectedly.

i will likely wait until i can get her spayed, because i do adore her, she is just not a very good bunny and i feel bad having to treat them both differently.

 

[zuppa]

I actually have same my first rabbit was Leo he's a lionhead/dwarf mix and she is holland lop my second, lionhead would never dig or bite, no aggression at all and very sweet, but he rattles his cage and sprays and humps everything when I let him out I have cardboard behind his pen's walls because he sprays really high and he's very sweet indeed he loves me and when I brush him or just hold on my lap he's so happy he poops and pees all over me and marks everything around him. I can't wait for him to be neutered hopefully all that will stop after 2 more months.

Besides, if yours are 16-17 weeks old you may have this soon too, as mine is nearly 6 months now and he wasn't like this when I got him, it's just his hormones!

So, my holland lop, Smokey. She's bigger than Leo and she needs more room, when she has no room she gets stressed and aggressive, breathing hard etc, so I don't want to stress her and giving her extra room and rearrange her cage, her toilet, made an extra shelf for her so she can move and lay down and stretch as she wants. She stopped digging her toilet after I found proper solution for her, (after very many tries!), it was a nightmare what she made of her toilet every morning I had to clean the whole cage, and she peed behind her box in the corner as well, I bought a few hanging hay mangers and placed them in all corners and fixed to the bars so now she can't lift her butt high enough to pee behind the box. She made so much mess all the hay she had over her toilet was mixed with her litter and everything was on the floor of her cage and all around the cage, and she's a larger girl she pees a lot more than Leo, her litter was full of urine and needed to be changed every other day, that is if she wouldn't dig it so every morning started with cleaning and not only her box but everything around her cage too. Surprisingly, hanging metal hay hangers helped a lot, she can't pee in the corners behind her box and she can't mix her hay with her litter so her toilet and her cage is fine for a few days, 3-4 days, I have large high cat litter box for her now and she just not digging anymore (fingers crossed she won't start again). I also believe that spaying will fix some problems I don't want to give up on her because if I put her for adoption who will take her with such problems? It has to be a very experienced person who is patient enough and will have time to work with her and can give her enough room and attention. Otherwise she'll be all aggressive and they will also give up on her. I think she's just a larger lady and fast temperament and she needs more room and her space needs to be arranged in a way that would make her feel comfortable, it just needs work and focus from my side, she's not guilty that she is a rabbit and I took her in and I have to give her proper life space it is important when she is comfortable she is happy and won't be raging. That's my theory

Now, I can't agree with what you said about holland lops. I have another lop girl Bernie she's 11 months today she's completely different temperament than Smokey. She's very obeying very placid rabbit and zero aggression. But she'd dig her toilet and mix her hay with litter and spread it all around and would pee behind her box too, I've just also blocked the corners with hay mangers (all tied to bars) and made her toilet box undiggable, just thought of every detail in her space if I see she wants to destroy something I try to draw her attention to something positive and she's fine, you can have a few rabbits like her she's very well tempered just clean her box every other day as she does pee and poop a lot too.

But they two are so very different by temperament Smokey is very fast-moving, defensive and getting stressed so easily, and Bernie is complete opposite of her.

I could say a few more words or pages about my rabbits I just feel sorry you will have to read that much!

My point was that my lop is larger than my lionhead and needs different setup and she's very active so she needs more room and more exercise if I can't provide it she will try to make herself comfortable in her own way and you may not like it.

 

[A & B]

I wish rabbit personalities are more talked about. We hear all about the pleasant sides of owning them (kisses, snuggles, cute pictures) but we don't hear about the biting for attention, constant digging and eating everything you own, and the attitudes! When I first got Bugs, I had no idea about any of these things and it was overwhelming. I love him, more than I've ever loved a pet before, but he's crazy! He also is young-ish (just turned 1) and has definitely calmed down a bit since I brought him home at 8 weeks. He is neutered, and I know it is different for females, but I feel his crazy behavior didn't stop after the neuter. I got him neutered around 8 months but I wish I got it done sooner as that may have helped. With her spay, she may be a completely different bun or she may still act the same. Only time will tell. I highly recommend getting her spayed as soon as your vet is willing to do it.

 

[baobeithebuns]

thanks guys!

i definitely am going to get them both spayed asap, i have been in contact with a couple vets and i still have a few weeks to wait.

as for space, my lop has more room than my lionhead for sure because she is bigger.
they both have their own kitty sized litter box, and my lop doesn’t pee outside the litter box like Smokey, she is pretty well trained in that sense... knock on wood it doesn’t get worse.

i had a boy lionhead before growing up and he was exactly like my lionhead now, calm and a lil bit sassy... he wasn’t neutered tho, so he did spray here and there but it was never bad enough that i thought to get him fixed, he was a rescue so we didn’t really know how old he was.

i will continue trying to do everything i can to make her happy, but at some point there will be nothing i can do, and i really hope spaying will change some of this behaviour because if not i’m not sure i can keep her