Spayed& Neutered- now what?

[Skip&Piper]

Hi all!

I posted recently that my girl bunny was spayed last Friday. She has recovered amazingly well and is essentially back to normal (her binkies are a little calmer than usual, but she is eating/pooping/peeing like normal.

I’ve started letting the buns out together again for eating their veggies, which I have pretty much always done, once Skipper was neutered. Even when I thought Piper might be pregnant, and they have never fought, though pre-spay, Piper liked to spray pee on Skipper.

Now they are doing really well, no pee spraying, but they are leaving a fair amount of marking poops, (which always happened!)

They do seem to be taking turns doing some “flexing” lol, Skipper will jump over Piper, and Piper will try dig at Skipper. They also seem to start to mount each other just for a second, but then the other jumps away. I’m not sure if this is playing, or if they are establishing a pecking order or what!

I have nothing but time, so I’m in no rush to get them housed together again, but I am definitely looking forward to the day that happens. I guess I’m just wondering what are the best practices here.. are there general guidelines to follow for buns that have always kind of been mostly bonded, but haven’t been housed together since before they were hormonal?

This is them at this exact moment:

 

[JBun]

So Piper still has hormones and that will take several weeks to fade. She's likely digging at Skipper because she's wanting to be bred. Mounting is never play. It's always either hormones or establishing dominance. When rabbits get overly excited about something, that can also sometimes cause a surge of humping behavior.

With Piper just having been spayed a few days ago, you will need to be really careful about how much activity you let her have at this point, including being too active around Skipper. A spay is a pretty invasive surgery, so they need plenty of time to properly heal. Letting them be too active too soon risks possible internal damage. Usually an experienced rabbit vet would recommend at least 7-10 days of restricted activity.

If they are pretty much all settled down like in the photo, seem pretty happy and relaxed around each other, and the humping doesn't continue to happen much, I would be inclined to consider them bonded and just keep them together. But if they are still too active trying to hump each other, aren't too relaxed around each other, and if there is chasing or too much activity going on since Piper is still healing, then I would probably hold off on officially bonding them for at least another few days to a week.

The marking poop should die down some once all those hormones have faded and you've officially bonded them. Once they've been together a while they won't feel such the need to mark their territory.

They look very happy and cute together

 

[Skip&Piper]

Thanks JBun! Today they were out together for about 45 minutes, which is the most Piper has been out of her enclosure so far. She was out for about 20 minutes yesterday, and that was her first day out since surgery. She runs to the door every time I go check on them, so I think she’s getting bored being in there all day! I honestly can’t believe the change in her from Sunday to Monday!

I will keep her activity limited until the weekend for sure, but if they carry on as good as they have been, which I really do expect, since they’ve always been good together, we may try just opening the “window” in the wall between them this weekend, and it would be easy to close it up again if need be.

Thanks for the advice!!

 

[baobeithebuns]

wow that hutch is freaking awesome. i screenshot it and am sending it to my boyfriend! he. must. build. me. this.
so freaking awesome!!

also your buns are super adorable!
how old is piper? i have 2 females, both 4 months now and i want to get them spayed soon!

 

[Skip&Piper]

Thanks baobeithebuns! My hubby built it and it is pretty awesome! I can’t wait to take out the partition wall and add a second level. Our buns are 9 months old now! They were supposed to be sisters, but lo and behold, Skipper turned out to be a boy!

 

[baobeithebuns]

Thanks baobeithebuns! My hubby built it and it is pretty awesome! I can’t wait to take out the partition wall and add a second level. Our buns are 9 months old now! They were supposed to be sisters, but lo and behold, Skipper turned out to be a boy!

oh nooooooooo, that could have been something!
i heard male/female bun bonds are the best anyways

i definitely sent the photo to my bf and he just replied "ugggggggh, i will see what i can do" yay!
i think he is annoyed i am changing/adding onto the buns pen every month because i keep wanting it bigger and bigger.
i just feel bad that they have to be locked up while i am at work for 10hr a day, so i want them to feel super comfortable.
currently they are in a 8ft by 3ft wire pen, but they can move it around, so i have been looking into what i can do to make something more sturdy... and this looks AMAZING, hats off to your hubby.

 

[JBun]

oh nooooooooo, that could have been something!
i heard male/female bun bonds are the best anyways

i definitely sent the photo to my bf and he just replied "ugggggggh, i will see what i can do" yay!
i think he is annoyed i am changing/adding onto the buns pen every month because i keep wanting it bigger and bigger.
i just feel bad that they have to be locked up while i am at work for 10hr a day, so i want them to feel super comfortable.
currently they are in a 8ft by 3ft wire pen, but they can move it around, so i have been looking into what i can do to make something more sturdy... and this looks AMAZING, hats off to your hubby.

One thing that can help prevent buns from being able to shift a pen around is to zip tie 1x2x8, 1x3x8, or 1x4x8 wood strips to the bottom of the panels. This also helps keep stray poops contained to the pen. You can also use bricks in front of the panels if you don't mind a few bricks on you floor.

 

[baobeithebuns]

One thing that can help prevent buns from being able to shift a pen around is to zip tie 1x2x8, 1x3x8, or 1x4x8 wood strips to the bottom of the panels. This also helps keep stray poops contained to the pen. You can also use bricks in front of the panels if you don't mind a few bricks on you floor.

oh! thank you for the advice, i will look into this!!