Strange behaviour: Hormones or something else?

[Azerane]

Hey everyone, I'm probably over-worrying, but I can't help it. Bandit is an intact male, born November 1st 2012, which makes him almost 5 months old. Today, I brought him inside to run around in the laundry. He has done this many, many times before without problems, and in fact since I got him a month ago, there have only been 2 days that he didn't either get to run in the play pen on the lawn, or in the laundry. One of those days was yesterday, so it's possible he simply has excess energy.

This is what happened. I brought him inside and sat him on my lap (which I always do before letting him out just to get him used to it. He's not a lap bunny though and quickly gets restless, he bit at my clothes and accidently bit me through them, so to prevent any more bites, I set him down in the laundry to run around. At first he seemed normal, running around, but then started going crazy. He was jumping at the walls, jumping on top of his box to see if he could get anywhere, reaching up at the gate and pushing against it, trying to jump over the gate several times in a row. (He's never tried to jump the gate when he's been indoors before). I went into the laundry with him to try and calm him down, he immediately came over and was reaching up at my legs until I knelt down and he jumped up on me straight away! That has never happened before, I either have to have pellets and he climbs on me or I have to catch him, but he seemed desperate to climb on up me. So I pet him for a bit but he was still restless so I set him down again.

The next time I left the laundry (a few minutes later) he tried jumping at the gate again, it looked like he hit it badly with his face and he looked a little stunned for a few moments. I could be crazy, but since that jump I swear his one ear isn't sitting quite normal, maybe it's always sat a little different to the other one and I just never noticed, I don't know, but it has me worried. He seems to be getting about fine, just his ear is sitting a little further back than the other one.

My questions are, do I have a hormonal bunny or a bunny with too much pent up energy from missing a day of play? My third option that was worrying me is that two days ago I mopped the laundry floor. After mopping with soap I also mopped with water just to make sure it would be ok for Bandit. I mean, he seems fine with the floor now, he just went DBF on it. But I had worried that maybe the residual cleaner smell was too much which was why he was trying to get up and away from the floor.

Currently, he's a lot more relaxed, but for roughly 20 minutes there he was absolutely crazy and it really worried me. What are you thoughts, is it just his hormones? I am going to get him neutered in a couple weeks time, so if it is that it will hopefully reduce the behaviour then.

 

[Imbrium]

the cleaner shouldn't have anything to do with it since the floor was totally dry. he probably IS hormonal, but I'm not sure that's what caused the behavior. it's possible something random spooked him somehow, or he was just having an "off" day and being kinda crazy.

I doubt his ear is anything to worry about - my bunnies have run/jumped face-first into a NIC grid a few times because I closed off the upper levels of the condo and they didn't realize it (even after I put a square of fleece on it to make it obvious when I have the entrance closed).

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

This doesn't sound like sudden hormonal behavior to me. All of my bucks are intact and they are pretty mellow even when they get out to play. I wouldn't worry too much unless you notice that this seems to continue, then it may be something environmental spooking him.

All rabbits have weird days. Years ago, one of ours ran full force into the glass sliding door She was stunned, but okay. It was strange because she had never done it before and knew there was a door there.

 

[woahlookitsme]

I definitely don't think hormones and it seems to me like it was something in his enviornment

 

[Azerane]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm at a loss because I simply can't figure it out. I don't know what environmental factor it would have been, because I set it up exactly the same as always. I just brought him out again today. Its been the same thing, trying to climb on me, and if I'm not in the pen, trying to jump out. I sit on a chair next to the gate, he jumped out three times. I went and got some more panels to make it almost twice as high and he kept launching himself at the fence, hitting it and falling back, until he cleared that too! So now I'm sitting in here with him again, he's pretty calm at the moment as I think. He may have worn himself out a bit! I'm just not sure what the answer is. It makes it difficult because I can't help but think that maybe he wants to be out on the lawn instead, but I can't do that now because he knows how high he can jump. Once I get him microchips I want to harness train him, so perhaps that's an alternative option to the outdoor pen. Please excuse the long paragraph and any mistakes, on my phone as I don't want to bring the laptop into crazy bunny zone.

 

[Imbrium]

very odd behavior indeed. have you tried a different room of the house? (even if it's just for a few minutes due to lack of thorough bunny-proofing, it would help to know if the reaction is limited to that room)

also, where/how is he housed when you don't have him out and how is his behavior there?

if the behavior continues, I would phone a vet and see if you can get advice over the phone. I almost wonder if it might be some sort of neurological issue... very baffling behavior, at the least!

 

[Azerane]

No, I haven't tried a different room, but I suppose that is an option to see how he goes. It would probably have to be when I first bring him out tomorrow, because the behaviour seems to be mostly in the first 30mins after he gets brought out.

When he's not out, he's in his hutch which is outside. It's just over 4 ft long and about 1 ft wide and 1 1/2 ft tall I think. He's always well behaved, lounges around, comes out to say hi when I go out there. It's a top-opening hutch so sometimes he reaches up to me when I'm putting in food etc, but there's no bad behaviours that I'm aware of. The only other thing I can think of, is that maybe he's trying to get out because he wants to be out on the lawn. He does always seem to be happier on the lawn and does more binkies (more traction for it I suppose) and generally runs around like a crazy happy bunny, whereas in the laundry, he's generally fairly mellow, he does have happy silly moments, but he can't run like crazy so much because it's slippery. I did buy some foam mats for the floor today, but when I opened them the smell was very strong so I'm having to air them out for probably a day before I try using them.

 

[JBun]

Does he seem scared or frantic at all? His behavior sounds more like something a rabbit does when something is freaking it out. Trying to climb up into your arms for comfort, bashing into things, nipping(especially if nipping isn't normal for your bun). It could be something outside that is making him nervous, and it just takes him a little while after you bring him in the house, to finally calm down. How does he act out in his hutch, when you go to bring him in the house? Does he seem nervous at all out there? It could also be something in your laundry room that has him nervous. Something smells different, looks different, maybe even a little critter of some sort. It can also be something that freaked him out several days ago, and he is able to calm down after being in the house for a while.

 

[Azerane]

Thanks so much for all your feedback and help guys. He was being very frantic and I believe you're right, he was simply very scared of something. Before I brought him out today, I assessed everything. I changed two things. 1, after mopping the floor a few days ago, I'd left the mop leaning against the back door that I walk him past to dry. 2. Whenever I set up the laundry for him, I take everything that's on the floor, and put it on top of the washing machine (washing basket, scales, toilet brush etc), I took the time to lay down on the floor and look at the room from a bun's eye view. I realised that I'd set the toilet brush standing up right on the edge of the washing machine and it looked like it was looming over the room, so I removed it.

So I made 2 changes, and then set up the room as usual for Bandit. I brought him inside and he has been as calm as he usually is. So it was definitely either the mop by the door or the toilet brush on top of the washing machine freaking him out, I'm thinking the toilet brush as he just wanted to be out of that room. It's so strange how something that simple that you don't even think about could scare him so much. Thanks so much to you all though, I don't think I would have figured it out without your help, or at least it would have taken me a lot longer and I would still have an unhappy bun.

 

[Imbrium]

wonderful! I'm glad you were able to figure it out

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Well, we all have our "days"! Neutering did help "calm" all of ours.