Wild Thing

[Sabine]

My eldest rabbit Coco has always been a bit on the wild side since we got her at twelve weeks. On her first day in an outside run she chewed through the fencing, she burrow,chews and scratches her way out of any enclosure eventually. It did get her (and us) into trouble and we ended up with two surprise litters after visits to the neighbour's rabbits. Thankfully we had her spayed two weeks ago and she appears to have fully recovered.
I was hoping for great improvement in her behavioral pattern after the operation. And initially there seemed to be some success in her litter tray habbits. But since last weekend she reverted back into her old ways and even worse. Catching her to put her into her hutch at night is becoming a challenge again. She digs out of any open enclosure. I can't put her in with the other rabbits because she still grunts at them and bites them and her litter box habits have gone down the toilet....
It still seems as if her hormones are still running high and no sign of more domesticated habits. How long does it take for the hormonal changes to take effect? Is it possible that there will be no change in her behaviour? Sabine

 

[Maureen Las]

I am not sure re. the length of times that hormones circulate in the body after a spay but I do think that it probably is muchlonger than 2 weeks ....in addition to the changes that her body goes through post surgery
How old was she when she was spayed .? I am wondering if some of her behavior has become habitual from repetition if she was an older girl.

If sheis in the teenage - 2yr old stage she still may be in her most active , annoying period

Some of her behaviors sound to me like a normal healthy bunny (digging behavior) and others (grunting with other bunny's) just may be her personality. I would still give he a lot more time, try not be be dsicouraged try to see the positives of her personality although she sounds like the little 'rebel" in your famly

 

[Sabine]

She was about nine months when she got spayed. She seemed to be easier around the time she had her second litter but now she is as bad as before she had her first

 

[Maureen Las]

If you can think about her as if she is a rebellious toddler it might help.
I can tell that she upsets you..; she might think that you don't like her.

I had a bun bite me really severely once before he was neutered and Ihad to work hard with myself not to dislike him. I knew it wasn't his fault and when he was neutered he did change a lot.

He recently went into renal failure ( I got him from the shelter as a baby from a severely neglectful situation )

Now he is gone and I really miss him

Sometimes the troublesome ones become the dearest.
She will out grow some of this

 

[Sabine]

It is a shame that even in the lashing rain she sits at the bottom of the garden where we can't see her from the house. We are keeping her hutch open for her to come back any time she likes but she doesn't bother but roams around the garden all day.
At least when she had the babies she used to hang around near the house and she couldn't wait to get back into her hutch in the evening. We used to give her the option to stay with her babies or go back into the small hutch with the guinea pig as she was used to, and she always hopped in with Rusty (the guinea pig) After her spay we got her a new much roomier hutch for herself but she isn't too keen. I'd rather not move her back with Rusty but I'm sometimes wondering....

 

[Sabine]

She is getting worse: Today neighbours called asking if the rabbit outside of our front lawn was ours. It was!!! Coco had ripped away the wood from underneath the gate and had escaped. We stapled it back again but she spent most of the day trying to gnaw through it. She also started trying to burrow into our neighbour's garden again. She is like a rabbit in heat if there was such a thing. I don't know what to do with her - she has gone completely wild!

 

[Maureen Las]

It's really not a good idea to house a rabbit with a guinea pig..too dangerous for the pig

but..it it possible that she was really bonded to him??

 

[Sabine]

I am beginning to wonder that too although she ignores him most of the time. But given the choice she jumps into the small old hutch with the guinea pig rather than her new "deluxe" hutch. Another strange thing I've noticed: Most mornings her hutch is immaculate, no pee, no poops no mess (she used to be appallingly messy before) but she has no problems pooping in the other critters hutches... I am just wondering is that a sign of her not feeling at home in her new hutch.

 

[Maureen Las]

Why don't you put some things that smell of the the other animals in her new hutch

 

[Sabine]

that's a thought, but right now I can't even get her up from the bottom of the garden. Waving carrots and cabbage leaves at her doesn't seem to do the trick. It looks like we have to do the nightly bunny chase again. The other rabbits are already in their hutch and we're trying to use them as "bait" - no sign of Coco yet
P.S. It's peeing down with rain