Odd bunny behavior

As a new bunny mummy please forgive me if this is a stupid question.

Sunny as you now know is a girl, vet told me once and for all when she went for vaccs last week but the last day or so she has been acting a bit strange.

She is now 13 weeks old and i have had her 3 weeks. She was in a pen of her own before I got her and she had been in there from christmas eve so she will have been 9 weeks at that point but I was told she was a he

So here is the strange behavior, She is collecting huge mouthfulls of hay from her cage and taking them into different parts of the living room (she is out of her cage most of the time and only goes in when I go out) She stuffs so much in she has a huge hay mustache She is also has started humping my cats and has suddenly got very grumpy about being picked up. Is there any chance she could be pregnant?

Firstly, no question is a stupid question, you're new to this and there's a lot of pecularities to buns
My experience with females is zilch, so sorry I can't answer your qustion, but they can have phantom pregnancies too.

I'm sure someone will be along to help

I would have thought it highly unlikely that Sunny is pregnant. Even though the dates seem to fit that she in theory could be I don't seem to think that 9 week old babies are old enough to become pregnant.

The behaviour that Sunny is demonstrating is very indicative of her girlie hormones having kicked in although she does seem a wee bit young for this too.

The carrying of the hay around and leaving it in places is all part of her nesting, girlie buns will also pull fur out to add to the nest. Girlies will do this even when not pregnant. If you can bear it I would suggest not removing her nests until she loses interest in them, it might stress her out if her nests keep disappearing.

The humping and grumpiness may also be a sign of hormonal changes - yes girlie buns do hump

Getting Sunny spayed will get rid of those pesky hormones and she will be a lot more chilled and even tempered without them. Spaying will also remove the risk of uterine cancer which girlie buns are very prone too.

I know you have found a brilliant vet in Aidan so I would ask his opinion on what age he would be happy to spay Sunny.

Is it definite that she is 13 weeks?

Sixer wrote:

I know you have found a brilliant vet in Aidan so I would ask his opinion on what age he would be happy to spay Sunny.

When we went to see him last week he said he could do it at 4 months but he would much rarther hang on until she is 6 months as it is an easer op when they are a bit bigger, as soon as she is 6 months I am booking her in.

ElleyMay wrote:Is it definite that she is 13 weeks?

She could be older I guess, I can only go off what i was told when I got her and a was told she was male so I guess anything is possible.

I think it's much more likely that she is reaching sexual maturity and the hormonal surge has led her to believe she is pregnant, so she is experiencing a 'phantom'. Leave the nest for her as she will just build another or become frustrated if you keep taking it out.....just remove it when she loses interest.

What breed of rabbits is she as some smaller breeds can be speyed younger due to them reaching maturity sooner. Most rabbits are speyed around 6 months though.

Can't add much more other than to say that the hormones in female buns can make them very territorial and a bit aggressive. She might not like you going into 'her' areas when you put your hand in to put food in her bowl, change her litter tray etc. Getting her spayed will make a big difference and she will be a happier girl for it too.

Phantom pregnancies and teenage hormones......deep joy!

Brynn pretty much changed over night when she "became a woman". She turned into a completely different (and crazy) bun! That was at about 7 months (the vet didn't want to do it at 6 months because she is so small). They took her in later that week and after the surgery she was immediately back to her normal self.