# Indoor Rabbit Question-Buck Spraying??



## kerrinatoz (Nov 27, 2006)

Hi I'm a newbie to the whole indoor pet rabbit situation. We brought our mini rex home when he was 11 weeks old. That was about 2.5 weeks ago. He has been great such a love. Out of the blue he seems a bit more standoffish and actually tried a little nibble on my arm. This is totally strange for his behavior as long as we've had him. I think he may be spraying, what does it smell like? Does it smell just like urine or is it more musty smelling (more like BO)? This is more musty and I noticed it after I thoroughly cleaned his cage and gave him fresh bedding (grass hay). We do not have a buddy for him yet as we were waiting to get him fixed. We don't want to have any unintentional breeding. It seems a bit early for this is this true or are we right on time? Any help would be appreciated!! :help: 

Kerrin


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## firefly81 (Jan 17, 2007)

from my experiance, we have 3 bunnys, 2 females and 1 male, the females live indoor and are litter box trained, but the male has had to be moved outside because he just sprayed all the time and refussed to use his litterbox, we had him inside and tried to work with him for over a year with no help. I havent had luck keeping bunnys toghter, they allwas fight, unless they are out side playing ( i have a large pen area were i put them on nice days so they can run and chase each other) you might not be able to interduce a buddy, it all depends on the bunny though. good luck


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## ostrichlady (Jan 18, 2007)

Hi I'm a newbie here also. My daughter has a little buck and they do spray and yes it smells a little musty or skunky. We had to get a cage that had a spray gard around it. In order for her to keep him inside she has to clean his bottom tray every morning. I believe that bunnies are a bit territorial, so he's doing what comes natual to him, by marking his home.  The nibbling could be that you may have lotions on that he likes or doesn't like,(I no longer paint my toes with him around. Bunnie chomps hurt :Bawling: ) or he could be testing you on how much he can get away with. This has been our expierance with a little buck named Max.


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## trixiwick (Jun 9, 2004)

Getting him neutered will help tamp down the hormones that are making him behave like this. We find that our male rabbits are much easier to litter-box train and generally calmer than the females. Somehow, spaying does not always seem to calm down hormonal females!


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## rabbitgal (Feb 12, 2005)

Bunnies do reach sexual maturity at about twelve weeks...and male rabbits often do take a nibble out of the doe's scruff during mating, so he could be feeling a little amorous.


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## kerrinatoz (Nov 27, 2006)

oK, so it's confirmed the buck is definitely spraying, oh the smell really stinks! We clean out that cage so often but what are you going to do? So I'm going to gove a call to thwe vet and see what we can do! Thanks for the input!! He is such a sweetie!!

Kerrin


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## DixyDoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

I would get him fixed ASAP. I used to own rabbits and that smell can really get into stuff. And if he gets in the habit of spraying, I would be concerned that he may not stop if it is left long enough for it to become a habit. The nibbling might also be "mating" behaviour. 

I preferred female rabbits myself. For those considering getting a female rabbit, I would suggest getting it fixed also. I was told by a rabbit breeder and vet that with female rabbits, there is an 80% chance that they will die young from uterine cancer. I had a rabbit die at 2 years old, and then a second---I had the cancer confirmed on the second rabbit so maybe there is something to that. My next rabbit was spayed and lived to a ripe old age.


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