Young buck humping arm?

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pyralisdawn

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Hello everyone,

I'm new to rabbits as well as this forum, got three junior does and a young buck about a month ago (all californian) and have been enjoying educating myself and getting some experience! Just this past week I've had more time to spend socializing them, they are getting a little more comfortable being handled and more curious about me. The buck is just over 2 months old, he has been a bit skittish since I got him but this past week as I've handled him a little more he has suddenly decided that when my arm goes into his cage, it's because he needs to 'breed' it. He gets so enthusiastic that he completely forgets his nervousness and has only one goal and is very persistent, haha! Until I take him out of the cage, then he returns to normal (quiet, nervous) while I am holding him. Back in the cage, it's humpsville again. Is he just being territorial or is he already starting to mature? Does he smell the does scent on my sleeves? He does spray on the tarp behind his cage. But he is not aggressive nor try to bite me/defend himself from being handled. I suppose this is normal behavior, I just didn't expect it until he was 4-5 months old. Will it be like this every time I handle him, or will he get over it as he grows up?
 
That sounds like maturing, quite early with 2 months. They do hump premature, but I've not seen a such young buckling spraying.

Anyway, they are more enthusiastic about that while in puberty, in my experience it gets better with time.
 
:yeahthat:
Check to see if his testicles are descended. If they are, you can use him for breeding anytime.
If they are though...He might be a bit older than you were informed.
Rabbits can develop quite early, but breeders also can make mistakes about age. :shrug:
 
His testicles are not yet descended, which is an interesting part of the puzzle. The breeder is a personal friend of mine, I actually met him a couple of weeks after he was born when he was a tiny thing, so I'm quite confident that his age is correct. Born on 11/17/2015. He's an appropriate size for his age, if not a little small, 4.5 lbs last time I weighed him (last week).

I suppose I'll just hope this to mean he'll be very good at his job when the time comes?
 
Yeah, I would think he should be! :)

I've actually seen nestbox kits make humping motions when crawling over each other. :roll: Silly things, I think humping is just heavily hardwired into rabbit brains.
 
Well, mystery solved. I wear kevlar sleeves when handling all of them to protect my hands and wrists from claw scratches, turns out it's the sleeves that make him so feisty! Must be because they smell like the lady rabbits who I handle as well. I took them off yesterday and he didn't try to get down with my arm that time, thankfully. He'll just have to wait 'till he grows up a little more before getting the real deal. ;)
 
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