Will this cause problems later?

[sophie_gretel]

So for a little background info:

I have 2 bonded girls and a young/baby male who is not neutered yet. I would eventually like to get them bonded when he is neutered. They have seen each other through the baby gate and when the girls have gotten into the room while he was in the cage. They never bothered him in the cage, but sometimes Gretel would nip him through the baby gate. There was one incident where he got out (while we were there) and he and Gretel had a tiff but nobody was hurt.

 The other day, I had gone to work in the afternoon and returned home at night. My boyfriend was home that day and was keeping an eye on them. He did leave the room for a little while. The little bunny was baby gated in the bedroom and the girls were in their usual living room and kitchen run. Sometimes, Gretel likes to pull on the baby gate while Little Bunny likes to push from the other end, and they tag team to get the gate down! While he was gone from the room, Little Bunny got into their territory. Since neither of us were there, and I feel horrible about it because if I were there I could have prevented it from happening, we don’t know what went down. So when I returned home, I found some tufts of Gretel’s fur on the ground. She is going through a molt, so I didn’t think too much of it because her fur is a little easier to fall out. When I saw the Boyfriend, I mentioned it to him and he told me about the altercation. He had returned to the room and found LB sitting in the middle of the living room near Sophie. He took a second to kind of observe to see what was going on. Sophie did lunge at LB when he got too close. Gretel was in the bedroom. Boyfriend put everyone back into the proper areas. Nobody had any cuts, scratches or bleeding. The only thing I found were the tufts from Gretel. I don’t know if it got really violent or what happened at all because I wasn’t present.

I think it’s good that he was being ignored when BF came into the room, and LB didn’t seem to be scared or anything. He was his usual curious self. I always thought I would have a tough time trying to bond him with Gretel later on, but is it a good start that she ignored him after a little while? I don’t think I will have much trouble with Sophie because she’s not quite as territorial as Gretel, but who knows. Do any of you think that this will affect the bonding process later? I know it’s hard to tell, because I don’t know how they acted or what happened. I’m assuming they had their tiff and then went their separate ways.

 

Oh man, I always posted these long winded stories! I’m a detail freak! Forgive me, haha!

[Beka27]

It’s really hard to say what will cause an issue later on. In some respects, rabbits forget easily, and in others their minds are a steel-trap. I would take extra precautions right now to make sure this does not happen again. This time it was just some lunging and tufts of fur… next time they may actually cause real damage requiring surgical intervention. We’ve had members who had rabbits literally torn open during vicious bunny fights. It is not something to play around with.

Did you bond the girls yourself? Two girls are usually a pretty hard bond. If you were able to do that, you should be able to get him in there. Just be prepared that it may be a slow process and might take several months.

[sophie_gretel]

The girls were bonded before I got them. This would be my first time bonding bunnies. I know I am in for quite the process, haha!

I’m so glad that nothing too bad happened with them fighting. We are taking extra precautions with them now and literally barricading our male in the room. We have boxes and things that are hard to knock over in front of the baby gate. So far we haven’t had any problems. Thank you for responding.

[Author]

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