Are they playing or fighting?

[Kathyb]

About a month ago I got my daughter two male littermates.  They are 4 months old.  We are new to bunnies.  Up until this week they had their cage and about half of her bedroom.  Last weekend we changed her room around and they now have the whole room.  Not sure if that has anything to do with it but now they are either playing pretty rough or fighting.  I haven’t seen it but my daughter says they are not growling, no noises at all but some hair has been pulled out.  How would we know if we need to separate them.  We plan to neuter them next month. 

[MoveDiagonally]

Pulling fur is fighting. I would separate until they’re neutered and re-bond them (if that’s your goal).

Bonding Info:
https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/9/PID/940/Default.aspx

Edited to add: It takes about 30 days for hormones to dissipate after neutering. 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Going to have to echo, MoveDiagonally. 4 months is prime hormone age and they are frustrated and taking it out on each other. They will have to be neutered and then re-bonded. This happens to all bunnies. They are friends until they reach “teenage hormones”.

[Kathyb]

 I thought they would be ok until 6 mos.  Have a call into the vet, but is 4 months too young to neuter.

[MoveDiagonally]

Male rabbits usually  reach puberty and get hormonal at 3 months and generally can be neutered around the same time.

For female rabbits it’s usually recommended to wait until 6 months.

[Beka27]

Males reach maturity between 3-4 months. Females are a bit later generally, between 5-7 months.

Males can be neutered when the testicles descend. They should be visible now, or if not now, within the next month.

[MoveDiagonally]

Posted By Beka27 on 07/23/2013 03:31 PM
Males reach maturity between 3-4 months. Females are a bit later generally, between 5-7 months.

Males can be neutered when the testicles descend. They should be visible now, or if not now, within the next month.

Haha, we posted at the same time! 

[tobyluv]

I hope that you are able to separate your bunnies now, either buying another cage or getting an x-pen to house one in. Rabbits can severely injure each other when they fight, so they shouldn’t be together until they have been neutered, recuperated from surgery, then re-bonded.

[Kathyb]

Thanks everyone. I saw it for myself last night. Definitely fighting. They have been separated. They are in the same room, separated by a “fence”. They are getting neutered tomorrow. Is it usually hard to get them back together?

[Chronicambitions]

Every pair is different. Some bond very easily others take a lot of work. I was in the same situation as you are. Two male litter mates that started fighting over night and had to be separated. Mine were very easy to rebond after they were fixed. After a couple days I felt completely comfortable putting them in the same cage alone again.
Hopefully your pair will bond just as easily.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Best of luck with the neuters and re-bonding. If you need any help, feel free to post in the Bonding section. I also suggest you read the Bonding information here on BB in the “Bunny Info” section.

[Author]

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