Aggressive behaviour before bonding

[Rosie&Moe]

I have a 9 month old rabbit (Rosie) who has always been very friendly and has never shown any aggressive behaviour (shes fixed). After being introduced to a male rabbit, they fought and had to be seperated. Ever since this incident, Rosie has started showing more and more territorial behaviours- especially of me. If I come home smelling like a friend’s rabbit she constantly sniffs me and has starting pooping on me and all over my bed. After doing a lot of reading, I recently decided to get a second bunny for her to have as a companion but Im worried this was a mistake. It’s only the first night with the new bunny home (they are in separate rooms for now),so I started putting a few things that smelled like the new bunny in Rosie’s cage. She seems to be very mad at me because of this… at first she was obsessively smelling me and it soon turned into her digging at my clothes, growling and trying to bite me. She has NEVER been aggressive towards me before. Before bed I went to pet her and again she growled and tried to bite me. Im nervous because they havnt even met and shes already displaying aggressive behaviour. I’ve read many articles on how to bond rabbits but am nervous to even introduce them in fear that she will hurt the new bunny!

[jerseygirl]

This is pretty typical of female rabbits. Even some male rabbits. My single, neutered male rabbit gets a bit nippy when he can smell my other rabbits on me.

Are you concerned she won’t be happy if left single? Some rabbits are quite content this way as long as they get interaction with people.

Is the new rabbit desexed?

You could proceed with bonding but it will be critical you start in neutral territory. You may find she is a bit different in an unfamiliar environment.

[Rosie&Moe]

The new bunny is still too young to be neutered but I plan to as soon as hes old enough! I read so much on rabbits being unhappy if they aren’t bonded, so I was hoping I could prevent it by getting the second bunny. My bunny pretty much has full reign of the place, so I’m thinking bonding will have to take place somewhere else! Id like to proceed with the bonding, although I think I’d feel better if I knew someone went through something similar and has seen the light at the end of the tunnel Any tips are greatly appreciated!

[jerseygirl]

Ah well, you will find plenty of people who have been through it or going through bonding process on here! Yoe’ve come to the right place.

Personally I wouldn’t let them interact until he has been desexed and some time has passed that his smell had changed. At the moment, she is going to react strongly to an intact male bunny scent.

Are you able to set him up somewhere that is far away from her area? If she has access to everywhere, you may have to cut back on her space some.

Regarding bonding them elsewhere, that’s a good idea. If you have someone elses house you can take them too initially, that could work. If you have a car, the boot (trunk) is another neutral space to use. Even better if a station wagon as you can use the whole area behind the seats. If there are not alternative places to go, you can set up a pen on a tarp or new blanket/rug as the neutral space.

I read so much on rabbits being unhappy if they aren’t bonded, so I was hoping I could prevent it by getting the second bunny.

That is a common thought and one I don’t totally agree with. Some rabbits do well (even better) on their own. They may have companionship with other pets and/or just the humans. Companionship is important, but it doesn’t have to be bunny only companionship IMO. 

[Rosie&Moe]

Do you think I should hold back on trying to familiarize her with his scent until then as well? I might be waiting a while as he is only 10 weeks. I am able to put him in a separate room although I’m sure she will still smell him off of me. I am worried that I’ll ruin our relationship by trying to bond them! She has always been very loving towards me in the past.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Rosie&Moe on 10/12/2016 12:02 AM

Do you think I should hold back on trying to familiarize her with his scent until then as well? I might be waiting a while as he is only 10 weeks. I am able to put him in a separate room although I’m sure she will still smell him off of me. I am worried that I’ll ruin our relationship by trying to bond them! She has always been very loving towards me in the past.

Personally, I would “play it by ear” with this. They have such a keen sense of smell, it would be pretty hard to totally prevent her smelling him anyway. So you could do scent swapping etc and just gauge her reaction. If she’s just going to go into a marking frenzy, you’re just creating work for yourself in having to clean all that up. And then there is the aggressiveness. It may die down the more she exposed to his scent, or it may go the other way. So just see how it goes, I guess. When he enters puberty (which is soon), she is probably going to react even more so. And he to her scent too. 

[jerseygirl]

This was my rabbit Jersey’s reaction to smell of unneutered young male rabbit.The smell was on my jacket. She was bonded to a desexed male at this time but had never encountered an intact male scent before. The growls sound deeper then they were, but you get the idea. 

Note her tail is right up and how she doesn’t react when the jacket is not moving. 

  

[Crashley]

JerseyGirl, I just watched that video and that is such a perfect example and you can really hear her growl!!
That is one unbelievably cute bunny though!

[Love4Bunny]

Crashley, you’re not alone. The growling and lunging are quite common. I’ve been through this, too. Sometimes, us owners take rabbit aggression personally, but the truth is, it’s animal instinct (DNA programming). Once you get past the initial shock of your rabbit’s aggression, you can look at the problem more strategically, and less from a human POV (Eg. “My rabbit hates me”, and all the things I used to think when bonding!). Your rabbit is just doing what comes naturally, so don’t blame yourself. Like JG said, neutral territory is very important – high priority – and that includes waiting for the hormones to abate after desexing.
Bonding takes time, so don’t despair if you run into roadblocks. Try lots of different things and keep those sessions short and sweet in the beginning. Don’t forget to count your tiny wins when bonding because they are just as important as what “didn’t happen”.

JG, I can’t believe you stuck your foot under the jacket! That’s brave. I used gumboots (rainboots) for Thor so I wouldn’t lose any toes, haha.

[Vienna Blue in France]

L4B. Wellies !!!!

[Love4Bunny]

Oh, ahem! Pardon, Milady. Wellies!!

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