Have you thought about bonding and moving both bunnies in together? Maybe she doesn’t want yo to keep taking him away from her.

My rabbit has lept/lunged at me because I bring my girlfriend over so jealosy is definitely a possibility.

welcome here. the rescue is right that once a pair is bonded and living together, they should not be taken back apart. that can result in depression and even illness as bunnies will get lonely if they lose a mate. bonding is nice for bunnies, but it is a process. it might take a couple weeks or even up to a couple months of daily sessions where you put them together in a neutral space (where neither has been) and supervise their interactions. you cannot just “stick them together” and walk away, there’s actual a method you’ll need to follow. if this is something you want to do (and you have the time and patience to do it), i’d suggest you read the bonding section on this site. many people have shared their experiences of bonding rabbits.

it is sometimes harder to adopt out pairs. so be prepared that if you did this, the pair might be there to stay…

what was her behavior like before you got her? could it be that the place was still new and she is now starting to “settle” and this is her real personality shining thru…? it does sometimes seem like buns are perfectly behaved for a few weeks after coming to a new place, and then suddenly they’re into everything. that is usually just an indication that they are getting comfortable and letting their guard down.

i’m glad you’ve gone thru the steps to bond them. we’ve heard bad stories about buns being put together and it can end in major injury to one or both…

it could be that she is upset that he is taken away from her? how close are they to 24/7 shared housing?

Hi! How nice of you to foster a bunny

Can you describe a little bit more about when she does the lunging and biting? It seems to me that not all the behaviors are related to the same thing. For example, the digging and chewing are very common bunny issues. I have 8 bunnies and not a one that doesn’t take a swipe at my baseboards anytime they can And I’ve got two diggers as well. This is a pretty common thing, and not really an intentionally destructive or angry type behavior. We can help you with some bunny-proofing tips, and there is a bunny proofing section on this site as well (under the “Bunny Info” tab at the top of the page).

The lunging and biting can relate to many different things. I have one bunny that will lunge and nip if I move at him too quickly because it startles him. I have another than lunges and bites when I put my hand in his cage because it is “his territory.” I have found in my experience that the bunnies with the worst backgrounds seem to be the most territorial, probably because in their previous life, a hand coming into their cage meant that they were going to be mishandled or mistreated somehow and so they grew to defend their area the best they could.

The digging at your pants is actually something that I usually consider to be a sign of affection. I have a bunny that does this whenever he wants a treat, and he always does it when I am leaving the room because usually it makes me stop and give him a pet. I have watched my bonded bunnies, and the male will kind of do the same kind of scratching at the female when he wants to play with her!

I also saw that in your first post you wrote that you are an experienced dog person, and sometimes it is hard for people who are used to “predator” type animals to understand the behavior of “prey” type animals. For example, bunnies show each other that they are not a threat by ignoring each other. So one way to show your bunny you are not a threat is to just sit on the floor and read a book and ignore the bunny, this gives her an opportunity to come up to you and check you out, and it may help her feel less threatened by you. Resist the urge to pet even if she does walk up to you because the action of you moving towards her can be frightening for her and may be causing those defensive aggressive behaviors.

It could be that now that you may be petting him, and you can sometimes smell like him she may not recognize you. I know that if I pet other animals, or have been at a rescue, my rabbits will lunge, growl and attack me even though I look and sound the same. So even though she may recognize his smell on him, she may not recognize you with his scent on you.

How much are the two bunnies together?

So they are out exploring “together” and they don’t fight? If that is the case, it looks like they could end up being bonded, so I would try to fully bond them instead of separating them.

If you plan on eventually housing them together, then it would be best to create a brand new space for them and not put one in the other’s space especially since one if quite territorial over hers.

Once they are both fully bonded, some of the behaviors may die down.

good luck! keep us posted on how they progress…

Wait, I’m confused, who’s marbles? I have totally missed something – so you have three bunnies? Marbles, Chester, and Fluffers?

It sounds like they are doing really well together so far! I think that you and Fluffers will definitely be friends. The first bunny that my husband had is a bunny with a “difficult” personality. He is the one I was talking about lunging when we put our hands in his cage. He also would rather die than be picked up, and will turn into a frantic ball of kicking, struggling and grunting if I even attempt it But he and my husband have an extremely strong bond, now Brian can even stick his head in Henri’s cage and snuggle with him!

I think that hand feeding is a great idea, but I would also recommend sometimes of just straight ignoring (I know, boring!) – because I think it will really emphasize to Fluffers that you do not want to pose a threat to her. If you want to be really weird (like I am with new shy bunnies) sometimes I even pretend to “groom” my hair because grooming is another way that bunnies show each other they are not a threat.

Thats so cute that they were doing figure 8’s around you! I think thats a great sign of affection

Moobunnay is right! I know it my sound strange, the whole “pretend to groom yourself” thing, but it can really work!

yes, there are so many misconceptions about rabbits as pets. your rescue should get a carpet square that’s been worked over by a bunny and hang it on the wall for display… lol. people might think twice about an impulse adoption… (i’m just kidding of course…)

HAHA! Beka, I love that idea! Put up a title on top that says -“If your ready to deal with this, then your ready to love a bunny”

KFC – It sounds like Fluffers has attitude!Those are the most fun to win over! Rucy was like that when I first got her. And she’s still an independent strong personality, but she is much more affectionate now. But I actually like that spunk – she’s intelligent, curious and so much fun to watch.

Keep us updated!

Hi kfc

sounds like your 2 bunnies are getting along well. you’re lucky. I have 3 pairs and they were all different. I picked out the first 2 myself (Pringles and Daisy) and it followed the typical process, took a couple of months and I thought they were very well suited and happy. I think they were content with each other, not knowing anything else.

Then I brought home a temporary foster and WHAM! my girl Pringles totally dumped her mate Daisy and took up with the foster, Toby. Lust at first sight. She even took toys from their condo and put them through the bars of Toby’s cage.

Daisy was devastated, depressed, quit eating and hid all day long. The rabbit rescue in Dallas let us come up for a morning of dating and after meeting several lovely ladies we came home with the one who seemed the most compatible, Lola. Once home, Daisy’s initial attraction turned to a bit of irritation because of “what, she’s sharing my space” and it took 2 weeks of traditionall bonding methods. After that it was another happy, devoted couple. I think it went fast because Daisy and Lola had shown us that they did have some attraction to each other from the start.

Then I wind up with a little elderly lionhead whose owner had passed away. He lived in a small cage and had grown up in a home with dogs and cats. He had no idea he was a rabbit but when he saw my pairs he desparately tried to join them. and nearly got his head beat in. Bonding with either couple went badly so it was back to Dallas to check out another senionr citizen who had lost her mate. They bonded very, very quickly. Hershey was very adept at henpecking him and he is very, very happy to have someone to snuggle.

Since your rabbits seem to have already picked each other out, it may go just that easy for you. Fluffers seems to be warming up to you a lot, maybe she’s just concerned that you might take her friend away again, once she realizes they’re not going anywhere she may be much more relaxed.

I know what you mean about nervous. I have my piggies in the same room with 2 of the pairs and when I try to sneak in and take photos of them relaxed and flopped, the piggies start rushing about and squealing like mad so everyone jumps up. I wish I could get THEM to chill a bit…lol

Keep us updated!
Kathy