Bonded Pair Suddenly Fighting

FORUM

What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 8sd replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 2 months ago by Bam.

Viewing 8 reply threads

Author

Messages
- 12/27/2013 at 10:30 AM
  NuggetBuns
  Participant
  348 posts
  Is it true that bonded bunnies could fight and become unbonded? Nugget and Emilee have been bonded for 4-5 months now and they’ve always been happy together, but recently their relationship seems different. In the last month or so, every time we feed them pellets, they start to chase each other or knock each other over just to get to the food bowl first. I’ll open the bag and start pouring the pellets and that immediately sets them off. I know they’re both crazy for food, but sometimes it looks like they’re trying to fight, or maybe that’s how they act when they’re excited. When they get their plate of vegetables, most often than not, Emilee will take a piece of romaine (or anything she likes) and run away from Nugget so she can eat in peace without worrying about him stealing it from her.
  
  Anyway, yesterday they got a holiday bag full of hay, willow toys, treats, and they were playing with everything together, not fighting at all. When we put them away to go to bed, Nugget was minding his own business and chewing on his new willow toy. Emilee just goes up to him and scratches his face! We have no idea why and the boyfriend used a wrapping paper tube to shoo her away from Nugget. I was in the bathroom and heard more commotion. Apparently she did it again. I didn’t see it so I can’t really describe it, but later she did jump over him head on and I yelled to prevent anything further from happening. She was thumping and seemed really upset about something, so we let them out of the pen to cool things off. She hid under a table for a while and then came out to get groomed by Nugget. And he did. Maybe she was mad that he wasn’t paying attention to her earlier?
  
  Has anyone experienced two bonded rabbits fighting before? What can I do to make their bond stronger?
- 12/27/2013 at 10:50 AM
  Dobby
  Participant
  254 posts
  I am having a similar problem (although I know the trigger) and am very interested in any responses you get.
- 12/27/2013 at 9:38 PM
  MoveDiagonally
  Participant
  2361 posts
  My bonded bunnies snipe at each other around feeding time but as soon as I put the plate down they’re fine. They did this as a trio and they do this as a quintet. Something you could try is putting down two separate bowls of pellets. I’ve also found bigger bowls (I feed them pellets on a plate now because I have so many) can help them all be able to get to them without bugging each other too much.
  
  I would keep an eye on the behavior and if it seems to get worse then you might want to do some stress bonding or use bonding techniques like making loud noises to break up a altercation/ect.. It might resolve itself on it’s own though. Sometimes bonded bunnies do have tiffs but as long as they’re not hurting each other they hopefully, and from my experience usually, resolve it on their own.
- 12/27/2013 at 9:54 PM
  tanlover14
  Participant
  3617 posts
  I agree with MD. Also, have you tried putting two food bowls in instead of just one to help ?
- 12/30/2013 at 10:37 AM
  NuggetBuns
  Participant
  348 posts
  Thanks for the suggestion, I did start using two separate bowls during feeding time this weekend and it seems to have helped. We noticed that they aren’t eating as fast as they did before and actually save pellets in their bowls for later. I think now they’ll be calmer now that they don’t have to share food (obviously, they don’t like sharing). When it comes to giving them treats, we are also more careful now so they both get it at the same time, as opposed to one at a time. Or if it drops on the floor, they both go mad looking for it and will butt heads/nip at each other for the treat.
  
  I also found out why Emilee starts fights sometimes, she wants attention and grooming from Nugget and he rejects her. Then she’ll start humping him to show him she’s boss and he doesn’t always like that. I try to step in and pet her whenever Nugget looks away or hop away from her when she bows down her head. They’ve always taken turns grooming, but maybe Nugget has been ignoring her recently. He doesn’t like drama queens lol.
  
  Anyway, we will continue to monitor their behaviors and try to stress bond them if we need to.
- 12/30/2013 at 9:24 PM
  tanlover14
  Participant
  3617 posts
  I just remembered that some people also throw the pellets around on the floor so they have to scavenge for them. I know this is typical for overweight bunnies but if the bowls didn’t work, this would probably be a helpful option also. I know it has been used for buns that eat their pellets too fast also – just in case you’re interested in trying!
- 02/01/2017 at 10:29 AM
  JBunny18
  Participant
  3 posts
  My two Bunnies are having a similar problem. Though they already eat out of two separate food bowls. It’s just that Lulu my girl likes to take her time to eat, and Max her husbun seems to eat everything in site. I recently had to separate them because first blood was drawn after a month of happy living. They tend to nose lance over food and it looks like Max bit Lulu on the upper lip/cheek area. Lulu takes food and tries to eat it in peace in a corner sometimes, but also will be eating her portion then suddenly try and steal max’s portion and visa versa. Max will eat his food then eat lulu’s if she wants to save a leaf for later. It just makes very little sense and I am unsure how to calm their anxiety about each getting a fair share. They are back to duplex living with seeing each other and dates around play time. I wonder if it would be best to try a huge plate they can easily share over or try scattering the veggies and pellets around. though the big fight happened over hay at night.
- 02/01/2017 at 12:10 PM
  fatnhappy
  Participant
  20 posts
  My two bunnies don’t fight (at least i don’t think), when the pellets come out they’ll nudge each other over so they can get themselves some but they’ll never chase each other away. And when the vegetables come by they just both run to a spot to eat and never fight. I’ve never experience this, maybe it’s for newer bonded pairs? Mines been bonded for years now I guess.
- 02/01/2017 at 2:56 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17031 posts
  This is an old thread from 2013, so I’m locking it. We ask members not to revive old threads, it can be confusing.
  
  Please feel free to start a new thread on the same topic, though, it’s a topic that never gets old.
Author

Messages

Viewing 8 reply threads

The topic ‘Bonded Pair Suddenly Fighting’ is closed to new replies.