Bonding with an aggressive bunny

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This topic has 2sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 10 months ago by JackRabbit.

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- 04/14/2015 at 6:19 AM
  Muffinoscar
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  1 posts
  I have two wonderful mini lops, one female whos 2 and a male whos 6 months, they live inside and are the sweetest most affectionate bunnies, my boyfriend recently moved in with me and he has a 4 month old angora who i think is cross mini lop (im not really sure cause he was rescued from a bad environment)
  He has lived outside all his life so he’s not as people friendly and affectionate as mine and he seems to be verg aggressive, ive been trying to bond them with mine for about 3 weeks now and he gets along fine with muffin (my 2 year old female) but really doesnt like oscar, they seem to be getting along okay but then alfie will attack oscar, ive researched a lot into bonding rabbits and ive tried the stress bonding with car rides and things like tha and also do all the bonding in a neutral area t but it just doesnt seem to be working, im very attached to my bunnies and i hate putting them in situations that could get them hurt, is there anyway i could stop alfie being aggressive towards oscar and is there anything i could do to help with the bonding process? I really dont want to keep alfie alone as i feel a bit sorry for him and i want him to have some company.
  Also with the bonding does one of them HAVE to be more domenant? Oscar moungs alfie to show his dominance but alfie really doesnt like it at all. They are both nutered aswell.
  I didnt really have a problem at all bonding muffin and oscar they just liked eachother straight away which i guess i was just lucky with but im getting so frustrated and hate putting oscar in stressful situations.
  Also, i need some advice on my other rabbit muffin, i bought her off a breeder who no longer wanted her because she didnt want to breed as the first time she fell pregnant her babies died inside her, so she isnt spayed, i really want to get it done because of the health risks and stuff but im really worried about it because shes so sweet and affectionate and im scared it might change her in some way, it sounds silly but im also worried she might resent me for it, im so attatched to her and im scared about something going wrong.
  
  Thank you for all your help!!
- 04/14/2015 at 12:51 PM
  Hazel
  Participant
  2587 posts
  I wouldn’t try to do any bonding until Muffin has been spayed. She could very well be the reason Alfie and Oscar don’t get along. Having an intact rabbit in the group can trigger aggressive behavior from the others even though they are fixed. Hormones make rabbits unpredictable, one minute everything could be fine, the next you could have a nasty fight on your hands.
  
  I understand that you are worried about the spay, but if you have an experienced, rabbit savvy vet, everything should be fine. Think about it this way, if you leave her intact, the odds of something going wrong (cancer) will rise to above 85% by the time she’s 3 years old. If you decide to do the surgery, the chances of something going wrong are miniscule. Going under anesthesia is always a risk for animals as well as humans. But like I said, an experienced vet should get her through it just fine. Considering she’s 2 years old already, I would suggest you do it sooner rather than later.
  
  Thank you so much for taking poor Alfie in and giving him a good home.
- 04/14/2015 at 4:22 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  If Muffin is already two years old, I wouldn’t worry about a personality change after spaying. Bunny personalities largely develop as bunnies go through their “teenage” period and early adulthood which is also when most spays are done so it often seems like a personality change was caused by the spay. With all of my bunnies (2 female and one male), their personalities didn’t change, they just expanded! My girls went from spoiled rotten to 3 lb full-blown divas! Like Hazel said, the big thing to worry about is getting Muffin spayed as she’s bumping up against that 2 year-old age when the cancer risk shoots way up.
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