Hi,

I have 3 rabbits; a 16 month old female lionhead, 5 month old male lion lop mix, and a 5 month old female miniature lop. I bonded all three buns – who are all spayed & neutered – about 3 months ago, after the lionhead unfortunately lost her original companion to cancer. I’ve owned rabbits for almost 7 years now, but alas my knowledge does not lie in bonding – other than these three buns, I have only owned two others, one being a singleton due to aggression towards other rabbits and the other being a part of an already established pair prior to adoption. So bonding is new territory for me, hence why I’ve come here for help/advice.

When I originally bonded the rabbits, all was well. I introduced them in neutral territory and they got on like a house on fire – that is, until, the lionhead had to have her spay op. I had her spayed purely for health concerns and prior to this she had zero behavioural issues. For whatever reason she came home with a new found hatred for our miniature lop female and the loveable bond that they had before was destroyed.

Bailey (the lionhead) is now easily irritated and provoked by Rua (the mini lop). Rua is an incredibly submissive rabbit who has zero interest in being in charge – and Bailey knows it, so doesn’t even bother asserting her dominance over her (other than their initial meeting of course). I’ve noticed within the last week or so that Rua is often just sitting with her back turned to Bailey, Bailey approaches her & crouches down almost as if she’s expecting to be groomed by Rua. When Rua hops away and doesn’t groom her, Bailey will stretch forward (not quite lunging – I know what that looks like) and nip her, which scares Rua and makes her dart. Often when she darts, this triggers something in Bailey to chase her – which she stops, but is still scary to witness and forces me to intervene out of concern that she’ll give poor Rua a heart attack.

This only happens when they’re in the house. For whatever reason, they are totally fine when they’re in the garden in their pen – Bailey even grooms her and flops next to her. She will only nip Rua in the house – often for no apparent reason at all. She doesn’t do it every single time, but she still does it at least 80% of the time. Just this morning Bailey walked up to her and sat next to Rua, groomed her, and then suddenly nipped her on the back – when she wasn’t even in her way or doing anything to annoy her. 

Can someone possibly offer me some advice on what to do? Is there anyway to stop this behaviour at all? Both rabbits adore the male, it is just my female lionhead who is causing me problems with the younger girl. I now have to separate them at night, alternating the male between their pens, because I’m just too afraid to leave Bailey unattended with her.

I should note that Rua was spayed about 2 weeks ago, Bailey was spayed 6 weeks ago, and Gatsby was neutered about 2 months ago. I have also tried stress bonding the rabbits in the bathroom, but they just ignore each other and will happily sit next to each other grooming. It’s just whenever they’re in the house or have freedom outside of a playpen, Bailey will nip at Rua and if she runs, will chase her. There is no mounting going on, it’s just that Bailey seems like she almost just can’t resist to nip Rua. I understand that I’ll have to re-bond both rabbits, I’m just unsure of the best technique to take when no stress bonding method bothers them and they just exhibit this behaviour when they’re either given free run of the house, or even when they’re locked in a pen in the house. Outside and in stress bonding activities, that act like totally different rabbits. 

Help?