Hi there, welcome! Sorry the forum is still being worked on so you may not get as many replies.

Unfortunately this is a common experience when people get baby bunnies, but don’t panic! In most cases the relationship can be re-formed. Babies get along, but when puberty hits fights break out. I am happy to hear that the male was neutered, but you will also need to get the female spayed.  It’s most likely that her hormones kicking in triggered the fighting. (Spaying females is also important to prevent reproductive cancers in females, which are very common without spaying). You should also double check that your boy is neutered, just in case the pet store misled you!

So for now keep them separated and let everyone settle down, and when your girl is old enough get her spayed. Females have to be a bit older for the spay surgery, I think most vet’s minimum age is around 6 months but vets may vary. Then the next steps (once everyone is healed and hormones are settled) is to work on bonding them. A good starting point is to read the bonding section under the “rabbit info” tab at the top of the page. The basic process involves supervised “dates” in neutral territory to allow them to safely establish their hierarchy. In preparation for that process, try to keep an area of your home bunny-free so you have a neutral space to work with.

I’m sorry this has happened. I’m sure you weren’t expecting them to suddenly start fighting. Baby bunny bliss can be misleading. As Dana said, what you are experiencing is very common. Everything just goes right out the window once their hormones start to kick in. For a successful bond in adulthood, both bunnies will need to be spayed/neutered. So double check to make sure your boy was indeed neutered and then make plans to get your girl spayed once she is old enough. And, as Dana said, it is also important for females to be spayed to prevent uterine and other reproductive cancers.

Are you able to get a second cage? Or some dog exercise pens? Your best bet is to create a setup where they are separate, but close. Not too close though. You want enough of a gap between them so they can’t fight through the bars. You can work on rebonding them after she has been spayed and her hormones settle.

Definitely important to have a good set-up for during this time (and during the healing and bonding process), as it will be less stressful for everyone (including you!).

NIC cube condos, dog crates, and x-pens can be great temporary housing, and can be relatively cheap. I personally love NIC cubes for making housing that can be reconfigured when done. Plus you can put a lid on them (unlike x-pens, which some buns can escape from). Here’s some info on how to build a cheap one that might work for you: http://www.bunssb.org/bunnies/perfect-cheap-bunny-cage/

I’ve also seen dog crates etc at thrift stores, but with the pandemic that it prob not an option for you, depending on where you are in the world!

I’ll just add, that although the spay surgery seems scary, it really is for the best. Females have ~50-75% rates of reproductive cancers by age 4, so spaying greatly increases life span. Important to find a vet that has done lots of spays, so feel free to seek more advice here if you need help selecting a vet.

I’m glad they are doing better but I strongly recommend keeping them separated until she is spayed. Onset of hormones occurs in phases, and hormonal waves can trigger fighting, and fights can get bad very quickly if you aren’t there to intervene. Bad fights can also harm the ability to rebond. The other element of this is that they will need to be separate when she is spayed anyway, because her hormones will change again which will disrupt the relationship again. The spay surgery requires healing time in peace with limited movement, so having any issues with another bun could injure her seriously.

Even if you are able to monitor them 24/7 (which you might be, because we are all quarantined…), be aware that serious injuries can happen in the blink of an eye, so I really do encourage you to keep them apart until spaying. I had a bond break on me (for other reasons) and my girl got her lip bit open (requiring sutures) even though we were sitting right next to them when it happened.

So yeah, I do recommend separating them for now!

Your decision. Just to clarify (to make sure my last post wasn’t misconstrued), in general bonded pairs do not just start fighting for no reason. There is most always a trigger, and true bonds breaking is very rare (common reasons are a vet visit or illness of a partner, but this is also rare). The pair I had fight were not truly bonded, which I did not realize at the time, and is part of the reason why I always encourage caution in others.

If you decide to keep them together for now, I would recommend having a backup in place. If they do end up needing to be separated, you don’t want to be scrambling for things to change their setup. Something that could be reused later is the grids that are used to make storage cubes. They can be assembled in any configuration you like so you could use them to make a temporary pen or divider and then you could use them for bunny-proofing later.