Bickering or bonded

[RRRabbits]

 

some advise needed please. We homes these two beautiful lionhead does a month ago. They came from different mothers but were the same age and from the same buck. Both litters were raised in the same pen so we assumed they were well bonded. They were fine up until last week when one day of torrential rain meant no run time and hutch bound all day. They have a large 2 tier hutch with ample hay and toys/tunnels etc so assumed all would be fine. The next day I noticed the scratches and bald patch on the grey does back. Have they had a bicker or is this something I need to take action on? They have been fine ever since and no fresh marks but obviously the scabs and bald patch remain. Before this day they would mount each other and circle a bit but it never seems too aggressive and they always snuggled up after so didn’t think it was an issue. Since the marks they seem to have calmed down a bit and definitely now groom each other more (well the grey one grooms the brown one 😂) Have they just had a bicker for hierarchy and are now bonded or do I need to watch out for anything? Any advise greatly recieved, thank you

[Wick & Fable]

Growing up together, siblings or not, means nothing in the world of lifelong rabbit bonds. Rabbits will fight and mate among family so any notion of childhood bons are lost.

A stable, proper bond will not include ANY mixed signals, as you’re seeing, so no, they are not bonded, or at least it is an unstable/weak bond that needs work before considering leaving them together unsupervised.

How old are they and are they neutered?

Based solely on your description and making assumptions, I assume you got these two males as young rabbits (i.e., less than a year old, not neutered), so what you observed is called a baby bond — A baby bond is a bond held together simply because one or both of the rabbits have not yet reached puberty, therefore there are no hormones urging them to mate/fight/defend. It is generally considered a temporary bond that you cannot predict when it will dissolve because we can’t tell when hormones will “take effect” essentially. If that is the case here, you need to house both rabbits separately for their safety — they have no bond and two intact males are the most dangerous combination to keep together. They need to both be neutered, you then need to wait 1mo post-neuters (for hormones to settle), then you can begin the bonding process, outlined here: https://binkybunny.com/infocategory/bonding/

If both these rabbits are well past 1mo neutered, then what you have sounds like either a weak bond or a broken bond. Either way, it means monitoring if problems occur in the near future and if so, using the bonding tactics in the Bonding link in the last paragraph to do some rebonding and solidification of the bond in a safe way.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[RRRabbits]

They are 2 does and are approxiamately 4 months old now, and no not neutered. They have since been absolutely perfect with each other, lying flat out asleep, back legs out and head on top of each other day in day out so I’m hoping this was just a quibble.

[DanaNM]

I recommend separating them now, getting them neutered, and then rebonding them as Wick described. The chances are very high that they will fight again, and they may hurt each other badly. Any additional fighting will also make it difficult to rebond them.

At 4 months old their hormones are just coming in, which is why they just started fighting. Also keep in mind that young rabbits are very often mis-sexed, so you should separate to confirm that you don’t have a male-female pair.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[LBJ10]

It sounds like hormones are kicking in. Getting them spayed and then rebonding them later should solve the issue. Their bond was likely just a “baby bond”, which usually breaks once hormones enter the picture.

[Author]

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