Bonded bunnies fighting

[Stephable]

I have two rabbits, a male and a female, that I adopted about a year and a half ago. They were already bonded when I got them and I had them desexed soon after bringing them home (They were 6 months old at the time). I didn’t have any problems with them fighting at all until about a week ago when the male rabbit Boston started chasing/fighting with Poppy, the female.

They started fighting after I let them out in the morning for a run/play and I immediately scooped up Boston and kept them separated while I googled what the problem might be. I kept them in different areas for the day and then reintroduced them in a room they’re not normally in (neutral ground). 

Everything seemed to be going fine so after about an hour I took them both back into their normal space and let them run around for a while longer before putting them back into their hutch for the night.

The next time I let them out again they started their fighting up again. I tried separating them and reintroducing another time but its been going the same way every time. They seem totally fine to hang out (grooming each other and flopping around) when they’re in the hutch but fight when let out. I’m not sure what to do with them because I want to give them each others company and let them come out for exercise but they’re hurting each other at the moment.

Does anyone know what could be causing this behavior or what I could do to fix it?

(p.s. I’m planning to take them to the vet soon for a general check up/vaccinations but I don’t have the money right now. They’re full time indoor rabbits though and I don’t have any other pets so it’s unlikely they could’ve picked anything up, still taking that into consideration though! Neither are showing any other changes in behavior or symptoms of illness though.)

[Mikey]

Some rabbits go through hormonal phases for about a week or two every once in a while, even after being neutered/spayed

Has anything in their area changed over the last few days? New smells, new toys, ect?

[Stephable]

Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on them and see how they go.
Everything’s been the same in their area. I switched to a new brand of pellets for them a couple of weeks ago, not sure if that could be the reason?

[Mikey]

The pellets could be if they give off a different scent and/or make the buns give off a different scent. Im not sure if pellets can do that, but it might be worth googling, i think

[Author]

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