Bonded pair fighting

[Rachel]

Hi everybun,

So, my house rabbits are a year old now and have been bonded for 6 months with no issues at all. All of a sudden my male (horacio) has started attacking my girl (strawberry). They spend their day in a 6 ft by 3 ft cage with three floors, it takes up most of my living room and whenever I’m home i give them free roam of my flat. Whenever they are in their cage they are so in love, they sleep together, eat together and groom each other. However, this past week whenever I let them roam the flat Horacio has become violent towards Strawberry:  he grunts, lunges and chases her until I intervene, today I had to physically pull Horacio off of her. He hasn’t broken skin yet but he does pull out a lot of fur from her tail and belly. Since pulling him off her, I’ve put him back in their cage and let her get her excise but she keeps going over to him and they groom each other through the bars. Any and all advise would be appreciated.

Many Thanks,

Strawberry and Horacio

[LittlePuffyTail]

Welcome to BB! I’m assuming your buns are spayed and neutered? And if yes, how long has it been?

[Rachel]

Strawberry was spayed in August when I adopted her and I adopted Horacio in July and he was already neutered so I’m not quite sure when that happened

[Deleted User]

What did you do to bond them? Because it sounds like they bonded the same month you got her? Which is pretty rare, so their bond might not be cemented.

[BunLove]

I have a problem with my bunnies fighting now too! They are siblings and both around 4 months old. Until now they have been inseparable and always grooming each other, eating together and sleeping side by side. I just had my boy bunny (Daisy – I didn’t know he was a boy until recently) neutered a couple of days ago. My other bunny (Moe) is a girl but last time I took her to the vet he said she wasn’t ready to be spayed yet, as not fully developed. Daisy is fine after his surgery, he has been eating well and moving around without being in pain. But all of a sudden about a day and a half after his surgery, I wake up to him and Moe fighting super ferociously. They had two more fights after that in the same day and I ultimately separated them. They seem to miss each other and lick each other through the bars of the cage but I don’t want them to get hurt or break their bond further by more fighting. How will I know when to trust them to let them be together again? I feel bad that my choice to neuter Daisy has made my one super in love little bunnies hate each other.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By BunLove on 1/22/2018 10:00 PM

I have a problem with my bunnies fighting now too! They are siblings and both around 4 months old. Until now they have been inseparable and always grooming each other, eating together and sleeping side by side. I just had my boy bunny (Daisy – I didn’t know he was a boy until recently) neutered a couple of days ago. My other bunny (Moe) is a girl but last time I took her to the vet he said she wasn’t ready to be spayed yet, as not fully developed. Daisy is fine after his surgery, he has been eating well and moving around without being in pain. But all of a sudden about a day and a half after his surgery, I wake up to him and Moe fighting super ferociously. They had two more fights after that in the same day and I ultimately separated them. They seem to miss each other and lick each other through the bars of the cage but I don’t want them to get hurt or break their bond further by more fighting. How will I know when to trust them to let them be together again? I feel bad that my choice to neuter Daisy has made my one super in love little bunnies hate each other.

Your rabbits aren’t bonded. They’re babies – babies get on with pretty much everyone til hormones come into play. That’s why they should be separated, spayed/neutered and properly bonded once hormones have disipated. 

[Rachel]

I kept them separate in the same room and put them in an enclosed pen everyday. They never fought and started grooming each other after a couple of weeks. After that I let them be together more and more until they were together all the time. It only took about a month or  2 but by the end they were breaking out of their own cages and in to the others to snuggle.   

[BunLove]

I’m going to try the same thing in a few weeks time after Daisy’s hormones calm down after his neutering and I hope it works.  My bunnies are in a playpen but I’ve put a divider in the middle so they can’t get to each other. So strange how bunnies can be perfectly fine with each other and one day just switch.

[Deleted User]

Prebonding is an important step that seems to have been skipped, and it sounds like your girl didn’t have time to settle in before putting the two of them together. Before putting them together it’s important for them to have been acclimated to each other’s scents by switching litter boxes between cages, switching bunnies between cages, giving them each a stuffie with their scents on it and swapping between them. Usually prebonding should be done for 1-2 months. It seems like they never figured out who was the dominant bun, and that seems to be happening now. You should separate them, and go back to the initial bonding phases. So start them in neutral territory, and do prebonding at the same time, and start with short sessions. Start with 10 minutes, then gradually increase the more they behave.
Hope this helps

[Author]

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