Bunny suddenly always annoyed/angry at her mate

[Dani2304]

Hi everyone! First time posting, sorry this will be long because it’s a bit of a weird complex situation. So I have a pair of bonded bunnies, both desexed, both are free-range house rabbits with their main litter/food area in the laundry.

Maya is almost 8 years old and had been a single bunny almost her whole life until last December when I introduced Ricky who is 2. She is a lot bigger and older so I thought there might be issues with bonding but surprisingly they took less than a week to fully bond! The rescue said Ricky had been lonely since he lost his previous mate and Maya was happy to have company too, I think. During the bonding process, the usual scuffles happened but they got through it and they started to groom each other by Day 5, and settled into marriage. Maya is top bunny, Ricky always does what she says and follows her around. She gets annoyed at him very occasionally, shoving/nipping him out of the way for no reason, but he always complies immediately and goes back to her for a head lick, which she usually always gives. Aside from small incidents like that, they have been perfect together since December, lying together and grooming etc.

Then a week ago, I think I screwed up by opening up a back room which I had kept closed (for my own allergy reasons) during the whole time Ricky had been here. This room used to be Maya’s room years and years ago, before I moved her into the laundry. Maya and Ricky were perfect everywhere else in the house so I assumed one more room being accessible wouldn’t be an issue.

The day after I opened up the back room, I came home to see some fur had flown in the living room. I then saw Maya being quite mean to Ricky in the back room, never attacking but consistently chasing him away. I then saw there was a wound on Maya’s head (nothing on Ricky) and the vet said it may be a bite mark. She said maybe Ricky was retaliating to Maya getting territorial in the newly opened room. It seemed possible but I didn’t want to believe it since Ricky has always been the submissive one, it seemed shocking he would draw blood. I still wonder if she cut herself on a low shelf somewhere while lunging at him? Vet thinks it’s possible.

Anyway, Maya’s wound is healed now but their dynamic hasn’t recovered. I’ve closed the back room again but she seems to be annoyed/angry at him everywhere now, even places where they used to be perfectly happy a week ago. If they’re face to face, they will lick each other, but then Maya slowly reaches for his butt and will give him a nip and chase him away, just a few steps, but making it clear he’s not welcome. He never retaliates, he just hops away and gives her space. He doesn’t even seem that upset or stressed by her behaviour, but it makes me feel horrible when I see Maya treating him like that, it happens almost every time she sees him, especially when they’re both active. Between the nipping/chasing away, they do still sometimes lie together, groom each other, and they always peacefully eat side by side. But then out of nowhere Maya will chase him away, almost twenty times a day.

Just as I was typing, Ricky was lying in the doorway to my bedroom. Maya hopped up, sniffed his butt and must have nipped because Ricky ran off. They never used to be like this. I don’t know what to do.

I saw this advice on a different thread:

“There are other reasons for fighting in rabbits where both are adults and both are spayed/neutered. A change in the household (moving, new pet, new roommate) can also trigger some scuffles. In these cases, some bonding sessions in neutral space can usually repair the bond relatively quickly, as long as the fighting was not serious.

If the squabbling between adult castrated buns is not serious (no injuries or hard biting), often you can supervise them in neutral territory and let them reestablish their dominance, as you did in the bonding process.

However, if the fighting is bad (injuries, hard bites, locking on to each other), you should consider the bond broken. In this case, you will need to separate them, allow them to cool off for several weeks to allow the hurt feelings to repair, and then restart the bonding process.”

It sounds like a household change is what triggered the issues (opening up the back room). But I don’t know if their bond is fully broken or not. They still groom and coexist peacefully at times, and Maya’s not fully aggressive when she gets angry, but she does nip/chase very often and it’s upsetting to see.

Does it sound like I need to start the bonding process all over again? Or just separate them for a while? Or give them time to sort things out and hope Maya stops being annoyed at Ricky by herself? I’m worried about taking any drastic steps that might make it worse.

Sorry for the crazy long post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated (but not stress bonding advice please, the rescue told me that rabbit welfare organisations no longer recommend stress bonding). Thanks so much!

[DanaNM]

Such a bummer! That sounds very stressful, I think your guess about the new room is probably correct. It doesn’t sound like the bond is completely broken, but I think you will need to do some bonding sessions in a neutral space to repair the relationship. The wound on her head is a bit worrisome, was it more of a scrape or did it look like an actual bite? Sometimes when a chunk of fur gets yanked out the skin can look pretty angry and even tear slightly, but it’s not a full-on bite.

I think in your case, I would separate them but house them side by side. They won’t completely forget each other this way. Then when you can, do bonding sessions in a completely neutral spot. I know this can be hard when you have free-range bunnies, but perhaps you have a trusted friend (or even someone at the rescue) who has a space you can use?

If they do well in those sessions, you could do long sessions and they might well snap back to being bonded. Since they bonded fairly easily the first time, they might go back together without too much work. If those dates don’t go well, then I think you would need to take a break and do a full reset of the bond (including allowing some cooling off time).

Sorry this happened to you! But I do know of a few similar situations where a pair goes through a little tiff and then goes back together with some “couples therapy”, so hopefully that is the case with yours!

. . . 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.  

[Dani2304]

Hi thank you so much for your reply and advice! I really appreciate the support. I think you’re right, I’ll divide the laundry into two areas and keep them near each other but apart for a while. The bathroom is fairly neutral so I’ll start bonding sessions there. Fingers crossed it’ll work and doesn’t need a full reset.

Regarding the injury, that’s a good point about it possibly being fur being pulled out and leaving a wound, thanks for that suggestion. The vet said it was a fairly deep wound though, so I think it’s more like that Ricky bit Maya (in retaliation, in the heat of the moment, I would think, based on their dynamic) or she cut herself on a low wooden floating shelf in the back room while lunging at him. If it was Ricky either biting or pulling out her fur, I’m almost sure it was a one-off because Ricky has never once been even slightly aggressive towards her that I’ve seen, Maya is always the instigator.

I’m thinking that what happened was Maya got territorial over the new room and nipped/chased Ricky, who was surprised and scared by this new behaviour so he lashed out and bit her. As a result, Maya resented him for the bite, no matter where they were in the house, even though Ricky has been super submissive ever since. If this scenario is likely, does that change your advice at all? Sorry to ask another question.

The injury is almost fully healed now but the scab is still there, so I’m keeping fingers crossed that when it’s fully gone and no longer sore, Maya will have completely forgiven him.

But I will separate them for now like you suggested. Thank you so much again!

[DanaNM]

Hmmm, I think it would still be OK to try that plan, but if things don’t go well after a couple dates, they prob need cooling off time. Given the history, I would not allow fur pulling or any scuffling because it might just add to the bad feelings between them. I can imagine she would resent him after a bite like that. The location makes me think that perhaps she requested the groom her and he bit her instead. Bunnies can hold grudges, even once things are healed, but hopefully they can patch things up without too much issue.

If things do go well, be extra careful anyway. I would want to see positive behaviors (grooming, cuddling, food sharing, litter box sharing) from both bunnies, and no negative behaviors or tension between them for several days in order to consider them fully re-bonded. Their bond was relatively new, so it’s possible it was a bit tenuous to begin with. Doing bonding sessions in multiple neutral locations seems to make bonds more solid as well.

I’m fairly cautious in situations like this because I had a bond break on me after 5 months of peace. A fight happened, but then they seemed OK (actually better than before) so we didn’t separate. Then a week later another fight happened and one bun got a more serious injury (a bite to the lip needing sutures), thank goodness we were home or it could have been awful. Similar to your case, my female was the top bun and the male was the one that bit her. I think he decided that he actually wanted to be top bun and was unhappy that she wasn’t grooming him. In retrospect I realized they probably weren’t truly bonded to begin with (which I don’t think is the case in your situation). So during bonding sessions just be very aware of how they are interacting with each other and go slowly.

 

. . . 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.  

[Dani2304]

Thank you so much again. Everything you said makes a lot of sense. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out and try bonding them in the few neutral areas I have in my house. And yes I’ll wait for a few days of good behaviour and no tension before relaxing.

That’s so interesting that we had similar situations with the male/female dynamic! I’m sorry to hear how it went down, hope it got better!

[DanaNM]

You’re welcome! Unfortunately in my case I opted not to try rebonding them, it just didn’t seem like they were going to be a good match as they had never really been close even before the fighting. Things went from zero to 60 with their fight so I just felt like I would never trust them again anyway!

. . . 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.  

[Dani2304]

I’m so sorry to hear that, but it sounds like you did the right thing for everyone involved. I’m getting the feeling my pair might be heading in the same direction. I have a depressing update.

I separated them last night with a playpen, two areas in the laundry. But this morning noticed Maya had bite marks all over her ear, about five of them, some having pierced all the way through. Vet confirmed they’re definitely bites, she reckons they’re about a day or two old (from before the separation). Which likely means the deep wound on Maya’s head was also definitely a bite. Meanwhile the vet couldn’t find a single mark on Ricky, including near his bum where I see Maya nipping him at least twenty times a day. I’ve never seen Ricky bite her ever, and somehow she’s the one with actual injuries. It’s so heartbreaking and baffling. It could be that Maya has been trying to defend herself.

The vet said that based on what I’ve told her, there’s a chance I can never trust them to be alone together again, especially because of Maya’s age where injuries can become infections really quickly. But she admits she’s not an expert when it comes to bonding so she’s not sure.

At the moment I’m staying the course with keeping them separated and then having supervised bonding sessions. Hopefully this was sparked by a territory fight over the new room and it’s a speed hump we can get over.

But something in my gut is telling me that no matter how happy they seem even after extended bonding sessions, Ricky might always be a threat to Maya, especially since he seems to be doing it so sneakily that I’ve never once seen him hurt her (bite marks that pierced all the way through her ears!!!! I can’t even believe it). I really hope I’m wrong though.

Sorry again for bothering you with so many updates and questions. You’ve been such a big help though, thanks again for any advice you might have.

[DanaNM]

It’s true that vets usually don’t know much about bonding, even very good vets.

With that new info I think I would go for a full separation of at least 3 or 4 weeks (ideally where they can’t see each other). This will help them forget each other somewhat and let old grudges heal. Keep an eye on them to make sure they aren’t getting depressed about being separated (in case maybe one rabbit still feels close to the other). Then proceed with pre-bonding and bonding sessions after that.

Since you had a pretty easy time bonding them the first time, and a pretty good bond between them before, I wouldn’t lose hope just yet!

. . . 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.  

[Dani2304]

Thanks so much. I think you’re right, some alone time for a few weeks sounds good. I’ve put a blanket over the playpen fence. I think I was struggling earlier with the shock of Maya’s injuries and the vet’s advice, my mind went straight to worst case scenario but I’m a bit less shocked now. I really hope you’re right. Thanks so much for everything xxxxx

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