Fighting Bunnies

[Rawr]

So this is not necessarily bonding yet because its pre-bonding, so Mods feel free to move if you think this goes somewhere else.

We just got a new female mini lop. She’s only 9 weeks old (just got her last week!), so she’s not spayed yet. We will get her spayed as soon as she comes of age and only then start the bonding. Meanwhile my old male mini lop is over 8 years old. He’s extremely shy and timid. He hates gets very easily scared, but in general a very sweet bun if you let him do his own thing. I’ve taken him to bunny meetups and while he’s usually just on his own in the corner, I’ve never seen him aggressive or violent towards another bun. My male bunny has an x-pen set up across from her in the living room, but we generally let him run free when we’re home. He hasn’t really ventured to her part of the room yet, although I saw him approach one day and gobble up some hay scraps that fell out of her feeder. She stuck her head out a few times (couldn’t tell if angry or not) and he ran away immediately.

Last night the gf and I were watching Game of Thrones, so we sat at opposite ends of the couch with our bunnies. I handled the old gentlebun. Meanwhile the youngster was super active, sniffing all over on the couch, and wanted to run over. Sce ohe sees the old bun and they sniff each other for a second. I contemplate moving her, but am partly curious to see what she does. The next second she lunges at him and nips at his fur and although I thought my reaction was fast to pull them apart, I already saw a piece fur flying in the air! My gf takes the little prankster back and sits her back on her lap, but within 30 seconds, she comes dashing across the couch towards me ready to attack–I swear I heard a growl too. At that point I decide to put my guy down on the ground so he can go back to roaming the living room as he has free reign but at least be separate.’

I was very startled and surprised she could be so aggressive at a young age. In all our interactions with her she has been sweet and curious. We’ve never been bitten or growled or lunged at even when we accidentally bump into her face while trying to clean up her poos. But I suppose you never know when two buns meet….

Anyhow–what I’m getting at is that are these signs to a problematic relationship? How much better is she going to be after being spayed? I obviously don’t have to worry about bonding until another 3 months, but I want to be prepared. I know getting the male bunny to overcome fear is always going to be a challenge, but facing an aggressive bunny is going to be tough. 

[Mikey]

Several problems here. Note: shes not aggressive; all problems here are human caused.

1) Shes brand new. She doesnt know the home yet. She is exploring to learn about the home. She noticed a rabbit shes never met before, in a territory she is not comfortable in yet. Stranger danger, she attacked.

2) Shes not spayed. Hormonal rabbits cannot bond, and will often fight. She should not be around him until after she is spayed.

3) Theyve never had a proper meeting. You basically threw them both together. You shouldve expected nothing less than what happened. It could have been so much worse.

You keep them apart until after she is spayed, and then you introduce them properly: prebonding for a month, then bonding sessions in a neutral space. The more they fight, the more fearful either become, the more likely they will never bond in the future.

[Rawr]

Thank you. I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to put them together, and I won’t be doing so until she’s old enough to be spayed. It just so happened they got close the other night as they were across the couch from each other.

Yes I keep them apart, but with that said I’ll make sure to secure her area off a little more. I was watching TV just tonight and heard my male bun hop over near her x-pen. Apparently she kicked her pellets everywhere and he started picking up scraps that were outside. She seemed to be a bit angry watching him pick them up even if it was only 2-3 pieces, so I shooed him away quickly. I may need to look at adding additional barriers (maybe covering the x-pen?) to keep him out of sight.

The reason I was so worried about her behavior is my guy is the most chill rabbit in the world. Even today he ignored her completely as he only ventured over to her x-pen area because of food. Also I guess each rabbit behaves differently. When I first got my male mini lop, he was already shy. Even when he met my guinea pig back then he never picked a fight. I guess this is just how certain buns are from a personality standpoint. Neutering him might’ve made him gentler, but he never had any marking, aggressive behavior even before. I litter trained him the same day I got him even though the previous owner never taught him. Also our new bun has never displayed aggressive behavior towards humans either, and is in general very tolerant of us petting her and putting her on the couch. That’s why I was so surprised she behaved so differently around my old guy.

[Deleted User]

I agree with Mikey, this was the result of human error. While they may not show aggression toward you, think of it as a species thing. For example, you may be very gentle and friendly with your bun and you would never be aggressive toward her, but to another human…different story lol. The principle is the same here. They have their own understanding of humans and recognize that you are different than them, you are not a threat, and you come bearing food! In their mind, another bun is a potential threat to them, their territory, their food, etc. They have to learn that this other bun is not a threat, and that’s why you have to go slow with bonding. From the post it sounds like you have them in a setup where he has access to her cage. I’m not sure what kind of enclosure you have for her, but if there is enough space for her to stick out her nose or a paw, then they could nip each other through the cage. I haven’t gone through the bonding process and I am keeping them in separate rooms, but I actually just had a fight break out because my resident bun snuck her way into the room while I was going in. You shouldn’t have them out at all where they have access to each other. The fighting can hurt them and it can also negatively affect their relationship and make the bond more difficult. If you want to have couch time then you should only have one bun out at a time. You shouldn’t allow them to be in an open room until they are fully bonded. The fight could escalate and they could become out of your reach. Please don’t put them together out of curiosity…remember, curiosity killed the cat!!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Rawr on 7/18/2017 1:13 AM

Thank you. I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to put them together, and I won’t be doing so until she’s old enough to be spayed. It just so happened they got close the other night as they were across the couch from each other.

Yes I keep them apart, but with that said I’ll make sure to secure her area off a little more. I was watching TV just tonight and heard my male bun hop over near her x-pen. Apparently she kicked her pellets everywhere and he started picking up scraps that were outside. She seemed to be a bit angry watching him pick them up even if it was only 2-3 pieces, so I shooed him away quickly. I may need to look at adding additional barriers (maybe covering the x-pen?) to keep him out of sight.

The reason I was so worried about her behavior is my guy is the most chill rabbit in the world. Even today he ignored her completely as he only ventured over to her x-pen area because of food. Also I guess each rabbit behaves differently. When I first got my male mini lop, he was already shy. Even when he met my guinea pig back then he never picked a fight. I guess this is just how certain buns are from a personality standpoint. Neutering him might’ve made him gentler, but he never had any marking, aggressive behavior even before. I litter trained him the same day I got him even though the previous owner never taught him. Also our new bun has never displayed aggressive behavior towards humans either, and is in general very tolerant of us petting her and putting her on the couch. That’s why I was so surprised she behaved so differently around my old guy.

Putting them in close proximity with no seperation is putting them together. You (unintentionally) put them together. 

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