Fur pulling?

[ssai]

New rabbit owner. I just got two rabbits recently. Both have lived with other rabbits before. For the first few days they were fine, the female was a bit more active than the male. later on the smaller (male) one got a bald patch on his nose. I observed their behavior and I’m afraid the female is pulling out the fur of the other. What to do?

[Wick & Fable]

Welcome to BB!

No experience with two rabbits, but I’ve read a lot about bonding through these forums. Although both your rabbits have been with other rabbits before, they have not been with each other, therefore they need to be properly bonded with each other.

I think separating them is best, and starting the bonding process after they’ve forgotten about this tussle they’ve had. See here for bonding information and what you need to know/do: https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/9/PID/940/Default.aspx

Can you provide the age and fixed (neutered/spayed) status of both your rabbits? This will give everyone more insight.

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.

[Sirius&Luna]

Hi and thanks for joining the forum

I have a few questions that will help us to answer your question

When you say that both rabbits have lived with other rabbits before, what do you mean? Do you mean you got two rabbits from different places, and put them together? How long have these two bunnies been together?

What other behavior have you seen between them? Do they snuggle and groom each other? Do they chase, nip, circle, box or hump?

Pairs of rabbits don’t just automatically get on unfortunately, it’s quite a long process. You can visit the bonding forum here for a bit more info, but to simplify, the following steps need to happen: (apologies if you already know this, but it may help someone else!)
– both rabbits neutered/spayed
-given time to recover
– 1 month + spent pre-bonding and getting used to each others scents
– weeks spent with short supervised time together in neutral space
-48 hours being monitored in their permanent home

If you haven’t gone through these steps, or the person that you got the rabbits from hasn’t, then it is likely that the rabbits aren’t bonded, and will probably fight. The fact that the female is pulling fur from the males nose is a good indication that they are not happy together and one may get more seriously injured soon.

If you have gone through these steps, let us know and we can think about some other reasons why this might be happening.

[Deleted User]

Welcome to BinkyBunny

As the others have already stated, rabbits have to go through a process called bonding before they are able to live together. Rabbits who are not bonded can severely injure or kill one another. They have to be introduced slowly, in neutral territory that neither rabbit has claimed as their own.

[Author]

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