Help Me! Haha!

[Mrs. Steele]

    Hello! I currently have an English Lop Eared Rabbit (I think. Pretty much rescued her from the pet shop ) Her name is Penelope and she is almost 1 year of age. She is UNspayed. We’ve had her since February and we love her! She is playful, loves to flop over on her side to be pet, and loves her mommy and daddy ( My husband and I). She’d prefer not to be held haha! Well, she’s been the only bunny child for about 5 months now, until a few days ago, I brought home another baby. Daisy is only 10 weeks and I bought her from a friend whose bun had a litter. She takes great care of them! Daisy is sweet natured, loves to be held, and wants SO badly, to play with Penelope. I’ve yet to bond them because she is so little and Penelope is twice her size. I am afraid she may be a bully…to me. This is where it gets hard for me: I have their cages next to each other and I let them out at separate times. Penelope has reacted quite well to Daisy being there. I honestly thought she’d be jealous and want nothing to do with it, but I was totally wrong! They give kisses through the cage and have poop wars haha. Well all of the sudden Penelope (she’s very curious and mischievous) likes to climb on TOP of the baby’s cage. This was totally fine and I was just gonna pick her up and take her off like anyone would. WELL. As soon as I did that, Penelope ran and charged at me, grunting really loud, almost as if she was growling at me. I let it slide because I thought maybe I’d hurt her foot or scared her. That wasn’t the case at all! She climbed up there the next day and I went over and VERY carefully removed her. As I did that, she charged me and acted very aggressively towards me again! I told my husband about it and that night he tried to do the same thing as me. She charged him and tried to nip at his feet! This is so unlike her. She’s always been a little sassy pants, but never aggressive! Is she trying to protect Daisy or us? Is it possible she’s adopted her as her own because she’s still such a baby? We plan to get Penelope fixed as soon as we can but it could be about 2 months until we can. Is it safe for me to try and bond them? It seems like she is okay and loves to play with us until we go near Daisy’s cage. She has a fit. But, it’s like she’s telling me, “That’s my baby!” What do I do?! Thank you if you read this!

[Flint]

I am just stopping in to subscribe and say I hope someone comes along soon to help!

[MoxieMeadows]

Hmm, PERSONALLY, I would wait until Penelope is fixed and Daisy a little bigger to bond them.
It is possible that Penelope decided to take in Daisy as her own, but there could also be other reasons for her behavior.
Hopefully somebody more expirienced will reply soon.

[JackRabbit]

You should wait to bond until BOTH rabbits have been spayed and hormones have had time to calm (4+ weeks after spay). The poop wars are territory marking. I don’t think Penelope is trying to take the new baby as her own. She’s feeling aggressive toward the baby and you just happen to be stepping into the middle of it when you remove her from the top of the baby’s cage. Best to move their cages as far apart as possible, different rooms if possible, until the 4+ weeks after the last spay.

I had the exact same reaction from my Kieko when I brought Marlee and Moshi home as babies. The aggression can build to a point where bonding may become difficult even down the road.

[Mrs. Steele]

Thank you everyone for your advice! I appreciate it!

[Author]

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