help with fighting bunnies!

[Veronica Vigilant]

Ok- I have 2 bonded rabbits, Ember and Teddy who have started fighting each other since I brought a bonded pair of fosters into my apartment. The fosters, Twitch and Spot, are in my bedroom and Ember and Teddy are in the rest of the apt. I’ve been keeping my bedroom door closed all the time but Ember and Teddy can both tell that there are bunnies in there and I also think Ember is mad that she can’t go in there. My problem is that Ember will come up to the door, go frantic digging at it trying to get in and when she realizes that she can’t get in then she’ll turn around and attack Teddy!!!! Poor Teddy is the tiniest, fluffiest, sweetest little guy who’s totally in love with her, but he does his best to defend himself when she turns on him and I end up with bunnies chasing each other all over. I’ve tried blocking off the hallway so that there is a 10 ft “bunny free” zone of distance between the two sets of bunnies, but Ember managed to get in anyway- I’m going to try again today until I finally get it “Ember proof” and I think that will help if she can’t smell them right on the other side of the door…. but does anyone know why she’s doing this?? My guess is that she’s feeling threatened by the new presence (and annoyed that she can no longer come and hop on my head in the middle of the night) and so is trying to re-assert her dominance over Teddy… but can’t she just hump him or something??! Jeesh, she’s a monster sometimes! What’s kinda funny is that after she attacks him then she’ll go up and demand to be groomed by him! Poor Teddy….

 On a brighter note… Spot licked my foot this morning when I was feeding him

[Beka27]

awww on the Spot lick! how sweet!

i have heard of this before with people with multiple bunnies. i have no experience with more than 2, so i can’t really help too much. i believe Kralspace has experienced this and maybe a few other people also… hopefully she’ll come and share her experience…

[Alicia Conklin]

Is there maybe a way to block her from even getting to the door?  I’m not sure how the set up in your house is so..maybe not lol.  In our house our bedrooms are down hallways so if I want an animal (or a kid lol) to stay out of a certain room I put a baby gate up before reaching that end of the hallway.  This way there’s not the frantic issue at the door.  I don’t have the experience with rabbits like this but I know for my pug..she freaks out if I am on the other side of a door and she can’t get to me.  But..if there is a gate, then space, then door..she’s fine.  For some reason the gate being there somehow takes the edge off the fact that she can’t get to me through that door?? Maybe it’s like a “so close but yet so far” type thing?  I dunno lol but maybe it’ll help??

[Veronica Vigilant]

That’s how I have it set up right now- a gate, then the hallway, then my door… the problem is Ember is so crazy that she got past the gate- it’s reinforced now so I’m hoping that there will be no more bunny attacks or frantic bunnies at my door!

[Alicia Conklin]

Ohh ok yea my one bun is a escape artist and she can get through gates unless I’m really careful with them and block off the bottom too LOL. 

[kralspace]

Hi Bob,

Beka’s right, I’ve been through the same thing with mine. I only got my first bunny just under 2 years ago so it’s been a learning experience. Thank God for the BinkyBunny forums!

When I wound up with 2 bonded couples, I had the same wars. It could get very intense like you said, the fights and all. I had one couple in the living room, the second couple in the back bedroom. It’s an old fashioned house plan, no hallways so you walk from the living room, (their condo is right next to the door.) through the kitchen and into the back bedroom.

For the first few months even though they stayed in their respective rooms and no one got in the kitchen, it was poop pee central. And the couples would squabble quite a bit. The boys weren’t too bad, but the girls, geez, Pringle and Lola are both divas and they’d jump through hoops to escape their rooms and get to the other condo.

Just like you said, the loose girl would go parading in front of the other couple and all hell would break loose. The girl in the condo would alternate between trying to tear down the door to get to the interloper and biting and chasing their poor partner (who after all was only trying to get a look)

Even after I got them separated again, the next time the buns were out of their condo they both would mark their entire room with so much poop and pee, I was threatening them with rabbit stew. And they would continue to fight for an hour or so after the confrontation.

It did get better, after a couple of months. Now I let both couple in the kitchen (not at the same time) and there will be some marking, but not as much as before. If one gets into the other’s room by accident (mine, not their’s) it’s come down to the locked up girl chasing the guy into the box and then she follows the loose woman with a stink eye that could kill. And instead of marking her territory when she gets out, the offended girl just does her best to get into the other’s room to flaunt.

THEN I was faced with a third couple (funny how neutered rabbits can multiply like that) An older couple that would have to share a room with someone. I asked here and received a lot of helpful suggestions and that transition was much smoother. I put their condos side by side and hung a blanket so they can’t see each other when in their condos.

When each couple had their ‘out’ time I used a blanket to block off their view to the other condo. There was a lot of fussing and fighting at first, but it also calmed down after a few weeks. My older couple never really paid Pringles and Toby much atttention so it was mainly Pringles having to get used to their company.

I finally got tired of the poops and let the room go without cleaning for about 4 days. It got pretty bad, but it seemed to satisfy Pringles. After I scrubbed and mopped (vinyl flooring) and disinfected, it’s never gotten that bad again. Just a few here and there now.

I’ll try to find that thread , it had “multiple rabbits” in the subject line. Sarita, Mobunny and others with multiples gave me lots of great advice to try.

I have to say, I never thought the situation would settle down like it has. It took several months overall, but has been worth it definitely. My older couple really don’t like to leave their condo. Pringles and Lola still delight in occasionally sneaking into the others territory to taunt and binky in front of the other’s condo. It makes the couples squabble a bit but not like it used to.

Hopefully some of the veterans can repost their suggestions here for you and you’ll find the ones that work for you!

good luck, Kathy

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ok, lots of good advice already…

My only two cents is grab a couple of NIC cubes and make this shape ” i___i ” with them and then put that in front of door ways or hallways; it makes a quick and easy gate that they can’t get around and stands on it’s own (so no ‘snugging’ it up between walls).

[Author]

Messages