Jealous bunny be jealous

[Dutchybun]

Ok, my wife and I got a second bunny and sense they aren’t spayed yet, it’s nearly impossible to bond them. We let them out in turns to run and exercise. The problem is that when ever kona gets out, dasher becomes very jealous and destroys her cage. She tries to chew through the bars and rattles the cage very loudly. This behavior started when we got kona so we think it’s connected. We have no clue what to do about it. If we let them both out dasher makes it her mission to try to dominate kona by humping her. Does anyone have any ideas on how to stop the cage destroying/rattling. Thanks.

[Sirius&Luna]

Honestly, that’s normal behaviour. Bunnies can be very jealous animals.

You really shouldn’t let them both out at the same time until they’re bonded, as it’s most likely to end in a fight when kona decides she doesn’t want to be humped. They shouldn’t be allowed to even interact through cage bars right now.

You could try placing cardboard around Dashers cage so she can’t see when Kona is out. It also has the double positive that they can’t nip through the bars.

[vdemske]

Hi Dasherbun!

This also happened to us when we got a second rabbit. Like Sirius & Luna said – from what I have seen this is very normal! Our first rabbit (Jay) is a very assertive little guy – he also thinks he is the King of our apartment. Every time we would let our second bunny (Lola) out, Jay would get so aggressive; he would pick up his pen and throw it down, start biting at his rug, all sorts of stuff. We were worried he was going to hurt himself.

This was about 6 months ago; since then, he has calmed down a lot since Jay has accepted Lola as part of his life.

I know that’s not a great answer, but over time your bunny will settle down. Your first bunny is probably just very anxious that there is a second bunny in his territory.

We let our first bunny out a lot more than we did our second bunny at the beginning – this helped with his aggression. Although it’s not technically “fair”, it was what we had to do to keep Jay from being nasty.

The bunnies should be let out one at a time at this stage – it’s a really scary thought to have two bunnies out at once if they aren’t bonded – they may end up getting hurt!

I also suggest providing your fist bunny with a lot of toys as a distraction when the other bunny is out.

Hope this helps!

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