So I am somewhat new to the bunny world. I had a bunny as a kid, but I was young and not really responsible for it’s care. My parents took care of it and I just got to play with it.
Now, as an adult, I just adopted two neutered male bunnies (both approx. 3 months old, not sibling) a few days ago. The shelter required them to be adopted together because they were a bonded pair. I brought them home, put them in their cage, and day one went great. They were curious and playful – a little skittish of me, but they warmed up pretty quickly and by the end of the day they were running up to nudge me and climbing all over me. They live in my bunny-proofed home office so whenever I am in there working, the cage is open for them to roam.
But on day two, I had given them a bit of apple as treats. I made sure not to play favorites and they each got their own slice, but after bunny two finished his slice, he went to steal bunny one’s slice. Bunny one stole it back and they played a bit of tug of war with it, then bunny two left and bunny one finished his slice and I thought nothing of it. Well, about ten minutes later they’re roaming around and bunny one nips bunny twos behind. Next thing I know bunny two is chasing bunny one and they are in a full-on bunny tornado with fur flying. I shouted “oy!” and hit my hands on the floor to distract them and my dog (who has not met the bunnies and lives in a different part of the house) heard it and started barking, which scared them both back into the cage to huddle up together. Eventually they both came back out, and they seemed much more cautious/grumpy around each other. No more fights, but a lot of thumping and lunging at each other.
I then did a lot of research and everything I read said that after a fight, they should not be left unsupervised/housed together until you can do some re-bonding. So I put them in separate side by side cages where they can still see each other for last night. They have a two story hutch coming and I plan to keep them separated at least until the new hutch comes so that if they do get housed together again, it won’t be in a cage that either one of them has “claimed” yet.
This morning, I took them both into a different unfamiliar part of the house to run around in the bathtub filled with some lettuce and cucumber. They happily munched together, but once again, bunny two was stealing snacks out of bunny one’s mouth. This was annoying to bunny one, who made a few grunts and thumped a few times. They didn’t get into any full on fights this time, but bunny one seems pretty grumpy towards bunny two. He grunts and thumps or charges forward slightly whenever bunny two gets too close (but he will approach bunny one and lay down next to him, he just has to be the one approaching).
I have no idea what I’m doing with this process. Any insight as to where I went wrong/why they started fighting in the first place? Any insight into what I should be doing now?
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