PLEASE READ I NEED HELP! Overall behavior

[MyPets1031]

I need help, please read- I got my bunny Fobey over a year ago. She wasn’t spayed and she was very aggressive and territorial. I have scars from her biting me. I got her spayed and she was nice. I made her free roam but she was very destructive so when I got Toby on a whim because he was abused, I put them in a pen. It was love at first sight but it only lasted a few months. I woke up one morning to them pulling fur and attacking each other. I tried to rebond several times but nothing worked. I brought them to the vet in a stress bond attempt and to see if they were sick. They were both perfectly healthy but a few weeks later Toby got sick. I thought maybe Fobey since it so I tried rebonding again when Toby got better. The fighting was worse than ever before and still is now! Anyway they were living in separate cages in the same room but Fobey was 1. Chewing her cage and keeping me awake all night and 2. Peeing on the floor, marking her territory, and spraying Toby’s cage through the bars. (They both had huge hutches so he could escape it) It got to be too much so I moved Fobey to our heated garage. She gets more attention now than she did before because I feel bad for her and I think she’s happier without Toby. As much as I’d love for them to be bonded, I think Fobey is a solitude rabbit. Anyway, since I moved her out in the garage, she’s become territorial to me again. Whenever I pick her up to come inside, she bites me and when I pick her up to bring her back to her cage, she bites me. There was no traffic in the room they were living in so I think she sees more of us now since we use that door to leave our house every morning before I never saw her in the morning and nobody stopped in the room to say hi or give her treats and now she gets talked to about 5 times a day! And she does get at least an hour out of her cage every night I don’t understand why she’s doing this. When I move out in a few years, I can’t expect my parents to deal with her- as much as I don’t want to, I think I might have to find her a new home. All in all- I think being away from Toby makes her happy and she gets a lot more attention than before and I still love her but I don’t understand why her attidude has changed so much. This just isn’t going to work anymore. Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas are welcome! Thanks.

[tanlover14]

Are you sure you took the necessary precautions when bonding them to ensure they were bonded correctly and fully? Throwing them in together right away isn’t really a good idea, in my opinion. So many things can happen to make them not want to bond successfully if done this way. A fight between two buns can stay in their minds for quite some time. What exactly are some other bonding tactics you’ve tried with the two since you had her besides the driving to the vet stress?

As for biting with her cage – are you putting yourself inside your cage or physically putting her in yourself or taking her out? This is a big no-no and their cage should ALWAYS be there territory. They need a place to make their own. It may just be her way of saying “thats my space and off limits”. This doesn’t make her a bad bun – quite a few bunnies are actually like this around “their” space.

[MyPets1031]

When I first got them, I put them in cages next to each other and througout a few days moved them closer and closer until they touched. Then I let them out in the same room together supervising them and there was some humping but after about 15 minutes they were eating together and after an hour they were grooming and snuggling and wouldn’t leave each other alone. So I set up a huge pen in my room and that’s where they lived for a while. Then I got them a huge 3 story hutch. shortly after that they started fighting. I tried keeping their cages close only for weeks on end and letting them in the same space at different times so they could smell each other and switching things from their cages to swap sents. I did the same thing I did when I first got them. Put them on the dryer when it was on in a cage, put them in the car- nothing worked. So I gave up. It’s just gotten to dangerous for toby.

When I feed her, All I do is reach my hand in and put the food and water in her bowls. When I take her out I put my hand down and let her smell me first. Then I lift her out and hold her by my chest until I put her down. To put her down I get close to the floor so she wont kick me. To get her back in the cage I open the big door on the bottom of her cage so I set her on the step next to her hutch and she hopps in herself. But it’s not in the cage where the biting happens. It’s when I’m carring her. She’s never had an issue with being held. In fact, she always seemed like she’s liked it before. Also now, if I’m sitting on the floor while she’s hopping around a room, she’ll come up and just bite me and run away. I don’t understand it. I don’t yell or hit her, I just kind of say “Hey, that hurt!” And ignore her.

[tanlover14]

Hmm, have you taken her to the vet? Sometimes a change in behavior can actually be a health concern. Something could be hurting her and that could be causing her biting and sudden changes in aggression.

[MyPets1031]

I brought both of them to the vet shorty after this behavior started. They’re both in perfect health.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Is Toby fixed? If not you need to fix Toby before any bonding attempts. Then you needtomake sure you don’t handle one then the next. I suspect scent is behind some of the aggression your seeing. I’d then try buddies ( stuffed animals swapped between cages to get them used to each others scent) then enlist bonding services from a reputable shelter. When there is bad feelings its hard to move forward. I’d find a professional to help

[MyPets1031]

Toby is fixed- they’re both fixed. I have swapped things from their cages but I can try again, I actually like it better when they’re not together. Some people on another site suggested that I sit in an x-pen with Fobey and let her come up to me and get to know me. So I’ll have to try that.

[MyPets1031]

I’ve talked to many people on other websites and come to the conclusion that it isn’t safe any more to try bonding and Fobey is biting out of affection.

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