possible fighting?

[COOKIE'N FLUFF MOMMA]

This evening i had the bunnies running around their bunny proof room with the door to the rest of the house shut, while i was cleaning house. Later i walked in their room to find fur EVERYWHERE!   It scared the hell out of me so i quickly checked both buns and found no damage that i can see or feel.  

I dont know what happend. They have never fought before and have always cuddled and groomed each other.  As a matter of fact they are cleaning each other right now.  Was it a fight?     they are acting normal now

They are a little over four months now which i know is about the teenager stage plus, one of the buns ,Cookie, has been scratching me and flipping out when i hold her now. She has never done that before.  Please help!   Should i seperate my what i thought were bonded buns? They were litter mates so they have never been seperated. thanks!

[Beka27]

being littermates has nothing to do with the long-term status of their relationship. once they reach that puberty age, sometimes (not always) their sibling becomes no different than any other random bunny. i wouldn’t separate them yet… but i’d try to keep a very close on them. prepare now just in case, make sure to have doubles ready (food dish, litterbox, etc.), and a second cage or pen as a back-up.

when is the soonest your vet is willing to do the surgery? let’s say your vet says 6 months. you might want to schedule the appts in advance, so right at 6 months you have a date already set. depending on how busy their practice is, if you call to make the appt at 6 months, you might not be able to get in until 7 months…

Meadow was 4 months when i adopted her, and i had a couple good months before all hell broke loose. i did puberty with one bunny… that’s something i never *plan* to do again, i couldn’t imagine it with two! good luck to you! ;o)

[BinkyBunny]

What Beka has told you is exactly right. I ditto. But do keep a close eye as rabbits can do real damage to each other. IF they begin fighting like this again, you may have to separate them. Female rabbits will be more likely to fight over the “best” spot as their hormones are telling them they are ready to be mated with and have babies, they will then become aggressive at claiming what they consider are the prime “nesting” spots for the future.

[COOKIE'N FLUFF MOMMA]

Thanks for the advice. It would kill me to have to seperate them but i wouldn’t want them to hurt each other so i guess i will if i have to. My vet told me I could have them spayed at 4 months, but i’m currently trying to come up with the $300 bucks to do so. You said 6 months. Is 4 months too young you think? Also, my vet dosen’t seem to be too busy with surgeries so i could probably make an appointment now for 2 weeks later.

I’m soo glad my buns are so fluffy cause if they weren’t they would have probably broke some skin.

[Sarita]

They were definitely fighting. And that is all true what Beka said.

Are they both females? I would recommend to wait 6 months if you could to get them spayed.

[Beka27]

i just threw out 6 months as a hypothetical age to make my point. i think most vets are not comfortable doing the surgery at 4 months, that is pretty young. i’d try to wait another month at least. even if you have to separate them for the month, that’s better than putting them thru surgery too young. if you do separate, i’d put the cages or pens next to each other so they can still have some contact and switch cages every ngiht so they do not become overly possessive of their space and the scents are still very fresh. you have the NIC condo now right? maybe purchase an xpen for the second cage instead of building another condo, that way the xpen can be used for something else in the future.

[COOKIE'N FLUFF MOMMA]

I will probably wait at least another month before getting them spayed. It also gives me some time to come up with the funds for it.  I’m actually working on their NIC condo now getting it set up. Its quite large and as of right now it’s in 2 equals peices. Lucky for me i just need to zip tie some grids on the top of both and BINGO!  2 cages!   I’m sad cause i was almost finished with it and they were going to be able to share a new big condo together but looks like plans have changed. No biggie i guess , i will just have to wait till i can rebond them after surgery.

Since they were once pals, do you think it will be somewhat easier to re-bond them after surgery?    or   since they are both females,will it be harder?

I’m going to make sure i finish both cages tonight so i don’t have to worry about them at work tomorrow. My hubby is at home keeping an eye on them together today.  I’ll try to post a pic and ya’ll can let me know if the cages seem ok for a month or so.

ooo  another question…..Is it ok to  go ahead and let them have play time out of their cages together as long as I’m watching them?

[Beka27]

have the two cages right next to each other so they can still interact thru the bars. as long as they are still allowed that, i don’t think it should be very hard to bond them again. the bond might not even completely break. i think playtime together is a good idea, with supervision. but be aware that if they get into too many fights, that might affect re-bonding later on. their memories can be long sometimes.

[charlie82]

Hi,

Four months is a perfectly acceptable age to have them neutered so long as you have a rabbit savvy vet. They must weigh over 1KG, but If I were keeping siblings together (especially does) I would have them neutered now before the fights become more frequent. Once they have one big fight it will be a whole lot harder to rebond them. Good luck!

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