Rabbit nipping other rabbit

[Em]

Hi,

I have 3 rabbits; a 16 month old female lionhead, 5 month old male lion lop mix, and a 5 month old female miniature lop. I bonded all three buns – who are all spayed & neutered – about 3 months ago, after the lionhead unfortunately lost her original companion to cancer. I’ve owned rabbits for almost 7 years now, but alas my knowledge does not lie in bonding – other than these three buns, I have only owned two others, one being a singleton due to aggression towards other rabbits and the other being a part of an already established pair prior to adoption. So bonding is new territory for me, hence why I’ve come here for help/advice.

When I originally bonded the rabbits, all was well. I introduced them in neutral territory and they got on like a house on fire – that is, until, the lionhead had to have her spay op. I had her spayed purely for health concerns and prior to this she had zero behavioural issues. For whatever reason she came home with a new found hatred for our miniature lop female and the loveable bond that they had before was destroyed.

Bailey (the lionhead) is now easily irritated and provoked by Rua (the mini lop). Rua is an incredibly submissive rabbit who has zero interest in being in charge – and Bailey knows it, so doesn’t even bother asserting her dominance over her (other than their initial meeting of course). I’ve noticed within the last week or so that Rua is often just sitting with her back turned to Bailey, Bailey approaches her & crouches down almost as if she’s expecting to be groomed by Rua. When Rua hops away and doesn’t groom her, Bailey will stretch forward (not quite lunging – I know what that looks like) and nip her, which scares Rua and makes her dart. Often when she darts, this triggers something in Bailey to chase her – which she stops, but is still scary to witness and forces me to intervene out of concern that she’ll give poor Rua a heart attack.

This only happens when they’re in the house. For whatever reason, they are totally fine when they’re in the garden in their pen – Bailey even grooms her and flops next to her. She will only nip Rua in the house – often for no apparent reason at all. She doesn’t do it every single time, but she still does it at least 80% of the time. Just this morning Bailey walked up to her and sat next to Rua, groomed her, and then suddenly nipped her on the back – when she wasn’t even in her way or doing anything to annoy her. 

Can someone possibly offer me some advice on what to do? Is there anyway to stop this behaviour at all? Both rabbits adore the male, it is just my female lionhead who is causing me problems with the younger girl. I now have to separate them at night, alternating the male between their pens, because I’m just too afraid to leave Bailey unattended with her.

I should note that Rua was spayed about 2 weeks ago, Bailey was spayed 6 weeks ago, and Gatsby was neutered about 2 months ago. I have also tried stress bonding the rabbits in the bathroom, but they just ignore each other and will happily sit next to each other grooming. It’s just whenever they’re in the house or have freedom outside of a playpen, Bailey will nip at Rua and if she runs, will chase her. There is no mounting going on, it’s just that Bailey seems like she almost just can’t resist to nip Rua. I understand that I’ll have to re-bond both rabbits, I’m just unsure of the best technique to take when no stress bonding method bothers them and they just exhibit this behaviour when they’re either given free run of the house, or even when they’re locked in a pen in the house. Outside and in stress bonding activities, that act like totally different rabbits. 

Help? 

[Mikey]

Stretching out forward to nip/bite then chase, is a lunge. She is lunging. They may be bonded outside in the garden, but they are not bonded in your home. Everywhere you plan to have your bunnies, they need to go through bonding sessions.

Does your lop ever groom your lionhead? It seems to be the lack of returned grooms that is causing the aggression. Swapping your male like that can also cause aggression between all three of them, so pick one to bond him with and stop swapping him around or work on bonding a pure trio.

Youre also trying to bond way too early after theyve been fixed. Females can take up to six months to drain their hormones (average 2 months), and males can take up to 2 months to drain their hormones (average 1 month). If even one rabbit is still hormonal, it can cause either or both of the others to also act hormonally.

It would be best if everyone is single for right now, and you work to bond them properly in about a month. I say this because rabbits can hold grudges, and rabbits with grudges will not bond with the rabbits they have a grudge against. So the longer you let your lionhead bully your lop, the more likely they will never bond. Likewise, the more you swap your male around, the less likely the girls will ever bond.

[Em]

Oh, ok. I guess I misread her behaviour initially then. I’ve been lunged at by her when I first adopted her (she wasn’t used to people) and it was much more severe then what she’s doing to the mini lop. The stretch she’s doing is a slow stretch vs the fast stretch she does when she’s lunged at me in the past. When she goes for the lop, she slowly stretches forward, pauses like she’s thinking about it, then nips. Now I know that that is a lunge, so thank you for the clarification.

They were also bonded months ago. Before being fixed. They had zero behaviour issues prior to fixing – all three were a happy trio, grooming each other and snuggling. All of them were done due to health concerns after I lost the other lionhead (who was the current lionheads mother) to cancer, not because anybody was being cranky/hormonal, so I don’t think I was trying to bond too soon – after all, they were already bonded and had been for 2-3months. For whatever reason after the lionhead stayed overnight at the vet (she didn’t come around smoothly after her spay op like they had hoped, so made her stay for precautions) she came back with a burning hatred for the lop – even though they had only be apart for 24 hours. Currently no rabbits are displaying hormonal behaviour with relation to mounting and things like that. It is just the lionhead who will often nip the mini lop if she gets too close – she came back an incredibly territorial rabbit.

All of that out of the way, comes to think of it, the mini lop actually rarely does groom the lionhead – she doesn’t even groom the lion-lop either. So if this is the root of the aggression, how do I go about solving it? I’ve rubbed banana on the lionheads head the instigate grooming, and the mini lop did groom her to get the banana off (and the lionhead allowed her to without displaying any aggression at all), but only briefly before she had enough.

[Mikey]

Yea, lunges can be hard to read. Some lunges are much more aggressive than others

Unfixed/hormonal rabbits cannot bond. They can make friends, but that changes quickly when hormones enter the picture, even if the hormonal bun isnt really aggressive. Since the two lop/mixes are still so young, the older two likely didnt act out since they understood that the babies were babies/nonhormonal. But they are at the age to be hormonal, even after being spayed/neutered. Even spayed/neutered buns can become hormonal for a few days/a week every few months or years. For many, Spring brings on hormonal phases, too.

Keep going with the banana. If thats the only way to get her to groom, keep trying. But first, they really should be separated for a few weeks longer to ensure the aggression is not hormonally driven

[Em]

Ah, gotcha.

When you say to keep them separated for a few weeks, how long does it have to be exactly? and can I keep the two lops as a pair and the lionhead as a singleton, and then re-introduce them after the separation period has passed?

I ask because I have to go back to uni in August, and I’d really like to have them an established trio before that so that they’re not a pain for family who care for them during the weekdays while I’m away. That, and my lop boy does absolutely horrible when kept by himself – so ideally I’d like to keep him with the mini lop, if at all possible. Would a month separated be long enough, or would you suggest even longer than that?

[Mikey]

About two weeks they should be separated, just to ensure hormones arnt playing a part in the lunging and nipping So around July 12th, you should be able to try bonding them again. Note that some rabbits take up to two months, making August 12th the date to start if they are still too aggressive July 12th. You will have to go at their pace, too. Not all bunnies will bond together fast, and if you push them sooner than they are ready, you can end up with your buns never wanting to bond together at all.

Bonding sessions and prebonding will also need to be kept up daily. If you wont be home at all during the weekdays while you are in school, you might be out of luck when it comes to bonding them as a trio, if they are not bonded by the time you leave. Bonding for only 2 or 3 days a week isnt going to create any real bonds, and really isnt enough time to try to cemented bonds. Unless your parents are willing to go through bonding sessions daily while you are away, you might have to wait until you have a few months off to work on bonding them.

[Em]

Great, thank you for all the help! I’ve been reading up on bonding rabbits, yet when it comes to actually doing it, I feel so lost – so I really appreciate the input.

& it’s ok if they take longer to bond – I’m willing to go at their pace. While it’d be nice to have them bonded before I have to go back to college (for my own peace of mind, really), they’re in the care of my sibling when I’m away so she can easily take over the bonding sessions.

Just a quick question, I hope you don’t mind: when you say pre-bonding sessions, this is just keeping them in pens side by side, right? and feeding them side by side though separated by bars? or am I thinking of something else? So in about 2 weeks I should try introducing them again through bonding sessions daily, and the pre-bonding would just consist of them eating their meals side by side in their own pens and things like that?

[Mikey]

Preprebonding is having their cages and pens 10 inches apart, to smell and see one another at all times, but cannot reach. Prebonding is when you swap all of their items once a day, so they can mark and swap their scents around Youll do preprebonding and prebonding for the next few weeks, and all through bonding sessions when they get to that point, until they are bonded and sharing a space.

[Author]

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