Rabbits fighting- should I rehome?

[Cay07]

Hi all,

I have three 15 week old male rabbits who were all neutered last Tuesday (9 days ago). They were all born on the same day from the same litter and have been well bonded since as they have not been separated for longer than an hour. They always play, eat, groom and sleep together.

Yesterday after I put them away from their playtime, two of my rabbits broke out into an awful fight! There was fur everywhere, scratching, biting, lunging. You name it, they did it. At one point I opened the hutch to separate them and they fell out, neither of the two rabbits noticed and they continued to fight. All of the rabbits seemed to instigate the fights at different times, I continued splitting them up for about an hour and a half (maybe too long I know, I didn’t want to ruin any bond they had left), then split them up and placed them in different areas of the hutch as I have a two storey hutch. Two of the rabbits were fine together at the top of the hutch until this morning when I tried reintroducing the three of them to each other through breakfast and once they had all finished they lunged at each other, with yet again more fluff everywhere. After this, the two who slept together last night started fighting so had to be separated. Now I have one on each floor of the hutch and one in the playpen.

After speaking to my vet, she pointed out that after fighting so badly rabbits don’t tend to bond again as they replace good memories with bad ones.

I wish I could afford three hutches, three runs/playpens and three lots of everything else but as a student teacher I cannot nor do I have the room to place them all in separate rooms in my house as I live with a large family.

Is it cruel to rehome them? It’s breaking my heart thinking about giving two away, but I don’t want them to hurt each other anymore.

Do I have any other options?

Sorry if this is long winded!!

[DanaNM]

Hi there, excuse brevity as I’m on my phone, just wanted to chime in.

Was any bun seriously injured? If not, then I don’t think things are not salvageable.

Buns don’t really bond as babies, so the fighting is due to puberty (and changing smells as their hormones drain post neuter). If you can arrange temporary separate housing, you can try rebounding them.

Will try to respond with more later, but nic cube grids are great for making temporary housing during bonding.

Sorry you are having such a stressful time of it!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Bunny House]

I agree, baby bunnies don’t actually bond. Once a neuter or spay happens, hormones can surge for up to 3 months and so they will each need to be separated until their hormones calm down, then you will need to prebond and then bond them. Bunnies are not like dogs and can’t be put together and expect them to be fine.

You can buy the NIC grids and make a 5×5 or larger cage for each bun and make sure you have something soft on the bottom of the cage and let them be for a month or so, then start prebonding but of course they each need their individual exercise time (3-4hrs) for each one a day.
There is no need to rehome until you have gone through all the proper steps and still no happy ending. Bonding can be stressful but it’s worth it in the end

[Cay07]

Thank you for your reply!

No none of the bunnies were seriously hurt, one had a lot more fur pulled out and due to it being so thick I have found it hard to check for any damage to his skin.

I’m glad you told me about baby rabbits not bonding, that gives me so much relief.

One rabbit is really anxious now, when previously he was quite loving whereas now he doesn’t like to be pet or near anyone. The noise of my house seems to scare him a lot so I’m going to leave it a week and see if he comes round, if not I have a friend who lives alone who may be able to give him the quiet and reassurance I can’t with such a busy house.

Luckily, friends have pulled together and lent me some large cages that I can place the rabbits in for the next few months so I can attempt to make my hutch neutral ground again to avoid fighting.

[Cay07]

Thank you for your reply Bunny House!

Sorry I didn’t see it when I replied to the reply, please see above my new plan of action. Fingers crossed I can get my brother bunnies together again!

[DanaNM]

Glad you made a new plan of action! Sounds like you have some good options lined up.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Asriel and Bombur]

I might give it more than a week. Some bunnies can be a bit slow to come around, especially something traumatic like that on top of being neutered.

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