Really need innovative ideas – brother bunny breakup

[LisaC.]

My family (mom, stepdad, teenage son) adopted two gorgeous rabbits at the beginning of January.  Sometime during January something happened – we are speculating that one of our previous rabbits peed on a bookshelf – and the two of them started fighting over territory in the dining room.  The larger rabbit – Titan – seems to be the instigator.  He attacks  his brother Atlas with extreme ferocity.  We don’t allow them to fight but since they are in separate areas if one breaks out he usually gets to the other one despite our best efforts. 

We contacted the rescue for advice and started the “dates” but Titan just freaks out and loses it anytime he is anywhere close to Atlas and can access him physically.  They are obviously in separate enclosures for safety and we switch the free bun in the middle of the day so they both get plenty of play/interaction time.  Unfortunately this has led to a lot of marking behavior and the area around each enclosure is covered in pee.   The house constantly smells, and I just feel like we’re failing them.    Because they have had such a long relationship already and the “dates” have been an unmitigated disaster, we are going to try the “trauma therapy” (car ride, vacuum cleaner, etc) to see if that makes a difference. 

If I am honest, this is not what I pictured AT ALL.  We had two bonded rabbits before and they were so sweet together, but they were older when we got them and since one was incontinent, they stayed in their enclosure most of the time.  We got these two because we wanted house rabbits to interact with the family and that’s just not what happened.   And that’s OK – animals aren’t a happy meal order, and we are committed to keeping them and doing our best to keep them both happy and safe.

I had read that sometimes adding a 3rd, opposite sex rabbit can help to mend broken bonds, but I haven’t had any experience with that and I would want to think long and hard before taking on another animal.  We have quite the menagerie here. 

Any help/tips/wild ideas/experience would be deeply appreciated and implemented if possible.

Thanks,
Lisa

[Wick & Fable]

Sorry you’re going through this Lisa! Can you provide some additional information?

1) How old are both the rabbits?
2) Are they both neutered? If so, for how long?

If neither or only one of them are neutered, they cannot really bond at this point. Rabbits do not understand the concept of family. Young rabbit siblings will get along fine, but not because they’re siblings, but because they’re young— their hormones haven’t kicked in yet. The smelly urine and aggression are all hormonal driven, so as long as those hormones are still there, there’s no chance of a bond.

They currently have really bad air between them, so I’d discontinue any dates/interactions. A bond will not be possible if they constantly are holding grudges. They need to forget each other.

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.

[LisaC.]

They are both neutered and have been for a while. The rescue people can’t seem to agree on their age – the first person said about a year but their foster mom thought it was more like 6months. Unfortunately we don’t have the room for two large enclosures where they can’t see each other.

[Wick & Fable]

Were they neutered prior to you getting them, and did you go through the bonding process with them, or were they given to you already bonded?

Are there any new scents around or anything like that? Environmental changes? Was one taken away temporarily and came back (i.e. vet visit) potentially smelling different?

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.

[Sirius&Luna]

Oh I’ve never met another Atlas! I have a bunny called Atlas too.

I’m sorry that this has happened though. I have three unbonded rabbits at the moment, so I really feel you on the marking everywhere. It’s so draining.

While unlikely, sometimes bunnies do just fight in a new home, possible once they felt more settled in, the previous undominant bun (Titan?) decided to try his luck.

I would go back to the bonding basics unfortunately. So swap them between pens for about a month, or until you stop seeing signs of aggression. Then try short bonding sessions in neutral.

Honestly, adding a third is a coin toss. Bringing a third bunny home is what contributed to splitting my pair up, so I would leave that as a last resort rather than a first option.

[Author]

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