Aggressive rabbits

Id like to know if there is anything i can do besides spey (which she is being booked in for in 2 months time when her partner (and daughter) is of age and so can be speyed at the same time.

What is embarrasing is it is my own rabbit Moonshine that is so aggressive.
I don't know if she had a bad experience in the past. She used to for about 4 months, up until Star died, get along well with my other two (her and star were not close though as Star didnt appreciate "sharing attention".

I will let all the girl buns out together supervised, and for some reason, all another rabbit has to do is look at her and she turns into a rottie. She has only been interlocking (on her side thrashing legs) with another rabbit 3 times, all the rest has been run and bite, but that is besides the point. She is a whippet of a rabbit to so no rabbit stands a chance outrunning her.

She will do this to any rabbit except Scraggles (her daughter whom she is living with) Sharon, a rescue rabbit whom she will groom, and Bear a neutered giant X whom seems to be a close friend of hers.

I am almost at the point of creating a rabbit muzzle >.<

If I get interlocking during a bond I will stop it immediately as it's a very aggressive and dangerous manouver.

If she is an exceptionally dominant character who only gets to 'play' with your other females every now and then I would imagine she feels the need to put anyone she see's as a threat to her status into their place everytime she is re-introduced to them.

Speying should help but this sounds like a character trait of hers and this style of companionship may just not be suited to her.

I personally would not let her run with the others again until after her spey and if it continues in this vein i would abandon the idea totally.

I will always interfere in interlocking, as i see that as the worst aggressive behaviour. There was a period when she was okay being out with my 2 before i started taking in others. Its due to her chracter that when she had a litter i kept one baby with her as she had bonded with her from birth and their bond hasnt broken. I do not see though why she is fine with two others yet any other its "out for blood" time.

By the way thank you for answering Sooz, i was hoping you would as i know how experienced you are with all aspects of care and know if anyone knows why/what to do, you would

I had a male rabbit come in who had several "interlocking (on his side thrashing legs)" experiences but with my trouser leg. He was an absolute nutter and even when we got him neutered it took a long time for him to calm down to the point you could put your hand in his cage. We tried him with a couple of girls and he wasn't having any of it and then he met "the one" fell in love and is as happy as you like.

I would suggest keeping Moonshine seperate from the others and for a while after her spay too - let her hormones calm down and then try her again. It might be a case of finding her soul mate before she happily settles with another bun.

It isnt a problem with finding her a friend, she is bonded to her daughter, Scraggles and is friendly with two of the rescue buns, sharon and Bear, its just any other rabbit, when they are all out together on the grass.

I would never dream of letting rabbits out together that don't normally live with one another as it's quite normal behaviour for her to 'see off' any contenders who might be wanting attention from her bonded partner or friends (including you). It is just asking for trouble so I wouldn't do it - my group of girls used to fight when Tia's hutch was on the patio - even though I put boards round it so they couldn't see her, if they got a peep of her through one of the cracks round the 'barricade' they would have a pop at each other as they couldn't get to her - if they could have got to her they would have torn her limb from limb but I don't call that aggressive behaviour - I call it normal behaviour.

elve said:

I would never dream of letting rabbits out together that don't normally live with one another as it's quite normal behaviour for her to 'see off' any contenders who might be wanting attention from her bonded partner or friends (including you). It is just asking for trouble so I wouldn't do it - my group of girls used to fight when Tia's hutch was on the patio - even though I put boards round it so they couldn't see her, if they got a peep of her through one of the cracks round the 'barricade' they would have a pop at each other as they couldn't get to her - if they could have got to her they would have torn her limb from limb but I don't call that aggressive behaviour - I call it normal behaviour.

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I'm with Elve. It will be stressing her out no end, especially when she has hormones to deal with too.

After her spay, you may be able to rebond her (permanently), but I wouldn't let her get too used to these fights - it's way harder to bond once that has happened between 2 buns.

I'd agree with Elve there. I think bunnies either need to be bonded or not, so occasional meetings will just cause stress and agression as every time they are having to restablish who's top bunny. I am guessing it could aslo cause trouble with the bonded pairs. I would stick to letting rabbits who are bonded and living together out together without other buns and rotate the time they have out

My Poppy used to be agressive, she is a sweetheart now but if I come in smelling of another rabbit she'll go mental and attack me and the other two buns. She is very insecure so she gets scared and attacks. Sounds like Moonshine could have similar issues?

elve said:

I would never dream of letting rabbits out together that don't normally live with one another as it's quite normal behaviour for her to 'see off' any contenders who might be wanting attention from her bonded partner or friends (including you). It is just asking for trouble so I wouldn't do it - my group of girls used to fight when Tia's hutch was on the patio - even though I put boards round it so they couldn't see her, if they got a peep of her through one of the cracks round the 'barricade' they would have a pop at each other as they couldn't get to her - if they could have got to her they would have torn her limb from limb but I don't call that aggressive behaviour - I call it normal behaviour.

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I'm definitely with Elve there too.
We have a group of 5 and 3 bonded pairs. Theye never ever mix with each other.
She's just doing what comes naturally to her which is asserting her authority over buns she doesn't know/is not bonded with.
I dont think that speying her will stop that behaviour, its perfectly natural.
I wouldn't dream of ever mixing our groups for any period of time in any space.