Fighting Bunnies

Hi there. We're new to the forum, stumbled across it whilst looking for some advice, so thought we'd join and ask! Here goes:

We currently have three bunnies, Flash, Ruby and Poppy. Flash and Ruby are both around three y/o and have been bonded for about two years They are both neutered. We've had Flash since he was eight weeks and we got Ruby from someone on this site about two years ago. We introduced them and were really surprised at how well they got on from the word go and they have been best friends ever since. They share a large two storey hutch in the garden and they come in the house (usually the lounge) every evening for 2-4 hours whilst we relax/watch TV. They are both very relaxed (although Flash doesn't like to be picked up much!) and never fight. There is occasional mounting and Ruby does nip him sometimes to remind him who is boss but the have never fought.....until now.

We got Poppy at the weekend and she is 9 weeks old. We got her home and let her get settled into her new home (indoor cage) before we let her roam about the house for a bit. We let her roam around the lounge (big mistake!?)

Now, when Flash and Ruby are in the lounge, Flash will try to mount Ruby more often and all hell breaks loose. They start fighting and have to be separated - leading to a fair few bites to my hands! It seems to only happen in the lounge, as in the kitchen they are fine and they still live together with no problems. We tried using Febreeze on the carpet but its fooling no one and they still fight.

Does anyone have any advice on this? Ideally we would like to bond all three (maybe a fourth too) when the time is right. Is this a good idea?

We would appreciate any help/advice as we hate to see our bunnies scrapping.

Hi :wave:

He's basically trying to assert his dominance now that he can see / smell another rabbit. Once the new little bun is a bit older you could try and bond all three, you'll need to find somewhere neutral.

By the way during winter it's not a good idea to bring outdoor rabbits indoors and put them out again as the change in temperature can cause stress for them :?

Good luck with them

The smell of another rabbit (or any other animal) can disrupt how the rabbits feel and act.

Sometimes they feel threatened by the other animal and so turn on their friend.

You could try putting a dab of vanilla above the noses of the pair when they come in so that they can't smell the baby one.

It's not advisable to bond your newest with them until she is spayed and her wound has healed and her hormones died down. You can do a lot of preparation work in that time though, if you want to.

You could try moving your newest bun somewhere where the others don't go if you are concerned about their behaviour.

Hi

I have the same situation as you at the moment. My bonded pair are 1 and 2 (Casper and Cotton) and I have a new girl Katie, who is now 12 weeks old.

Basically I keep the bonded pair well away from Katie, wash my hands inbetween touching them and keep everything, including carriers, toys etc completely separate. Katie has the lounge/dining room and has her own run at one end of the garden. Casper and cotton have the kitchen and utility and their own run at the other end of the garden (out of smelling distance with a barrier covered with a table cloth so they can't see each other!)

They've accidentally come within sight/smell of the new one twice since I had her about 3 weeks ago. They do exactly the same thing as your two. He tries to mount her, she doesnt want it and there's fur pulling and chasing, which is very scary when usually they're so 'loved up' - but both times it happened, as soon as I took the new one out of range they were back to normal within a few minutes. But I am now really really careful as I really don't want to upset casper and cotton's bond.

From the information I've read, I've decided that once Katie's speyed and recovered, I'm going to send all three of them to someone with experience in bondng (you may find that there are rescues in the area that will do it for you). They'll know straight away whether it will work or not, and with the benefit of experience will know what to do to try and successfully bond them. The greatest benefit is that it will be completely neutral territory for them all, which seems to be the very best condition for them to be introduced, and while they're away will give me a chance to thoroughly clean/de-smell everything ready for their (hopefully) happy homecoming as a trio!

I hope it all works out for you. I'll be interested to know how you're getting on.

Vikki



Forgot I hadnt updated my pic of casper and cotton to include katie, felt guilty so added her after!

Thanks for all the advice. All taken on board, we'll keep you updated. As for using vanilla, do you just rub a bit of vanilla essence on their nose>

timb0h said:

By the way during winter it's not a good idea to bring outdoor rabbits indoors and put them out again as the change in temperature can cause stress for them :?

Click to expand...

Are there any visible signs of stress we should notice. We've been doing this for two years now and ours seem to be fine.