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Can anyone advise on warring buns

nina347

New Kit
:wave: Hiya,this is my first post although i have used the site for advise on numerous occasions and thanks to everyone on here i have suceeded in keeping two beautiful rabbits very happy until now:(
I am mum to two Albino males 1 dwarf lop (Bailey) & 1 lionhead (george).
Bailey was purchased alongside his sister Florence but at 10 weeks a predator unsure what suceeded in gaining access to run & killed Florence:cry: after a very distraught day and a run to the local diy store to
purchase padlocks we then got a 8 week old female to bond with Bailey which went incredibly well, Bailey was then castrated and all was well until it turned out our female (martha) was in fact a male (now George). George has now been castrated & was kept indoors for recovery. Was reintroduced to Bailey & a fight broke out wich resulted in George been rushed to the emergency vets for an operation, his has since recovered. I have now had to purchase a second hutch & run to house George as they fight as soon as look at each other, i now have two lonely buns living apart from each other.
Has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you deal with it, im quite new & rather inexperienced bunny mummy and would appreciate all advice.
kind regards.xx
 
This happens to alot of people don't worry your not the only one to have gone through this. Unfortunately it would be very unwise to ever try and bond these two as after one fight the chances of a bond are very slim. The best option providing you can afford it would be to take on 2 spayed females and bond them with your existing boys to make two male/female pairs. These bonds are normaly the the easiest and there is the option of taking your boys speed dating at a rescue to make sure you don't end up having to split even more bunnies. Good luck and dont beat your self up about this you are clearly doing your best! Naughty bunnies :D
 
I think the fight when you reintroduced them was probably because Bailey began to think of the existing hutch as his own and when you put George back in her thought of him as an intruder.

I'm not sure I would give up just yet. Keep them as far apart from each other as you can for a few weeks until they forget about each other. Then you could try rebonding them on totally neutral ground that neither of them have been on before. Completely disinfect and scrub the old hutches and only put them back in the hutches together if they are properly bonded for a couple of days.
 
Thanks for the advice very much appreciated:) im in the process of checking for any rabbit rescue places near to where i live as i really dont want them to be on there own. They have been out free range today (seperate of course) and biting and growling through run bars at each other:( its such a shame really but bailey really hurt George in fight and his trust has been well and truely shattered but on the plus side george is now incredibly friendly towards us humans now and appreciates a bit of human contact and the occasional cuddle:D if anyone knows of any rabbit rescue centres in the teesside area i would appreciate phone numbers. many thanx once again i dont feel such a bad bunny mummy now :D
 
you could try reintroducing them only on complete nutural territory. I had the same problem with my females. Ted (ted is a girl lol)is now bonded to theo. however i have tried petal with a male but she hurt him badly and i really can't trust her. yeah your best option if you can afford is to see about two females for your boys or seek out a professional to bond your two bonds. it can be done. good luck hun.
 
Thanks for the advice very much appreciated:) im in the process of checking for any rabbit rescue places near to where i live as i really dont want them to be on there own. They have been out free range today (seperate of course) and biting and growling through run bars at each other:( its such a shame really but bailey really hurt George in fight and his trust has been well and truely shattered but on the plus side george is now incredibly friendly towards us humans now and appreciates a bit of human contact and the occasional cuddle:D if anyone knows of any rabbit rescue centres in the teesside area i would appreciate phone numbers. many thanx once again i dont feel such a bad bunny mummy now :D

If you search rabbit rehome the site linked to this forum you should be able to find rescues near you. I still stand by what I said about not bonding them again. You mentioned that one was rushed to the vet for an emergency op, clearly it wasnt a minor scrap and if you can offer a home to 2 more rabbits then there really is no need to risk it. It would be ideal as a new bunny owner to find a rescue that will help you bond to take the pressure of you. Do you have any pictures of your boys? :D

ETA: http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/centres.asp
 
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I may not have read your thread properly, but how long is it since your last bun was neutered? If it is within the last 6 months you may still have a very hormonal bun.

When you bonded the buns where did you do it? Was it in a place where neither had been before? If either had been in the place before how had you gone about cleaning the area before using it for bonding? How big was the space you used to bond them in?
 
I have found a rabbit rescue in my area and we are going to visit very soon. it is less than 6 months since castration and they had been kept apart until George lost his urges but under strict supervision aloud out to play in the garden together and for a couple of weeks all was fine until George spooked Bailey and a fight broke out, they were locked together using back feet to kick but Bailey managed to rip open George's old castration wound and left a hole the size of 50p it was very distressing but managed to get a vet to him within an hour and thankfully George has recovered fully and hes running around the garden with no problems even attempted to climb a tree :lol: we spend hours each day with buns even though they do live outside so we feel we could consider adopting 2 females. i am not going to risk bonding these two again as it was very distressing seeing these cute balls of fluff ripping each other apart:cry:. as soon as i have worked out how i will be putting fotos of my very cute boys up on here.xxx
 
can i just say a massive thanks to everyone who has replied to my post, i really do appreciate you all taking the time to offer some very good advice:D
 
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