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Bond pretty much broken

Stator

Warren Veteran
Lilly (fn) and Wally (mn) have been together for 3 years, Lilly has always been the boss and Wally put up with it. Whenever she was aggressive he would run away, no problem and they would groom and sit together a lot of the time. Wally always used to do a courting dance around Lilly in the evening, sometimes ending in a big flop in front of her and sometimes ending in her getting a bit annoyed and telling him to sod off. A few days ago he tried to mount her and it ended in a fight. Surprisingly he didn't run away but must have come off better because now he is being very aggressive and she is acting scared of him. She has a small cut next to a tiny bit of missing fur, but it's clean and not very big. They are staying apart for the most part but every now and then she will approach him with ears forward and low to the ground in a friendly / submissive manner but he will just pounce on her and chase her away. Sometimes he will also just chase her for no reason at all and it doesn't stop when she runs away, he is quite persistent.

He used to be such a sweet boy but now he's turned in to a bit of a nasty ****** :(

One car trip didn't seem to help, another one tomorrow I guess. Not really sure when to separate them or leave them together, the stress of one of them being locked in the hutch is not good for their bowels since they tend to hold everything in rather than use the litter tray inside the hutch. Is it fair to leave her with him knowing he is harassing her quite often? Or is it not that big a deal since she is running away? Pah, I don't know. Bloody rabbits. Trying a rebond indoors might be an answer, but I'm not sure they would get over the fear of being indoors and it's not really warm enough to put them out again.

:(
 
It does sound like you need to go back to basics. I think you need to decide which is the lesser of the two evils (coming inside or restricting hutch space). Is there anything different in their environment that could have triggered it? It's a real pain when there is a breakdown in the bond and seemingly no reason for it!!
 
What a nightmare :(

Is everything ok with them both healthwise? Id maybe get them both to the vets for a check up incase theres something brewing thats not obvious.

I *think* if it were mine I would take it back to basics at this point. It sounds like theres major hierarchy issues going on, maybe spurred by abit of spring fever. Is there a neutral space you can rebond them in? Maybe a bathroom?
:wave:
 
What a nightmare, I live in fear of our two falling out. Spring madness has caused a bit of chasing, with Ori seemingly trying to exert some authority he just doesn't have. Hope you can sort them out.
 
Tim, any chance one of them is experiencing a non-visible health issue?

A complete change-around in bond dynamics may suggest a possible health issue somewhere?
 
I don't think there is a health issue, they all had their jabs a few weeks ago and had a full checkup from the good vet. I'm pretty sure it was just Wally trying to hump Lilly that caused the initial fight and this is all based around that one incident :?

The only neutral place is indoors and the temperature difference is just too big at the moment, they couldn't stay indoors because I rent.

I left them together overnight and worried but although there was quite a bit of chasing this morning there was no fur because Lilly is still just running away. He's still just lunging towards her for no reason though and I don't know if it's fair to leave her with him :(
 
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