Baffled by new behaviours

Had my girl now for about 5 months (baring in mind they are my rabbits) We've recently bought a bag of small carrots shes been getting a couple daily while downstairs. (They live freerange upstairs but don't/can't go down the stairs, can rabbits actually walk down the stairs themselves? they only seem to come up)

They're roughly both over a year old. Very friendly confident rabbits, the buck is more reserved than her and doesn't show as much "hyperactiveness" as her. Theres two new behaviours the girl, Queenie has developed. One leading back to the carrots, they live in a house with my family, youngest is 12 and loves her to bits. What I've discovered recently is once given one of these carrots you cannot be near her, she will pick it up and run to another part of the kitchen. Even if you do not crouch and just approach to get something off a work surface she will relocate herself while eating. It's made me wonder if someones teased her with food to begin doing this? Shes never shown any other behaviour like this regarding food.

The other behaviour is going absolutely nuts to get to the run when the buck is in it. We've got it double barred off with an old rat cage we bought specifically for "nose protection" through the bars. They're still not fully bonded and she does enjoy giving him a nip anywhere when doing bonding sessions (Which she has became more tollerable of him but they both seem to want to be dominant, he will always put his head down wanting grooming, she has groomed him a few times, other than that she wants none of it)

The rabbits have accidently collided before in the room which resulted in a fight in a room the run is in. (Someone left the baby gate open we got to keep them apart from upstairs/downstairs) Is she just trying to spoil for a fight? She does just seem to sit there, or bite at the runs bars if she gets behind the first bars, i've watched her do this. He's never shown any aggression to her, just wants his head groomed.

Any ideas?

Well firstly the food behaviour is absolutely normal. They are very posessive over their food. The only thing you won't like to hear is that carrots are too high in sugar for rabbits annd could upset the delicate balance in their intestines resulting in sickness. So you should only give tiny amounts if any. Spring greens are healthier, herbs better still. You can also give cabbage. Readigrass makes a nice treat. Small amounts are better for bunny. Onto the other thing you mention, is the female neutered? It sounds like she isn't. This is normal hormonal behaviour annd she would become friendlier if she was spayed. I am assuming the male is neutered. Also rabbits are very territorial so if she is in an area she considers hers, she will defend it. Any more pproblems please come back.

They're both netured/spayed. She does only get 2 a day of these since they were bought, it's not on our usual shopping list had them bought for her and she does get the other greens don't worry about that.

My general impression is that at about 5 months rabbits go through a period of growing up, & establishing their place in the household. neutering reduces this but need not make it go away completely.
I think you're seeing "food possessiveness" which is OK at this stage, but not if she becomes more aggressive over it & "territorial issues/dominance".
One of the best rabbit behaviourists in the UK is Anne MacBride. It might be worth seeing if you can get any of her books on rabbit behaviour?

The problem is, they're both over a year old so I don't think it's the growing up stages. I'll check down the library on monday for her books, thanks.

Fennic said:

The problem is, they're both over a year old so I don't think it's the growing up stages. I'll check down the library on monday for her books, thanks.

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I'm so sorry I didn't read your post properly. My sincere apologies it can be very annoying.

Re the stairs - rabbits can go up easier than down. Is there carppet on them so bunnies won't slip? The problem with rabbits coming down stairs is they are in danger of toppling head over heels. But most learn to negotiiate them safely. When you are trying to bond them., do you put them in a neutral area?

They're in a netural area when bonding yes. The stairs isn't carpeted unfortunately and I don't own the house to change this.

Fennic said:

They're in a netural area when bonding yes. The stairs isn't carpeted unfortunately and I don't own the house to change this.

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Sorry I forgot this aspect. They do need a good grip to manage stairs. I taught both of mine, starting at the bottom stair & gradually increasing the numbers. They'll go up fine, 2-3 at a time, but had to learn to come down diagonally.