• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

can someone pls tell me whats going on and what to do

cuteboyz

Warren Scout
My two boys are brothers and have always been together, they are about 8 mths old and both castrated.
They have a fairly big enclosure, on a couple of levels, (there are photos on here of it on previous threads), and they also have access to free roam the house when supervised.
Although they have room enough to be apart from each other they have always stay together, they always lie side by side, and if one is in a tunnel so is the other etc etc its like they are joined at the hip, until last night that is..........
There was so much banging and crashing and chasing and fur flying for most of the night.
Mallow is the smaller of the two, but he is chasing Teasel and biting his bum or hind quaters and pulling fur out in clumps, although they are both fairly long haired and molting badly so the fur being pulled is probably loose so its looking worse than maybe it is.
Teasel is now petrified of him though, he goes into a panic whenever Mallow comes near him, he runs and jumps as fast and as high as he can which I'm sure is making Mallow worse, he chases and grabs at Teasels rear end which in turn makes Teasel worse which again makes Mallow chase more.............
Eventually Teasel will back his bum into a corner, when he does this and they are face to face Mallow will just look at him and then wander off, until Teasel moves that is and then it all starts again.
I checked them both very carefully this morning, there are no wounds or cuts or abrasions or anything on either of them, no smells or dirty bums, not even any bald patches on Teasel although I swept up an awful lot of his fur this morning.
Poor Teasel is frightened to move now though, he just hides in a tunnel or tent or sits in a corner and cant move cos as soon as he does Mallow will chase him and grab at him etc, he was even too frightened to come out into the open for his breakfast earlier.
Can anyone tell me whats going on and why and what I need to do please, I really dont want to seperate them but am really worried for poor Teasel, I cant have him living in fear but dont understand why this has suddenly happened when they have always been so very close and friendly :cry:
Is this something that happens periodically for some reason or other and will go back to normal when hormones etc calm, although as I said they are both castrated. Or does this mean their bond is breaking and if so why would that just happen overnight like this?
Oh God sorry, its just stressing me so much to see my beautiful boy frightened of his own shadow :cry:
 
First are both Rabbits eating and pooing ? This is VERY important

Have you tried moving them both into a small neutral area to see how they interact there ?
 
Thanks for replying Jane, yes they are both eating and both pooing, although I had to feed Teasel seperately this morning because he wouldnt come out into the open to share breakfast like they normally would.
And no I havent tried them somewhere neutral, they wander the house, upstairs and downstairs, although I always have my front room door closed so they cant go in there, just too many cables etc in there, I will go get them both and pop them supervised in the front room and see how they react
 
I would immediately move them into a much smaller area - a neutral space literally a dog cage size in a neutral space - then watch them like a hawk for at least 48 hours - (well - not quite like a hawk . .. . ). If you can take them for a drive first (to unsettle them and make them emotionally close ) that would be excellent - in fact if that works well I would repeat it.

You could also try rubbing your hands on something with a light 'scent' of some kind and then rubbing that on both of them - in case one has picked up a scent of some kind that has annoyed the other (cant see how from your description of where they live but it is possible).

When I say scent I dont mean a perfume but something like rubbing your hands on herbs or something else natural and quite strong smelling.
 
well we are all in the front room and I would say everything is normal, they are a little subdued, obviously due to being somwhere unfamiliar, but they are back to being superglued at the hip, totally together, they have had a little dig of one of the dogbeds which is in an alcove and are now nestled together on it taking it in turns to lick each others heads, if I hadnt witnessed all the trauma, upheavel and stress I would say everything was normal.........so confusing.

Parsnipbun I did wonder about smells, thats why I mentioned I checked their bums were clean, I grow herbs for them so will do what you suggest. I dont drive but will also suggest to my hubby when he comes home from work to take them for a little drive, I'm sure he will think I have gone quite bonkers :lol: although being in this unfamiliar room I suspect has also had the unsettling reaction your mentioning
 
well we are all in the front room and I would say everything is normal, they are a little subdued, obviously due to being somwhere unfamiliar, but they are back to being superglued at the hip, totally together, they have had a little dig of one of the dogbeds which is in an alcove and are now nestled together on it taking it in turns to lick each others heads, if I hadnt witnessed all the trauma, upheavel and stress I would say everything was normal.........so confusing.

Parsnipbun I did wonder about smells, thats why I mentioned I checked their bums were clean, I grow herbs for them so will do what you suggest. I dont drive but will also suggest to my hubby when he comes home from work to take them for a little drive, I'm sure he will think I have gone quite bonkers :lol: although being in this unfamiliar room I suspect has also had the unsettling reaction your mentioning

The drive (necessitating as it does a small bunny crate which they should be crammed in together) will make them cling to each other and also transfer smells from one to the other!
 
The drive (necessitating as it does a small bunny crate which they should be crammed in together) will make them cling to each other and also transfer smells from one to the other!

Ah, thank you, its so obvious once you've told me :)

It's odd isn't it, any other animal having these sort of problems we would say give them lots of space so they can get away from each other etc, but with rabbits we say make their space smaller and more confined, I still struggle with that because all my instincts tell me to give all my animals as much space as I possibly can. I understand what your saying and why, and of course I will follow all advice given, I'm just chatting :)

All is quiet at the moment, and has been since I moved them, fingers crossed it continues, thank you for your help :)
 
update and thanks

Just wanted to say thank you to Jane and parsnipbun for your help yesterday :thumb:

My cuteboyz are just that once again, no argueing, chasing or fur pulling, just two very cute bunnies :love:
Teasel is happy to come out and play again, no more fear or hiding and Mallow is being very nice to him :love:

All the problems stopped as soon as Jane said to move them into somewhere neutral, the instant they went into the front room the unwanted behaviour stopped. I should have thought of that myself really but at the time I was so upset and stressed that my brain just wasn't working :roll: oops:

I am still confused though, what could have caused all this? :?
I wonder if it was a scent thing, but cant see how it could have been really.
Does anyone have any experience of this, if I can find out what caused it I can hopefully make sure it doesn't happen again.
 
Back
Top