Alfie and Lillibet are fighting please help me

hello everyone I hope you can help us
my bunnies are minilops had them since they were 8 weeks old, they came from the same breeder but not the same litter, they were seperated at 3 months old but were constantly side by side and continued to groom each other through pen panels, they were both neutered at 6 months old but on vet advice stayed apart for a further month and they re united with no trouble at all,
last week after being back together for over a month they suddenly had an awful fight and Lillibet ended up with 2 injured ears, I took her to the vets and she was given anti biotics and the vet gave her a quick check over, she listened to her heart and felt her bladder saying just checking there wasnt signs of illness which may have turned her nasty towards alfie, I didnt see the start of the fight but for a day or two before hand she had been mounting Alfie a lot which he clearly didnt like but just ran away, I can only asume this started the fighting off,
they are back to being seperated like before but the past few days we have been allowing them supervised contact and they have been fine, even up to nearly 4 hours together on Wednesday night but on Thursday night once more a fight broke out after 2 hours of them being together, again sadly I didnt see the start of it and I feel bad about that
im so upset, they had been so loveing before all this, I assumed the mounting was Lillibet trying to be dominant over Alfie I just didn't understand why after so long, they are both now 8 and half months old
some people have said its a territorial problem some one has even sugested that lillibets op may have failed and that she is broody and loseing her temper with alfie, I dont know what to think or do
thanks for taking the time to read this hope you can offer advice as I would love them to be happy contented bunnies again
Mo xx

My first question would be where are you allowing them time together?

If you are letting them 'out' together where they currently go, then this could be a a major problem as each will possibly tolerate each other until one tries to 'claim' the space. Neutral just doesn't mean somewhere that doesn't smell of them, it can be things like sounds, sights, other smells that they recognise as home.

If it's neutral, and a small space then I'm not sure why, other than the fact they simply don't want to live together.

I see this frequently sad to say, that rabbits as youngsters develop into maturity and then just don't get along any more. Hormones and the survival instinct will always be strong in rabbits, and in neutered bunnies, the hormones do subside but they can still have some residual behaviours on occasion. The survival instinct might kick in if there were injuries in the past and the rabbits now almost expect to be attacked again.

If you are not giving them time together in a small neutral space, than that will be the probably cause and You need to stop doing this before the dislike escalates further. Neutrality is key for bonding and also for rebonding once paired up rabbits.

Tell us a bit more about how you are trying to reintroduce them.

Helen

Could you please tell us what their living area consists of and are they getting lots of hay. I think you need to be able to monitor them to find out who is starting the fighting, but having saiid that I would separate any of my pairs if they have had a couple of fights because iit may be a clash of personalities.

tonibun said:

Could you please tell us what their living area consists of and are they getting lots of hay. I think you need to be able to monitor them to find out who is starting the fighting, but having saiid that I would separate any of my pairs if they have had a couple of fights because iit may be a clash of personalities.

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??

you named your bunny for the queen? good idea.

hello, thanks for replying, their homes and pens for security are in the lounge side by side and when I let them out of the pens they have the run of the lounge and kitchen which they have always done, it sounds like from what you are saying that this is my problem and that i should use a room they havnt been in before
to answer the other question they have constant access to hay
haha yes lillibet was named after the queen as we got them the Jubilee weekend, well spoted

since writting this above ive liked your page on facebook and read your notes on bonding, to add to what ive said already they will share a food bowl and do groom each other and I do spend time on the floor with them hand feeding both, its seeing all this nice behaviour which is what confuses me as to how it can suddenly turn nasty
Mo

mo bunny said:

hello, thanks for replying, their homes and pens for security are in the lounge side by side and when I let them out of the pens they have the run of the lounge and kitchen which they have always done, it sounds like from what you are saying that this is my problem and that i should use a room they havnt been in before
to answer the other question they have constant access to hay
haha yes lillibet was named after the queen as we got them the Jubilee weekend, well spoted

since writting this above ive liked your page on facebook and read your notes on bonding, to add to what ive said already they will share a food bowl and do groom each other and I do spend time on the floor with them hand feeding both, its seeing all this nice behaviour which is what confuses me as to how it can suddenly turn nasty
Mo

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Aha, I had spotted a new liker


I think the thing is that bunnies like to avoid confrontation where possible so probably 'like' each other for the most part, until a button gets pressed - in other words someone tries to push their luck.

If you can find somewhere totally different to try some dating (kitchen/bathroom) that might bring some slightly better results.

Keeping bunnies amused often diverts their attention from the having to 'get along' but ultiimately they have to get together for long enough to sort out their issues and that might indeed mean a bit of mounting and fur pulling but never as far as biting or scratching and drawing blood.

I think you have a really good chance of rebonding if you can do it in a different spot, but currently both bunnies see the other as coming into their space as they share it.

thanks again I will try anything to get them happy together again and if I could get to the bottom of what that button is id be on to a winner lol
im sure its lillibet wanting to be top bunny and alfie does seem happy with that so she just has to realise it

well after a week of speed dateing in the hallway yesterday we tried them back in the lounge together, we closed off the 2 pens they had been in since the fight and brought the cleaned two story hutch back into the room to see what they would do, after 8 hours of going in and out of it together and running around the lounge without signs of worry we left them to sleep together over night, all seems well today but im still a little nervous of course that it could kick off again but im quiet a happy Mo Bunny today

help.. its all gone bad again, I just don't understand whats going on, the bunnies were re bonded completly on Saturday 29th December, all was well and they spent the night back together, on the Sunday Lillibet had a bad bang on the head and although seemed fine at first ended up needing to see a vet in the evening suffering concussion, it was an awful shock and worry and she had to spend the night at the vets on a drip, she came home in the afternoon of new years eve quiet but thankfully recovered with no worries, we allowed them supervised time together that evening but on the vets advice seperated them over night but side by side again, yesterday, new years day they were fine and spent all day together sometimes in a pen in the lounge sometimes running around, at 9pm last night as we watched them lying side by side grooming we said they would be fine together over night then at 9.30 out of the blue a full on chase around the lounge began, she was chasing him,
we stopped the chase and calmed down each bunny, or so we thought, with in mins the chase began again, they spent the night apart, some things ive read may say that was wrong but given the original fight which ended up with lillibet at the vets with both ears injured I couldnt risk it
Today im back to controlled contact and have stopped any signs of confrontation but one chase did get nasty so they are chilling out in side by side pens and im back here again....will they or me every be able to relax, I dont understand how they can be so content together for so long then it all kick off again

Im in a similar boat, i have 2 6 month old half sisters that lived together from 12 weeks and got on really well untill a month ago when one started chasing the other constantly and biting her bum or pulling out fur,so i got them spayed and the same situation kept playing out,they are in 2 double hutches in my dining room at the moment as i didnt want them living alone outside, with my 2 the one that gets bit allways starts it,with bum sniffing and humping and then the other gets the hump and rightly so lol.
So fingers crossed in a couple of weeks there hormones would have sufficiently subsided and i can try again

really not sure whats setting all this off, my little girl lillibet has a bite in her ear again dont know if it was last night or this morning but I give in for now think im best leaveing them seperate for a few days at least before trying again ???..gutted doesnt cover how im feeling right now