unhappy rabbits please help!!!!

Hi there, me and my partner recently took on two young male rabbits. They got on really well for the first two Weeks, but over the last couple of days started fighting, the smaller of the two has been hassling the other, sniffing his bum a lot and trying to hump him - this has led to several BIG fights and now the larger one seems to be constantly angry and wont let the other come near him, he's stomping his feet a lot and has gone for him a few times.
Really unsure how to deal with this, we've separated them, and set up a make shift camp for one in the shower room (we only have one cage) they're booked in to be neutered in a weeks time, but we're worried this wont be enough, and want to know if there's any way to break this dynamic, afterall we only got two rabbits so they'd have some company + its heartbreaking to see how sad its making them (especially when they got on so well to start off with).
I'm also concerned that my own behavior might have had an effect on them, as I had been shouting at them when they were naughty.
since the fights the smaller of the two has been acting out a lot more, he loves to dig out the litter tray and I'm wondering if this too is a way to mark his territory.
my main question though, is how o get them to be friends again - we really want them to share the same cage and don't really have the space (or money) for an extra cage. I can see the sense in keeping them apart, but also don't want one of them to feel that that is HIS space.
Any help or advise would be massively appreciated
Thank you

It sounds like their hormones have kicked in, so hopefully neutering them both will help. Once they are both done give them some time to recover and let their hormones calm down, you could then try re-introducing them in neutral territory. Shouting at them is a bad idea as they are naturally prey animals and loud sounds will scare them. Un-neutered boys are likely to fight, but it can be possible to have same sex neutered bonded pairs. Often a neutered male and female are easier to bond however!

sounds like good advice, but its going to be a long 7 days - I need my shower back!!!

salt and pepper said:

sounds like good advice, but its going to be a long 7 days - I need my shower back!!!

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Could you use a cheep puppy pen to use as a temporary space to keep one of the bunnies?

in seriousness would you recommend keeping them apart completely until the neutering - I've been trying supervised contact time - just had to break up and put the digger on time out, but in general was thinking it would be a good idea to keep them familiar with each other . . .

salt and pepper said:

in seriousness would you recommend keeping them apart completely until the neutering - I've been trying supervised contact time - just had to break up and put the digger on time out, but in general was thinking it would be a good idea to keep them familiar with each other . . .

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No I wouldn't risk keeping them together if they are fighting as they may get seriously injured. If you could get hold of a puppy pen cheaply, you could house them next to each other so they could still see and smell one another.

Good advice given so far. If you can keep them separate but close to each other so that they can still see and smell the other one, I'd have thought that would be a good idea. I wouldn't let them get to each other until neutered AND several weeks post-neuter so that their hormones have had time to settle. Then you're going to need to slowly reintroduce them on neutral territory. There are some good threads on bonding on this forum so just search for 'bonding' and you'll find lots of help.

I don't know where you got them from but pet shops are shockingly bad at giving out good information - it's a shame they didn't warn you that two males would most likely fight once the teenage hormones kicked in. At least you found this forum so please come back if you need more advice :wave:.

yeah I was a lil annoyed by the folks at the pet shop, they really didn't give any kind of warning - even advised us to just get one cage.
We're trying to let them out as much as poss at the moment to give them lots of exercise - just to clarify, you're recommending doing that separately til after they've calmed down from the op?

salt and pepper said:

yeah I was a lil annoyed by the folks at the pet shop, they really didn't give any kind of warning - even advised us to just get one cage.
We're trying to let them out as much as poss at the moment to give them lots of exercise - just to clarify, you're recommending doing that separately til after they've calmed down from the op?

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Yes try and keep them separate, I would say for least a month after the op too. Pet shops have a lot to answer too!