fur pulling

i have to twin sister lop bunnies. iv had them since they could leave their mum. (3years ago) they are both spade and generally get on really well. every night i shut them in the top of thier hutch so as they are safe. i have always done this. but the last few mornings iv gone out to find lots of tuffs of fur. i know its from syrup humpping dottie as i had builders in and they lived inside for a while, yet still got shut in their hutch at night, but it would wake me. there is not injurys as i check and double check just a lot of fur. any ideas? i dont really want to separate them as they get on so well. any suggestions would be fab. thanks

Hello there and welcome. Usually, when you have 2 female rabbits together, one is the dominant bunny and at certain times such as when the food is coming round, one will hump the other. I expect this is what you are experiencing, as it is the time of year when they think about having babies and some females get very broody. If it hasn't happened before then it could also be that the humped one is feeling a little bit under the weather and so the other rabbit is taking advantage of this and bullying her. Maybe, if it just happens at night and you feel the humped rabbit is upset by it, you could put one rabbit upstairs and the other downstairs, unless you feel it isn't safe.

If you are getting a cat or fox in the garden this could upset the bunnies to a point where they fight - this is called Referred Aggression when the dominant one attacks the other. So there is quite a lot to think about!

hi thankyou. i have taken them both to the vets to check they are healthy and as far as we can tell they are. iv layed out more bedding at night so as theres more place to sleep and them seem to be getting on better. the vet also said its around this time of year they think about babies and maybe thats why it happened. thankyou for your help

Do they have an attached run? Just thinking for years, many years ago, I use to struggle to get my rabbits in overnight (outside rabbits) until I realised they were perfectly safe making their own choice as to whether to be in or out. The run was safely attached though. Wondering if the extra space overnight would help?

their run is attached so im sure they would be safe. but i worry about other cats coming into my garden. i know i should try but they have bedn fine for three years, and actually now all seems to be ok

We have a 6 1/2 month old lop-ear girl, named Penelope, & this morning I noticed a large clump of fur outside of her cage. When I got home from work, I noticed quite a bit of fur all around the inside & outside of her cage. She's the only bunny we have. We do have 2 dogs & a cat, & she comes out at least 2x a day & runs around like she owns the joint (& chases the cat! LOL). We give her plenty to eat, along w/vegetables & recently started adding vitamins to her water. Should we be worried about this issue, or is this natural? Doesn't it hurt her to pull out her fur???