Is my little Toby being bullied?

We have three young rabbits living together, brother and sister aged 8 months and little Toby aged 5 months. All have been neutered. They do seem to get on OK but little Toby always seems to be left out and recently I have noticed that when it is feeding time (I always do a routine giving a piece of food to each of them in turn before giving them their bowl of food) the other 2 seem to shoo Toby away and he dives into the corner with his head down and won't take his piece of food.

Also sometimes when he tries to snuggle up they let him, other times they shoo him away and again he hides with his head in the corner of the cage. There is no sign that they bite him but I do sometimes find fur in the run or their cage. Is he being bullied or is this normal bunny behaviour.

I don't want him to be unhappy and if he is I would consider bonding him with Honeybun a single, partially sighted young bunny we have. We did hope to bond all 4 of them, but Honeybun was getting beaten up too much we couldn't bear it and so have stopped trying.

I would be interested to know what other people think about whether he is being bullied and whether to leave him with Tia and Tyson or try to bond him with a little girl of his own.

Hi,

Yes I would say you Toby is being bullied, and finding him a girl of his own would be a good idea, sounds like a case of twos company three's a crowd, and as most rabbits are housed in two's, it's probably that Toby is the odd one out, and hasn't fitted into the pecking order.
I've had this with guinea pigs, doesn't matter if it's 3 sows, 3 boars or a mix, they just wouldn't get along.

JMO but hope it helps.

AKKhusky

hi

even numbers do seem to be better - one of my girls, Primrose, is often on the sidelines while the others are grooming - and she gets chased more than the others do too...Still can't decide whether it's bad enough to split the group though - but if you have a female you think he'd be happier with, and space to do that then why not give it a try?

Like you I can't decide whether it is bad enough to split the trio up. Sometimes the two boys seem happy to snuggle, but more often than not Toby is left out and if he tries to snuggle with them they shoo him away.

My only fear in trying to bond Honeybun and Toby is if it doesn't work out would we be able to put him back with Tia and tyson or would they fight him because he smelt of Honeybun.

Milly one of my bunny's in a group of 5 is a little on the outskirts of the group she does cuddle and stuff but she also gets a little chastised by the others. She is happy and so are the others. You will always get a hierarchy (sp) within a group even with even numbers someone has to be bottom of the heap. Even with twos one will be the top bunny.

Lynda i would say that if your little man isn't happy then try him with your other bun and have two two's XXX

If I tried him with my other bun and it didn't work, would the other two accept him back again? I'm not very good at this bonding business.

Rub him with bedding from their hutch before popping him back in with them.

Heirachy is normal for rabbits. Aslong as they're not hurting him I'd leave them together. You can do things to help though. Have two (or even three) bowls spread out across the living accomodation so they can't exclude him from his share.

Make sure there are plenty of boxes and hidey holes so if one wants to get away from the others they can.

Tam