Hi there, I'm new here! My bonded bunnies have started fighting - why?

Hi all,

my two house rabbits, Merlin (male, age 1, neutered) and Angel (female, age 1, spayed) have started fighting with each other and we don't know what's causing it. They are free running house rabbits.

We have been on holiday for two weeks and the bunnies stayed in the house with a pet service coming in to feed/water/check on them and all has been fine. Only difference is that they were not allowed upstairs in our abscence.

We came back on Tuesday and allowed the buns upstairs. Woke up at 5am today to find them scrapping - circling/jumping/hair pulling etc. Today I put them back down stairs and they have spent the day cuddling and grooming each other. However, this evening they are scrapping again. What should I do?

Any advice much appreciated!!

Rabbits don't cope well with changes to their routine, so presumably they are just unsettled, and are having to redefine the boundaries again - Maybe if you confine them downstairs for a while, and only let them upstairs supervised, once they've settled down with you again - in about 2 weeks time maybe?

My bonded, spayed does, Moonshine and Flopsy scrap occasionlly. It usually lasts about a day. They just seem to fall out!!:lol: And then they're right as rain again and snuggling up! :roll:

Touch wood, they haven't done it in this new house (been here since april)

I'm sure your buns will sort out their differences!!

Nicola

Thats good advice Elve. Hope they settle down.

Hi, thanks for the advice. They are still scrapping with each other today.

Kept them apart last night - one upstairs and one down. Thought we'd found neutral territory in he upstair klanding as they were cuddling and even grooming each other, but they had another fight this evening.

When Merlin goes up to Angel she acts very defensive, flattens her ears, tail up and goes for him. He then retaliates and so it goes.....They are mostly fur pulling and jumping/stamping on each other - no blood drawn.

One thing we did notice was a patch on Angel's shoulder that has new hair growing in, like it had been a patch plucked from the skin from a fight. It's in an area she cannot reach herself. We thought they'd maybe had a fight when we were away and now Angel is wary of Merlin as a result. She is a very nervous bunny, we've only had her since April.

Any ideas? I'm worried their bond is broken....

I would guess that they are just trying to re-establish dominance since the change in living arrangemnts re upstairs.
I wouldn't keep separating them and putting them back together again - that will probably exacerbate the situation.
Can you confine them to a smallish area to begin with so that they are in fairly close proximity to each other, but somewhere you can initially keep an eye on them? They need to sort out their differences and if its just chasing and fur pulling etc, then let them get on with it. Obviously, if they are trying to actually damage each other and blood is drawn then that is a different matter!
See how it goes with them for a day or so i a smaller area (just one room perhaps?) then let them out further. I should think it will settle down after a few days to a week.

Maybe cos they've been on their own for a couple of weeks now that you guys are back things are different for them so they're re-defining the who's boss situation. I think it's best to let them get on with it and get it sorted. Splitting them and having them in different areas will only exasperate the territorial understandings between them.

Thanks, but if we don't split them up and keep them apart when we cannot watch them, ie during the night or when we're out, they may have a full scale fight and really hurt each other.

I hear your pain. Do they have small like hutches or anything? Or even a babygate?...If you put something between them that will stop them damaging each other but still allows them to see each other snuggle and get to the fur (but not actually get close enough to damage) then you can do that at night and keep an eye on them during the day. A temporary medium?

merlin&angel mum said:

Thanks, but if we don't split them up and keep them apart when we cannot watch them, ie during the night or when we're out, they may have a full scale fight and really hurt each other.

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Keep them together, restricted to the living room, sleep on the sofa for the night and if there are no major insidents by the next day then you should be able to relax. If you keep separating them then it could just drag on for ages.