Aggressive male rabbit

[frabbit]

We have 2 male rabbits, that are about 8 months old and we had them from 2 months old. They have both been neutered. However one is prone to be aggressive.

Today, we have woken up to find that one rabbit (the placid one) has a large chunk of its ear missing.

One rabbit has typically been placid and the other one aggressive, which we realised very early on. I handled the aggressive rabbit a lot straight away to try to tame it as much as possible. We have 2 young children (5 and 7) and could not risk this rabbit hurting them.

For the most part they do seem to get on ok. They lie down together, and the placid one spends a lot of time grooming the aggressive one!
However they have had a couple of fights before, one of which was a trip to the vets, antibiotics to treat an infection and a £85 vet bill.

My young daughter is too scared of this rabbit and it has bitten her, it has attacked my mum when she was trying to feed it, my husband wears large gardening gloves to handle it as he is too scared of it. My 7 year old son will feed it, but will not dare pick it up. I am the only person who can really handle this rabbit.

We have now separated the rabbits after today’s fight, but not sure what we should do now?

Should we keep them apart? We wanted 2 for companionship. Also if reintroduced, would this cause more problems? Is there anything we can do to stop this aggressive behaviour? Is there anything a vet could do to help? We are not sure if we can even keep this rabbit because of its behaviour and being around young children, but this would upset my daughter as it is her rabbit but she does not want to touch it any more as too scared.

Also any tips on how to avoid an infection on the rabbit’s ear? It looks ok so far.

We would appreciate any advice? Thank you.

 

[Angie65]

How long since neuter?
Has the aggressive one been vet checked? Aggression can be caused by pain.

If your child is snatching their hand away, or punishing the rabbit for biting (as dogs get their nose smacked), then the bunny may be scared or associate the hand with as a bad thing & bite. The hand should only ever be a positive thing. It's natural to move your hand away quickly, so I got used to wearing thick gloves when dealing with a biter. If they bite, it doesn't hurt & you don't need to move - I completely ignore it & continue whatever I was doing. If there is no reaction to the bite, & it's just a learned behaviour (& not pain, fear, hormones), they will eventually not bother.

Will need antibiotics to stop an infection & possibly pain relief.

 

[marleysworld]

Not really an expert on bonded bunnies but if they were mine I would keep them apart permanently. Maybe look at getting them bonded with females bunnies. This would mean two lots of accommodation so may not be an option for you.

 

[frabbit]

They were neutered at about 3.5 months old. So now about 4.5 months ago.

My son is very gentle with the rabbit so don't feel it is from his behaviour as he is amazing with both of them. My daughter does not do much with them. Really it was my son who wanted them and he adores them.

This rabbit has always been assertive, feisty, bossy, aggressive. We had hoped neutering would calm him but it didn't.

Just not sure we can keep them together any more which is a real shame, and certainly would not want to introduce another rabbit to him.

 

[catxx]

It can take 4-6 weeks for the hormones to dissipate after neutering. And the neutering process causes one last extra surge in hormones meaning they can go mental and extra sensitive for a few weeks - excess handling in this time can result in a fear aggressive rabbit as it's confused and may be uncomfortable.

A bonded pair doesn't take chunks out of each other, a male/male pair can be a tricky bond.

Have a read of this site too, a rabbit bites as a last resort after it's usual "back off" bunny body language has been ignored by us dumb apes.
http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

 

[catxx]

Has the bun with a bitten ear gone back to the vet? They can get infected quite quickly - a rabbit in the rescue I volunteer for had to have his ear amputated after a bite and scuffle during bonding.

 

[frabbit]

Thanks for rabbit language site, I will read - it looks very interesting.

Injured rabbit is going to vets this evening, only appointment I could get today.

 

[tonibun]

Was there another animal around which could have sparked off Referred Aggression, which means one rabbit attacks his mate instead of the other animal. Even a cat can cause this to happen. If you are sure no other animal was involved then I think it would be in the better interests of the submissive rabbit to now keep them separated. Are they outside or indoors ?

 

[frabbit]

They were in their hutch outside over night when it happened. So a cat could have been near the hutch but we would not know as did not witness it or hear when it happened.

 

[tulsi]

My two bucks fells out after being neutered. I separated them. No sight or smellmof each other for a couple of months. Then in the late autumn after the natural breeding season i reintroduced them adding two already bonded sisters at the same time.

They have been together ever since - about two years now.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...now-a-quad-More-pics!&highlight=Bonding+begun

Edit to add that plenty of space and lots of things to chew helps to keep life harmonious. Frosty is the head rabbit and will chase all the others at food time. I scatter feed their dried food for added interest. They also have 24/7 access to a 10 x 6 foot run.