• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

help two new bunnies have started fighting

J

jay1977

New Kit
hi, come across these boards via google and need some help, my fiancée bought two young male rabbits from pets at home on Monday as part of her birthday presents ( I bought the hutch 6ft*4ft*2ft and a huge run for them) the store said they where about 11 weeks and where brothers and been together since birth. yesterday morning we where woken up by them fighting and now the same again today.

currently they are indoors, due to the bad weather and the store saying that until they have their winter coats its best to keep them indoors, now we are worried that they aren't getting on and will injurer themselves fighting and need some advice, hadn't had them done yet, only got them as I said on Monday, and we where told it would be best to wait until they where 16 weeks.

why have separated them currently, one in is the hutch the other in the run( normally the run is attached but have separated it currently)

any help or advice would be great, as my partner loves her rabbits and would be devastated to lose either of them

many thanks in advance
 
Hi
Your bunnies hormones are starting to kick in. You need to separate them before they seriously cause damage to each other. When they reach approx 4 months old (depending on the breed) you will have to have them neutered. Once they have recovered you will hopefully be able to re-bond them slowly. Although there is no guarantee they will bond successfully. You need to look at the bonding threads on this site for more information.
Can you keep them separate but still close to each other?
 
jay1977 said:
hi, come across these boards via google and need some help, my fiancée bought two young male rabbits from pets at home on Monday as part of her birthday presents ( I bought the hutch 6ft*4ft*2ft and a huge run for them) the store said they where about 11 weeks and where brothers and been together since birth. yesterday morning we where woken up by them fighting and now the same again today.

currently they are indoors, due to the bad weather and the store saying that until they have their winter coats its best to keep them indoors, now we are worried that they aren't getting on and will injurer themselves fighting and need some advice, hadn't had them done yet, only got them as I said on Monday, and we where told it would be best to wait until they where 16 weeks.

why have separated them currently, one in is the hutch the other in the run( normally the run is attached but have separated it currently)

any help or advice would be great, as my partner loves her rabbits and would be devastated to lose either of them

many thanks in advance
Click to expand...

You will need to keep them apart until they have been neutered. P@H are never reliable re the ages of the Rabbits they sell. Or the genders for that matter. It may be that your two are a lot older than 11 weeks.

I would take both Rabbits to the Vet to first confirm that you do have 2 Bucks, to have them both vaccinated (the vaccine can be given from the age of 5 weeks) and also to determine when they will be ready for neutering.

Please dont attempt to put them back together. If you do the fighting will get MUCH worse and you wont stand a chance of re-uniting them even after they have been neutered.
 
Many thanks for the replies, :wave:

not sure how we are going to keep them separated, unless we divide the hutch into two halves. but seems that will be abit small for them both, going to pop up the vets shortly have one on the high street and have a chat with them, what would be the best way to separate the hutch if we have, was thinking a piece of wood down the middle or something.
 
Brothers start to fight at between 12 - 14 weeks unless you are really lucky. Once they start fighting they try to castrate one another which can be fatal. It has been noted that once boys fight they always will even after neutering. There are obviously the exceptions to this rule but neutering doesn't stop them fighting. So you will have to be prepared to have 2 single rabbits if this is the case.

I suppose bringing them into a new environment has brought this on, but even if they had stayed in the shop, they would probably still have fought in a week or two's time.
 
The hutch separated will be rather small, if you can, order a puppy pen online for one of them :) they're not expensive, they're a great size and can be manipulated to how you want it and much cheaper than buying a small, unsuitable cage :)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24-Octago...d=100005&prg=1048&rk=3&rkt=4&sd=310581780438&

I would definitely keep them separate now, wait until they are neutered, then wait 4+ weeks after a neuter to reintroduce them. You need a small neutral space to do this, you could use a puppy pen for this too, just make it smaller :) I have a boy/boy pair that were bonded by a rescue at 7 years old after a failed bonding with one of their females and they're completely inseparable, you just need to be patient with this one and wait until they are neutered to try and rebond :)
 
Last edited:
Aly&Poppy<3 said:
The hutch separated will be rather small, if you can, order a puppy pen online for one of them :) they're not expensive, they're a great size and can be manipulated to how you want it and much cheaper than buying a small, unsuitable cage :)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24-Octago...d=100005&prg=1048&rk=3&rkt=4&sd=310581780438&

I would definitely keep them separate now, wait until they are neutered, then wait 4+ weeks after a neuter to reintroduce them. You need a small neutral space to do this, you could use a puppy pen for this too, just make it smaller :) I have a boy/boy pair that were bonded by a rescue at 7 years old after a failed bonding with one of their females and they're completely inseparable, you just need to be patient with this one and wait until they are neutered to try and rebond :)
Click to expand...


again many thanks for the advice, spoke to the vet who advised that as posted earlier, males will fight regardless unless they are neutered and really speaking it would be best if we waited until one was done then try bonding, so it was with great sorry my fiancée had to return one of the males this evening :cry:, but we will get flopsy done, and then buy him a female friend abit later on
 
jay1977 said:
again many thanks for the advice, spoke to the vet who advised that as posted earlier, males will fight regardless unless they are neutered and really speaking it would be best if we waited until one was done then try bonding, so it was with great sorry my fiancée had to return one of the males this evening :cry:, but we will get flopsy done, and then buy him a female friend abit later on
Click to expand...

That's such a shame :(

I think when you are ready to get your male bun a girlie bun, you should rescue one. There are many unwanted females in rescues and most of them will be vaccinated and spayed when you adopt them.

Unfortunately places like Pets at Home do not give great advice when selling their pets, hence you being in this sad situation of having to return one.

Please keep posting on here though and looking through the bonding threads and rescue threads for ideas etc.

Dani x
 
I can completely relate to what you're going through. We also got 2 P@H bunnies at the end of September (1 diagnosed with snuffles 4 days after we brought him home but that's another story) and while I wouldn't change either of them for the world, it has been a steep learning curve - not helped at all by P@H staff, however I can't praise our vet enough (ironically, a companion care vet based in the store where we bought our boys).

I now have 2 neutered boys that we hope to rebond at the end of this month - it was heartbreaking to see them fall out and I just hope no lasting damage has been done.

If I'm ever in the position to get another bunny, I would definitely rescue one - hope all works out for you.

Tamara
 
Hi Jay

Just wanted to say I'm sorry to hear about the horrible situation you were in. I'm a fairly new bunny owner and it certainly is a step learning curve (as Tamara says) but the forum has been a big help for me. I hope your new bun is happy and healthy and wish you lots of bunny snuggles.
Liz x

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk
 
I am so sorry to hear about what happened. It is a shame for you and for the one that was returned.


We have lots of male male pairs and wondered why you did not keep the both and have them both neutered and then reintroduce? Was it something the vet said? If vets don't actually keep rabbits they often assume a pair has to be male female which is not the case

Am just a bit concerned as if he has got to the fighting stage then pets at home will not be able to keep him either as they do not neuter.

So sorry to hear pets at home has made things hard for you
 
parsnipbun said:
I am so sorry to hear about what happened. It is a shame for you and for the one that was returned.


We have lots of male male pairs and wondered why you did not keep the both and have them both neutered and then reintroduce? Was it something the vet said? If vets don't actually keep rabbits they often assume a pair has to be male female which is not the case

Am just a bit concerned as if he has got to the fighting stage then pets at home will not be able to keep him either as they do not neuter.

So sorry to hear pets at home has made things hard for you
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing.

Pets at Home really do not know rabbits at all ...
 
We got our 2 bunnies from PAH. Told us they were 2 females - turned out they were 2 males. We found this out when they started fighting. We separated them, had them neutered, then rebonded them.

I don't think PAH should have sold you 2 males as it seems to be considered the hardest pair to bond. However, I disagree with your vet too - lots of people on here have bonded males. It might be an idea to give your location and hopefully someone on here might know a good local rabbit vet.

When you start bonding, Amazon do small pet runs from about £12, or Costco are doing the interlocking storage cubes for about £20 - we used the cubes to make 2 small units so the bunnies were together but could be kept apart by a mesh panel overnight.

A shame for the bunny that had to go back, but glad to hear you are going to get a speyed female friend for the other one. I am sure a local rescue could find you a suitable mate.
 
tintin said:
We got our 2 bunnies from PAH. Told us they were 2 females - turned out they were 2 males. We found this out when they started fighting. We separated them, had them neutered, then rebonded them.

I don't think PAH should have sold you 2 males as it seems to be considered the hardest pair to bond. However, I disagree with your vet too - lots of people on here have bonded males. It might be an idea to give your location and hopefully someone on here might know a good local rabbit vet.

When you start bonding, Amazon do small pet runs from about £12, or Costco are doing the interlocking storage cubes for about £20 - we used the cubes to make 2 small units so the bunnies were together but could be kept apart by a mesh panel overnight.

A shame for the bunny that had to go back, but glad to hear you are going to get a speyed female friend for the other one. I am sure a local rescue could find you a suitable mate.
Click to expand...


I find two females the hardest. Or 3 females if you really want a challenge!!!!
 
Tamara said:
I can completely relate to what you're going through. We also got 2 P@H bunnies at the end of September (1 diagnosed with snuffles 4 days after we brought him home but that's another story) and while I wouldn't change either of them for the world, it has been a steep learning curve - not helped at all by P@H staff, however I can't praise our vet enough (ironically, a companion care vet based in the store where we bought our boys).

I now have 2 neutered boys that we hope to rebond at the end of this month - it was heartbreaking to see them fall out and I just hope no lasting damage has been done.

If I'm ever in the position to get another bunny, I would definitely rescue one - hope all works out for you.

Tamara
Click to expand...

Hey Tamara. What have you done re the Snuffles? I'm in the same boat - two male rabbits from PAH and I think they both have it :cry: Has it improved at all?
 
Awwww that's a shame, poor wee snuffly buns.

I took Donnie to the vet the day he started sneezing and first had a runny nose and he was given antibiotics and metacam. That was back in the 1st week of October and he was on antibiotics till probably close to the end of November and metacam until mid December just before we had him and Dexter neutered.

The vet wanted to treat it aggressively so as long as he showed any symptoms he was on antibiotics and then metacam for a further week once he was symptom free. P@H paid for all snuffles related treatment. The vet (in a very round about way) was really quite critical of p@h and the way they sell bunnies.

I'm just a 1st time bunny owner and am going purely on my own experience and the advice my vet gave me but if you are concerned in any way that your buns might have snuffles I'd get them to the vets ASAP as I was told it can become very hard to treat if left too long.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

MissMinnie
Bonded trio started fighting
Replies
1
Views
718
tonibun
T
B
My male bunny has recently started mounting his bonded companion CONSTANTLY
Replies
1
Views
583
InspectorMorse
InspectorMorse
T
WWYD - rehome or wait it out?
Replies
14
Views
1K
a reader of books
a reader of books
Back
Top