Fighting buns

We've had four male rabbits since September
All neutered
One we have just had to rehome as he was getting violent and split the other's ear very badly.. he's recovering well on antibiotics and we have placed him in a separate cage away from the others. Now another one had decided he wants to be top dog and is fighting the others.. we let them free roam the garden and there's fur everywhere it's heartbreaking. They've just started doing it.. they're all about 6 months old
They have a large hutch where they go in at night to keep them safe but they're out all day every day with access to the hutch and have been fine up until now.. is this going to stop?? How can we bring the injured rabbit back into this environment? How can we keep the other one safe? I'm with them now and he won't let the other one back in the hutch or anywhere near him or he will chase him away. We are devastated that one has been so badly hurt and that we have had to give one up due to this. Please anyone??


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I'm sorry to read this.

Can you let us have some details about the timescales please. Were the rabbits fighting before they were neutered? How long after neutering did you leave it before re-introducing them to each other? When exactly were they neutered and when did the trouble start?

So as I understand it, you have two together and one by himself recovering at the moment?

Yes that's how it is at the moment
He won't even let the other one on the patio to get to the hutch now
They were all neutered a few months ago now so all hormones should be gone

They were neutered before any fighting, the youngest was humping before we were able to neuter him but he's the one we've had to say goodbye to they've all lived happily other than the humping.. its only been this past week they've been scrapping but the youngest took it too far and badly hurt the other so we had no choice


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The one we let go was neutered last a couple of months back now


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I don't know what to do we only have one extra cage which the injured one is in, I can't put the other two together in the hutch like this tonight


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Thankfully the other one isn't retaliating he's just running away


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https://vimeo.com/202735001

Yes that's fur from scrapping in the background


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Joanne3146 said:

https://vimeo.com/202735001

Yes that's fur from scrapping in the background


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Click to expand...

To have any chance of restoring some harmony I think you are going to need to confine them to a smaller 100% neutral space. Unfortunately even though they are now neutered the op' was not that long ago and there will still be testosterone floating about. Also, 'Spring Fever' will start to rear it's head now as the days get longer and we get some sunny days.

Is there any way that you can set up an enclosure in an unheated part of your house ?

Joanne3146 said:

We've had four male rabbits since September
All neutered
One we have just had to rehome as he was getting violent and split the other's ear very badly.. he's recovering well on antibiotics and we have placed him in a separate cage away from the others. Now another one had decided he wants to be top dog and is fighting the others.. we let them free roam the garden and there's fur everywhere it's heartbreaking. They've just started doing it.. they're all about 6 months old
They have a large hutch where they go in at night to keep them safe but they're out all day every day with access to the hutch and have been fine up until now.. is this going to stop?? How can we bring the injured rabbit back into this environment? How can we keep the other one safe? I'm with them now and he won't let the other one back in the hutch or anywhere near him or he will chase him away. We are devastated that one has been so badly hurt and that we have had to give one up due to this. Please anyone??


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Click to expand...

I really feel for you. Four males was perhaps a challenging combination.

You say they were neutered a few months ago? Hormones settle most in the male rabbit within the first month. However, in Rescue we always allow three months if we think there may be a difficult bond. After that time, if it's going to work, it usually does.

With males, however, what we find is that once they've had a spat, it's difficult to bring them back from that. Not to deter you, as you seem very committed! But being realistic, would there ever be the thought of splitting them - perhaps keeping two together that get on, and getting the third a spayed female to live with?

Unfortunately there isn't

What happens with spring fever? Surely they should be happier with some sunshine?

I don't know what to do, do I put the biter in the cage and let the injured one back out? He's fine he's had his antibiotics etc, and should be back in with them according to the vets.. but I'm not risking him getting hurt again and also I don't want the other one getting hurt too.. I kept the biter out of the way so the other one can go in and get a drink, he was there for five mins drinking solid he must have been so thirsty! I know there's no quick fix but I need something asap as I can't leave them like this today it's killing me seeing all that fur


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Spring Fever is when they start to become more hormonal, even when they are neutered. You can't force rabbits to be what you want them to be unfortunately, trying to get 2 boys to get along is not easy let alone 4. Think about how they would be in the wild, boys would have a definite hierarchy, one alpha boy then all the others in submission. But in the wild they have more room to keep out of the way of Alpha bun. 4 boys in 4 hutches, then they all have their own space and can be happy.

MightyMax said:

I really feel for you. Four males was perhaps a challenging combination.

You say they were neutered a few months ago? Hormones settle most in the male rabbit within the first month. However, in Rescue we always allow three months if we think there may be a difficult bond. After that time, if it's going to work, it usually does.

With males, however, what we find is that once they've had a spat, it's difficult to bring them back from that. Not to deter you, as you seem very committed! But being realistic, would there ever be the thought of splitting them - perhaps keeping two together that get on, and getting the third a spayed female to live with?

Click to expand...

Sorry I missed this one,

I agree I don't think they'll be the same again I'm so angry still with pets at home selling us four boys like that!

It's been over three months for neutering with these boys.. they've been together all their life you'd think they'd have a natural bond

We've not changed anything recently they've all been happy until the youngest decided to become vicious

Broke my husband to see him go it really did!

Tbh I wouldn't want to get another rabbit at all, I don't think we are doing well looking after the boys I wouldn't want to add another to the mix especially when they're scrapping I couldn't do that


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tonibun said:

Spring Fever is when they start to become more hormonal, even when they are neutered. You can't force rabbits to be what you want them to be unfortunately, trying to get 2 boys to get along is not easy let alone 4. Think about how they would be in the wild, boys would have a definite hierarchy, one alpha boy then all the others in submission. But in the wild they have more room to keep out of the way of Alpha bun. 4 boys in 4 hutches, then they all have their own space and can be happy.

Click to expand...

They were all happy til last week would groom each other and everything..

We don't have the space to accommodate four hutches, also they'd need to share a run anyway and that's where the drama happens

The only thing I can think of is regrettably rehoming the biter (last resort I don't want to as he's the secret favourite) and then keeping the chilled and injured.. but then are we going to have the same problem?? Will one of those decide to take dominance and start fighting??

I'm so clueless with rabbits we shouldn't have got any in the first place I feel like I've let them down


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Joanne3146 said:

Sorry I missed this one,

I agree I don't think they'll be the same again I'm so angry still with pets at home selling us four boys like that!

It's been over three months for neutering with these boys.. they've been together all their life you'd think they'd have a natural bond

We've not changed anything recently they've all been happy until the youngest decided to become vicious

Broke my husband to see him go it really did!

Tbh I wouldn't want to get another rabbit at all, I don't think we are doing well looking after the boys I wouldn't want to add another to the mix especially when they're scrapping I couldn't do that


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Click to expand...

Yes I do understand. It's so sad

I would certainly be angry with P@H too. Very irresponsible.

Joanne3146 said:

They were all happy til last week would groom each other and everything..

We don't have the space to accommodate four hutches, also they'd need to share a run anyway and that's where the drama happens

The only thing I can think of is regrettably rehoming the biter (last resort I don't want to as he's the secret favourite) and then keeping the chilled and injured.. but then are we going to have the same problem?? Will one of those decide to take dominance and start fighting??

I'm so clueless with rabbits we shouldn't have got any in the first place I feel like I've let them down


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I don't believe that. We do the very best we can with the information we have. That's exactly what you're doing. Better to go to another home if they can't live with the others, heartbreaking as that is.

What attracted you to get rabbits? They are certainly not an easy pet!

The other suggestion (apologies if you already thought of this) is to speak with a rescue near you and see whether they will help with the bonding?

Jack's-Jane said:

To have any chance of restoring some harmony I think you are going to need to confine them to a smaller 100% neutral space. Unfortunately even though they are now neutered the op' was not that long ago and there will still be testosterone floating about. Also, 'Spring Fever' will start to rear it's head now as the days get longer and we get some sunny days.

Is there any way that you can set up an enclosure in an unheated part of your house ?

Click to expand...

If you aren't able to keep them in separate accommodation overnight, I too would advise that you confine them to a smaller 100% neutral space. I would also watch them very carefully for signs of aggression and would ensure that someone could monitor them at all times day and night until you are confident they can be left alone.

Two bucks fighting can quickly become very serious.

Thanks everyone your kind words really do help how I'm feeling about all this I want to break down into tears if I'm honest!

We chose to have a rabbit because the kids had been asking for a pet for years, I didn't want a cat or a dog (my husband is a massive animal lover, too much of one haha) and we went into p@h for some more fish.. saw them and just kept going back to them, they stood up on their hind legs every time we went to see them, just couldn't resist their charm! Clearly the impulse buy was NOT the best way! Should have researched them first I had no idea how hard they were to keep, we were under the impression you just keep them, pet them and feed them lol obviously I know that's never the best way to decide to have an animal, I'm being honest here..

We spoke to NAW at the end of our road when we were looking to rehome the last bun, we asked for advice on what to do initially and they said they'd call us back but they didn't.. we had told them they'd been fighting.. after that call it escalated into one of them getting his ear split, at that point I knew the vicious one had to go

I'm contemplating moving the biter to the cage and the injured back out in the hutch and see how they get on.. they've always been loving together I hope they've not forgotten each other in their time apart


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His poorly ear


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He looks so miserable in the cage, we've let him out in the house a few times but it's not enough for him.. I feel like I'm punishing him or something


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Ok so I've come to the conclusion it's not fair on injured bun to have to stay in the cage.. it will also prolong getting the bond back with the other bun.. so I've shut the biter in the hutch while I let the injured one out with the other to see how they get on.. they're chasing around but not making any contact at all which is much better than before.. will monitor them over the next few hours and if they're happier together I'll move the biter to the cage and let the other two stay together in the hutch tonight.. will have to work out what we are going to do though as this is temporary.. it may be that we need to rehome the biter as he is going for both of them all the time and not allowing them into the hutch which would pose a threat to them all at night time.. we don't have the space to erect another hutch unfortunately and they'd also be sharing space in the day anyway so they'd just keep on fighting.. kills me to do it but we may have to for all their sakes! I'll never get an animal again after this


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