Female rabbit aggression help.

Hi all.

I have just rescued a female rabbit to bond with my boy.
I only got her saturday so it is very early days.

She was spayed a month ago and is roughly 1 year old.

She is showing signs of aggression and is territorial over her space. How can i nip this in the bud and being correcting the behaviour before it progresses.

She is a confident rabbit, she likes fuss from me and came and put her paws on me for a treat which my other rabbit took ages to do because he is shy! Because of this, I am confident that its not an anxiety thing or anything to do with her history.

So far i have tried sitting in there with her and she isnt bothered too much unless i go near her cage then she grunts, lunges and bites. However, this morning i went in to feed her and she begun grunting outside of her cage which is concerning because i do need to go in there from time to time.

At the moment i have put the bonding on hold and will just leave them next to each other for some time. I know it takes 4-6 weeks after spay for the hormones to chill out so I will give it some more time.

So how can i show that i am the 'top rabbit' and stop this.
What am I doing wrong. Am i going too fast?

I was thinking of putting a t.shirt of mine in her cage so it smells of me, what do you think?

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I have found it can take an awful long time - the best way is to clesn her cage when she is busy doing something, eating a treat say. You won't make her accept you, she will come around to it in time when she has learnt to trust you. Be forewarned that any area she goes in will become "hers" and this will make it more difficult for her to accept your male rabbit in that area.

She may just need some more time to settle in to her new home and reducing hormones. Be patient. It's only been a few days.
Small spaces tend to make for more aggressive rabbits - has she got a big enough hutch / run or equivalent?
Meanwhile, let her come to you rather than reaching to get her. Food can work wonders - so always approach her with a pellet or tasty leaf in your hand. She will associate you being there with nice things and will go for them first rather than your fingers.

Thanks for your advice both! I hope she comes around. Definitely sounds like a good idea to leave the bonding for now! I don't want him to be hurt or traumatised in any way. He is my baby!

She is in a small space at the moment for the bonding process. She was in something a bit larger at the rescue so she could be feeling like its a bit of a downgrade! See attached image, its a bit bigger than the picture shows but yeh it is small purely because I have devided the space in half to put my male next to her.



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She is very beautiful but sadly looks overweight. Once she has settled in with you, you will need to sort her diet out.

Yes shes definitely overweight! Shes a really good hay eater though so i am confident that will be easy to fix

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My Mary can be an aggressive moo! once I pick her up she settles down.

BossHogg said:

My Mary can be an aggressive moo! once I pick her up she settles down.

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Has anything helped ease her aggression?

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Usually treats, she loves food! she's 5 in May, I've had her since she was 8 weeks old.