Help!!!!

hi everyone...i really need some advice as I'm not sure what to do...I am looking after two boy (brothers) rabbits for a friend whilst they're on holiday...the rabbits are about 12 weeks old. i have them at my house, sharing an indoor cage and so far they have seemed lovely together. However, I've just had to separate them as they got into what looked like a fight...circling each other rapidly and one of them squealed a bit. Have checked them both over and cant find any injuries thank goodness. Should I risk putting them back together?? I dont want to make things worse by keeping them apart but also dont want to risk more fights. thanks in advance for any support you can give

pinkkarin said:

hi everyone...i really need some advice as I'm not sure what to do...I am looking after two boy (brothers) rabbits for a friend whilst they're on holiday...the rabbits are about 12 weeks old. i have them at my house, sharing an indoor cage and so far they have seemed lovely together. However, I've just had to separate them as they got into what looked like a fight...circling each other rapidly and one of them squealed a bit. Have checked them both over and cant find any injuries thank goodness. Should I risk putting them back together?? I dont want to make things worse by keeping them apart but also dont want to risk more fights. thanks in advance for any support you can give

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Hi, can you contact your friend? If so I think you should explain what has happened and suggest that you separate the two bucks. If you can't contact your friend then I would take the decision to keep them apart until your friend returns. Bucks can actually do some serious damage to each other and fights can start without any prior warning. This is the age when they will be becoming hormonal and so it's extremely unlikely they will tolerate living together until they are neutered.

It's important that you or a vet gives both rabbits a very good check over as puncture wounds are sometimes quite difficult to see and sometimes complications can arise with wounds in rabbits.

I think that, if your friend wishes to keep these two bucks together, then she should make arrangements for both to be neutered. They should be kept separate until around 6-8 weeks after that, to allow time for the hormones to subside. Your friend could then try re-bonding them in a neutral space, but there is no guarantee that they will be friends again.

Good luck!

Excellent advice from Omi.

It does sound like they are hormonal, and may be reacting to a change of environment as well. Rabbits can do a lot of damage to each other once they start fighting, and it could ultimately be fatal. The usual advice is to separate, neuter and re-bond a couple of months later on neutral territory. Once they start fighting and drawing blood, it becomes much more difficult to re-bond after neutering - so you are right to not ignore the situation, and I hope your friend appreciates this.

Do they get any time out of the cage? The restricted space my be making the aggression worse as well if there is frustration at the lack of exercise and no chance of escaping from each other. Rabbits need much more space than just a hutch or cage.

Omi said:

Hi, can you contact your friend? If so I think you should explain what has happened and suggest that you separate the two bucks. If you can't contact your friend then I would take the decision to keep them apart until your friend returns. Bucks can actually do some serious damage to each other and fights can start without any prior warning. This is the age when they will be becoming hormonal and so it's extremely unlikely they will tolerate living together until they are neutered.

It's important that you or a vet gives both rabbits a very good check over as puncture wounds are sometimes quite difficult to see and sometimes complications can arise with wounds in rabbits.

I think that, if your friend wishes to keep these two bucks together, then she should make arrangements for both to be neutered. They should be kept separate until around 6-8 weeks after that, to allow time for the hormones to subside. Your friend could then try re-bonding them in a neutral space, but there is no guarantee that they will be friends again.

Good luck!

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Thank you so much for your reply...I think you're right about keeping them apart for now....I have checked them over, not found any wounds...both are eating/pooping/hopping around 'as usual' at the moment in separate areas. I'll pass on your advice about neutering when they get back. thanks again for your help x

thank you for your reply....they've been getting several hours a day out of the cage in my kitchen but I was wondering if it's being confined together in a smaller space than they have at home (plus the hormonal thing...and the change in environment) that might have caused it! it was just a real shock as so far they've been so lovely together...I guess it was fairly likely it would happen sometime but as they're not my rabbits I'm going to do as Omi suggests and keep them separate for now. thanks again for your help x

I had exactly the same situation - I got two beautiful young bucks who were so tender and loving with each other from a family member who couldn't keep them, had no clue and left them in one cage free roaming in my office. It seems all so lovely, and I had absolutely no clue ... until they started attacking each other and one bit the other one's nose. Luckily we could separate them before more damage was done. I now have split my room with a fence and placed an extra cage in one of the halves, so they can still see each other, smell each other and and lay side by side, which they constantly do. They were spayed two weeks ago and in a further four weeks when all the hormones have settled I will - very anxiously ... - try to bring them back together, hoping they will be friends again and have the entire room at their disposition. What I will do, if it doesn't work out I don't even dare thinking. I could never bring myself to give one of them away and try to bring in another rabbit as I have totally fallen in love with them, but the room is also not big enough to keep them apart and get each of them another partner. So I will have no choice but to keep them apart and let them live as almost-single rabbits, which I would find incredibly sad.

We find in rescue that even if same sex unneutered pairs have cohabitted nicely they often fall out when they come in from change in environment.

Personally If you can't get hold of your friend I too would seperate now as it will give your friend a much better chance of re-bonding them post neuter if they are seperated before a major fight occurs.

awww...good luck for when you try re-bonding them! I have them separated now...but next to each other...am going to try a 'supervised' play session later if they continue to be calm next to each other. these two were always snuggling up and grooming each other so it was horrible to see them fighting like that...just so relieved I was there to split them up!x

thanks...i have them separate now, but so that they can see/smell each other x

tell them they're bad bunnies.