the bond in our trio (two neutered females and one neutered male) has broken after one of the females was neutered. The 9-month-old female rabbit broke through 3 modular cages and tried to kill the neutered female with no previous signs of aggression during the staged reintroduction after healing post-surgery. Banana was saved by our local rabbit vet with major surgery and is finally fully healed and is bonding back well to our little male rabbit. The aggressor rabbit, Rhubarb, is now severally aggressive to both of them, having to be housed on the other side of the property - otherwise she just spends all day sat on the other side of the door waiting to get at them. before banana's spay, they were all best buds. banana and Milkshake are both nearly two years old, and ruby is a 10-month old. all spayed, banana was the last one to be spayed. Rhubarb is generally very pleasant to people unless we are trying to move her away from trying to access the other rabbits. We do not have the space or money to house them separately, especially after the surgery for poor banana. will it ever be possible to bond them back together again or should we be looking at rehoming her? we have never had rabbits before and the entire ordeal has been hell. We have already had to rehome one rabbit, Milk's brother, as there bond broke being two boys from the same litter. banana and rhubarb are both young rescues adopted with no history of aggression or abuse and they have been really well looked after and were really happy. we are not near bonding services that are trustworthy after our local bonding service allowed both milk and goose to be attacked by another of their bonding pairs. we desperately need help with them. Thanks - Jack and Lizzy
Critical Bonding help required
- Thread starter Jack_B
- Start date
I personally would not try to rebond Rhubarb with your other rabbits. Aggression at that level is unlikely to resolve in the same situation and it's likely to happen again. Rabbits will fight to the death. If it had been a minor squabble / chasing with a bit of fur pulling (ie normal heirarchy stuff), it might have worked long term with a careful bonding process.
She may be perfectly happy bonded to another (neutered) male in a different environment. I would give her that opportunity - either with you (and well out of range of the other rabbits) or elsewhere in a new home. Sorry. You tried - sometimes it just doesn't work out.
She may be perfectly happy bonded to another (neutered) male in a different environment. I would give her that opportunity - either with you (and well out of range of the other rabbits) or elsewhere in a new home. Sorry. You tried - sometimes it just doesn't work out.
I tend to agree with Shimmer. It does seem like extreme aggression and therefore unlikely to improve.
I do find it strange, if I have understood your history correctly, that the rabbit's behaviour altered so much after the other Doe was spayed. And the aggression is now directed at both the other rabbits?
How long were the trio living together amicably and when were the other two neutered?
I do find it strange, if I have understood your history correctly, that the rabbit's behaviour altered so much after the other Doe was spayed. And the aggression is now directed at both the other rabbits?
How long were the trio living together amicably and when were the other two neutered?
It might be worth getting Rhubarb checked over by a vet - just in case there’s something else going on that’s triggering the behaviour. Otherwise, it could be ‘just’ adolescent / hormonal. It takes quite a few weeks after neutering for hormone levels to stabilise.
Whatever the cause if the aggression, the other rabbits are at risk of further attacks as she’s now made it personal to them. Hopefully, after a longer period of separation, she will settle down and be bondable with a different neutered boy.
Occasionally you get a rabbit that won’t be bonded. I’ve got one that was very used to people - probably the most tame rabbit I’ve ever had - but he absolutely won’t bond with my other 2 rabbits. They are petrified of him and he’s taken serious chunks out of them when I tried to bond them. I don’t think he knows how to behave with other rabbits, but he appreciates them as company in an adjoining run (with a 4” gap).
Whatever the cause if the aggression, the other rabbits are at risk of further attacks as she’s now made it personal to them. Hopefully, after a longer period of separation, she will settle down and be bondable with a different neutered boy.
Occasionally you get a rabbit that won’t be bonded. I’ve got one that was very used to people - probably the most tame rabbit I’ve ever had - but he absolutely won’t bond with my other 2 rabbits. They are petrified of him and he’s taken serious chunks out of them when I tried to bond them. I don’t think he knows how to behave with other rabbits, but he appreciates them as company in an adjoining run (with a 4” gap).
Hi everyone, thanks so much for your replies. We rescued Ruby as a young rabbit from pets at home and had her spayed in November. we already had Milkshake, the neutered boy, and then we also rescued banana. at that point, they were all separate and banana had yet to be spayed. they bonded straight off the bat and lived together perfectly happily for 3~4 months - until banana was spayed and they all moved outside. they have a well ventilated and clean annex building as well as outdoor time. banana needed to be kept inside because of her stitches and Ruby was on one as soon as she came back. the vet said it could be ill aggression. six weeks after her spay, we started bonding them back together. the third night they spent together in separate enclosures, something happened and ruby chewed through 3 sets of modular enclosures and nearly killed banana. no clue why as there had only been minor nips and a bit of circling before that. she was checked out at the vet too as banana tore her ear a bit in the fight and the vet couldnt find anything wrong with her. banana needed to be kept in the house again for 6 more weeks until she healed and is now bonding back with milk. Ruby is now super agro to the sight or smell of both banana and milk. no idea why. we have tried our best with them, but after two years, they have been such an absolute nightmare and really not sure how to rectify the situation. my partner is too attached to rehome any of them, but i cant afford to build completely separate enclosures at the risk of them getting at each other again. i really want to try and get them all bonded back together for her sake, but I'm at a loss for what to do.
It is a very sad situation. From reading through your latest information, it would appear that when they all moved outside, after Banana rejoined the others after her spay, is when Ruby sensed that things were different and decided not to trust Banana. This could have been due to her not recognising her smell, following Banana's vet visit and time indoors, or she could have been spooked because the accommodation then was not the same as the one where they lived amicably together (is this last part correct?). This is really not meant as a criticism, but in the early stages of bonding, changing just a small thing can sometimes change the vibes between the bunnies. With some bunnies the early stages of bonding just cannot be rushed.
If you want to keep all three bunnies and can't keep them separate long term, then you could try to re-bond them. I have to say, I doubt I would choose to do this, based on what you have said, plus the photographic evidence. But I do understand.
In my view you would need to be able to be absolutely sure that any bonding accommodation was 100% secure, so that Ruby could not attack. I think you would need to have them side by side or at least in sight of each other for quite a while, whilst you assessed whether it seemed possible to re-bond them. And you would definitely need to do that in a completely neutral area and one which has no memories for any of them.
If you want to keep all three bunnies and can't keep them separate long term, then you could try to re-bond them. I have to say, I doubt I would choose to do this, based on what you have said, plus the photographic evidence. But I do understand.
In my view you would need to be able to be absolutely sure that any bonding accommodation was 100% secure, so that Ruby could not attack. I think you would need to have them side by side or at least in sight of each other for quite a while, whilst you assessed whether it seemed possible to re-bond them. And you would definitely need to do that in a completely neutral area and one which has no memories for any of them.
yes, that's all correct. I will build proper pressure-treated hutch units for them instead of using those cheap modular wire cages. Banana and Milk are both bonding really well together, so once they are happy and they've had some space from ruby, when would you suggest trying to move ruby near them again? i was thinking to give it another 2~3 months to try and let the grudge fade, and then slowly build up the bond. My question is how would be best to go about that rebonding process?
Yes, I would give it possibly 3 months, by which time the new hutch units should be ready. I would aim to have two self-contained units, one for Ruby and one for the other two. I would start by putting them within sight of each other and monitoring behaviour from all of them. But that would also need to be in a neutral space where none of them have been previously. If things appear reasonably calm after a few days, I would then move the two units side by side, making really sure that there could be no contact between the mesh, not even space for noses. I would keep things like this for a reasonable length of time. How they behave at this stage would I think inform you whether or how you should proceed from there. Before considering any rebonding you would need to see a long period of positive behaviour between them, such as all laying down next to the divider without any hint of stress, plus also eating close to each other each side of the divide.
If sadly, there is a negative reaction side by side, then I think you would need to accept rebonding to be far too risky.
It's always said that if bunnies have a serious fight, then they will not forget and will never accept rebonding.
okay, I will give it a good try at least. if after that we still can't get a stable interaction, we will have to just revisit rehoming Ruby. thank you for your help. they all really enjoy outdoor time in the garden, so any advise on how to achieve that without keeping them locked in hutches for months would be good. and any size and layout recommendations for hutches would be welcome
Our bunnies live in outside accommodation. It's an 8'x6' shed with a cat-flap leading onto a square outside area, which in turn leads onto two other long narrow areas, which we wanted to allow running. The square area is covered so that it can be used in all weathers. The two long areas are open-topped.
We have positioned it so that there are shady as well as sunny areas and also have made use of existing garden structures (in this case the external of the garage).
The RWAF gives advice on sizes, but basically as large as you can make it.
We are unable to let our bunnies free range in the garden as we have rural foxes which sometimes visit the garden.
We have positioned it so that there are shady as well as sunny areas and also have made use of existing garden structures (in this case the external of the garage).
The RWAF gives advice on sizes, but basically as large as you can make it.
We are unable to let our bunnies free range in the garden as we have rural foxes which sometimes visit the garden.
