Food aggression

[leoandcharlie]

My rabbits Leo and Charlie are being bonded, they were bonded before but had to be separated for fighting (4 months ago) they have been doing well so far. About 3 months ago Leo became aggressive towards me when food was near, he would honk and they lunge and bite, I was worried he would do that to Charlie while bonding but he was doing fine, Charlie they needed to be separated from Leo as he was sick, we have started from the beginning and yesterday and today was their "first" time being together (with supervision) Leo gives Charlie kisses but they he turns aggressive and tries to attack him.
He attacks Charlie while he eats to steal his food and he has become more aggressive towards me with food now. I'm not sure what to do as I have tried hand feeding him, spreading his food around so its not in one place and it's not worked.
Charlie is very shy and won't nip Leo back to tell him it hurts.

How do I get Leo to stop being aggressive over food?

Leo is very outgoing and Charlie is very shy, they used to be best friends and were perfect together. Will Leo being aggressive over food cause them to never be friends again?

 

[Omi]

I presume that both bunnies are neutered?

I see a difference between a nip and true aggression with food. With my two bunnies, the dominant one very often will give a nip as a warning with high-value food such as pellets, especially with the first few pellets eaten. This does not feel like aggression though and stops after a few seconds. The other bunny accepts it completely. I hand-feed pellets and always give the first pellet to the dominant bunny.

Does Leo behave the same towards Charlie with all types of food, eg hay, vegetables, herbs? Or is it just with pellets? How do they interact when there is no food around apart from hay?

Does Charlie become stressed by the nipping or does he just accept it?

 

[leoandcharlie]

I presume that both bunnies are neutered?

I see a difference between a nip and true aggression with food. With my two bunnies, the dominant one very often will give a nip as a warning with high-value food such as pellets, especially with the first few pellets eaten. This does not feel like aggression though and stops after a few seconds. The other bunny accepts it completely. I hand-feed pellets and always give the first pellet to the dominant bunny.

Does Leo behave the same towards Charlie with all types of food, eg hay, vegetables, herbs? Or is it just with pellets? How do they interact when there is no food around apart from hay?

Does Charlie become stressed by the nipping or does he just accept it?

Leo behaves the same way with all food hay, pellets and vegetables and his favourite spot to sleep. I have tried putting food in toys and scattering it and nothing has worked.

They have both neutered for months now and Leo has calmed down loads since being neutered. When there is no food around Leo is kind to Charlie and gives him kisses but if Charlie doesn't do it back Leo nips him, Charlie gets very scared when Leo goes after him and will thump for minutes after and is heavy breathing. When Leo nips Charlie for his attention he doesn't care but when Leo sees that nipping his is not working he bites him hard and Charlie runs and hides behind me.

They do not live together because of Leo's food problem, they live side by side with a double fencing as Leo with bite Charlie though it if Charlie is eating.

 

[Omi]

What's the background to your two bunnies? Were they litter mates? How old are they? How long have you had them?

From what you've described I have to say that life doesn't sound as though it feels very pleasant or secure for Charlie to live with Leo. Also, if they were once happy together, then you should be looking for reasons why that is no longer the case. It might just be that they have been separated a few times, but their differences might go deeper than that.

I think if they were my bunnies, I would be considering options such as continuing on as now with attempting to bond, rehoming one of the bunnies and getting a different friend for the remaining one or trying to change the dynamic by getting another one or two bunnies to add to these two.

I hope that a solution can be found for this difficult situation.

 

[Shimmer]

You don't say what was wrong with the sick rabbit. The other one could be sensing that there's still something wrong and is reacting against it.

 

[leoandcharlie]

What's the background to your two bunnies? Were they litter mates? How old are they? How long have you had them?

From what you've described I have to say that life doesn't sound as though it feels very pleasant or secure for Charlie to live with Leo. Also, if they were once happy together, then you should be looking for reasons why that is no longer the case. It might just be that they have been separated a few times, but their differences might go deeper than that.

I think if they were my bunnies, I would be considering options such as continuing on as now with attempting to bond, rehoming one of the bunnies and getting a different friend for the remaining one or trying to change the dynamic by getting another one or two bunnies to add to these two.

I hope that a solution can be found for this difficult situation.

They were purchased from a pet show by a friend they quickly realised rabbits are lots of work, I had offered to take them as my rabbit had recently past away. They were kept together from 12 weeks old till they were 26 weeks as Leo needed to be neutered in hopes to calm him down as he was very persistent on getting onto very tall places because he can jump very high.

We got them on October 15 2024. The reason they had a falling out was because Leo was persistent on humping Charlie for hours and that scared Charlie. Leo doesn't hump anymore and doesn't bite Charlie unless there is food about.

I don't think Leo knows that him biting hurts as Charlie has never bitten him or shown Leo it hurts he just curls up or runs away. Without food about they are best friends who snuggle and play, I think Leo just isn't used to sharing food and quite honestly he is a big boy and food is his life.

Is it possible that a third rabbit that is female could help if she had a strong personality that told Leo off as I had a female before and she was definitely the queen of the house.
If nothing works I have been looking into sending them away for professional bonding.

 

[leoandcharlie]

You don't say what was wrong with the sick rabbit. The other one could be sensing that there's still something wrong and is reacting against it.

Charlie had a tooth growing funny and had to have it drilled and after the anesthetic he wasn't doing well and had to be fed liquid food every couple of hours for a week and I had to syringe feed him water, he was on lots of medication as he wasn't doing well and had daily trips to the vet because on day 2 being home he hadn't gone toilet, and they kept telling us it's not unusual for bathroom habits to change.
He is perfectly fine now as this was about a month ago.

 

[Omi]

It might be that a female would calm the situation down, but that would depend on the character of the female, plus how the other two reacted to her. Trios are also traditionally more difficult as a bonding project. Worst case scenario you could end up with 3 single bunnies.

Giving it a try with a professional bonder is a good idea. It would also be the least drastic of the ways forward.

 

[leoandcharlie]

It might be that a female would calm the situation down, but that would depend on the character of the female, plus how the other two reacted to her. Trios are also traditionally more difficult as a bonding project. Worst case scenario you could end up with 3 single bunnies.

Giving it a try with a professional bonder is a good idea. It would also be the least drastic of the ways forward.

I spent the past few days with them and Leo seems to have improved with food around Charlie. I have been putting pellets in puzzle toys and Leo shares with Charlie, with vegetables I hand feed it to them and teach them tricks together. They have started to run around together again and play tag like they used to and get into mischief but sometimes if they are flopped over together Leo will nip Charlie for no reason, it only happens once or twice a day and doesn't hurt Charlie as Charlie doesn't even move.

Charlie gets eye crusties and Leo cleans them up for him but he has started to chew Charlies fur around his right eye and not the other, there doesn't look like anything is wrong with Charlies eye so idk why Leo is doing this, is he being mean or is he helping Charlie.

 

[Omi]

I spent the past few days with them and Leo seems to have improved with food around Charlie. I have been putting pellets in puzzle toys and Leo shares with Charlie, with vegetables I hand feed it to them and teach them tricks together. They have started to run around together again and play tag like they used to and get into mischief but sometimes if they are flopped over together Leo will nip Charlie for no reason, it only happens once or twice a day and doesn't hurt Charlie as Charlie doesn't even move.

Charlie gets eye crusties and Leo cleans them up for him but he has started to chew Charlies fur around his right eye and not the other, there doesn't look like anything is wrong with Charlies eye so idk why Leo is doing this, is he being mean or is he helping Charlie.

Good news that Leo has improved. The longer that this continues, the more likely it will become more normal behaviour. Well done bunnies!

Regarding him chewing Charlie's fur around one eye, I think this is because he is trying to help. It's very often the case that bunnies will clean their partner's eyes for them. It shouldn't lead to chewing though and also as it's only one eye, I would get a vet to examine his eyes. If it is just crustiness then the vet might be able to advise you how to clean this yourself to prevent Leo doing it.