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Trio fallen out!

starla

New Kit
Wonder if anyone can help. I know trios are very tricky :(

All buns are spayed/neutered.
I have: x1 girl bun - 9 years old, x1 girl bun - 3 years old, x1 male bun - 3 years old. All have been living together since the two 3 year olds were neutered at 6 months old.

For many years we've had no problems at all, not even occasional grunting or growling. Suddenly, on Saturday, there was some banging and crashing from the bun room. They have about half the space of the room fenced off for themselves, which is more than enough space based on the size of the room. Anyway it was the two female bunnies circling each other and jumping on each other. Obviously pretty angry, fur flying. The male then joined in with trying to attack both girls.

I separated them for about 15 mins while I checked everyone over, no wounds. Put them back together because I wasn't sure what was going on. There have been no changes recently, no intro of new buns or smells of new buns. They then started attacking again, so I took the 9 year old girl out, I don't want her feeling stressed as she's an old lady now.

I gave them the night for a break, then tried to reintroduce in a pen in a neutral space. After 10 mins the fighting was happening again.
I'm really at a loss to know what to do. 9 year old bun is now by herself although she seems quite chirpy and happy...but I now have a lone bun, which isn't what I wanted :( No one is unwell either (at least not from what I can observe and feel)
 
If it were me I would keep the 9 yr old separate now and see if peace resumes. It could be as she is 9 there are issues you are unaware of but which the other female detects, hence she is taking advantage. It isn't what you want but if they settle down peacefully with the older rabbit on her own, then that is better than fighting.
 
If it were me I would keep the 9 yr old separate now and see if peace resumes. It could be as she is 9 there are issues you are unaware of but which the other female detects, hence she is taking advantage. It isn't what you want but if they settle down peacefully with the older rabbit on her own, then that is better than fighting.

Thanks for your reply. Yep, I've put the 9 y/o by herself. She doesn't seem to be unhappy or pining for the others, meanwhile the others have completely settled down. It's just a pity :(
 
Thanks for your reply. Yep, I've put the 9 y/o by herself. She doesn't seem to be unhappy or pining for the others, meanwhile the others have completely settled down. It's just a pity :(

Aww, just seen this, what a shame. I think I'd have taken the same approach too though, esp if your 9 year old is happy separated. My initial thoughts were that something spooked them but who knows. A health check might be a good plan in case your 9 y.o. doe is hiding some illness - hopefully not x
 
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