HELP! Bonded bunnies now fighting!

Hello everyone,
My Mona and Ollie were about 8 weeks old when we bonded them. They are now about 16 and 18 weeks respectively. They have been best friends ever since. This week a new element was introduced to their environment (disclosure: they are free roaming rabbits) and 2 days after that they began to fight! At first we thought it was a small quarrel but then fur started flying everywhere. I am completely at a loss, they loved each other very much (or so I thought). Neither of them is spayed or neutered, this is due to them not being of age or weight. I never saw this coming. My female has become the aggressor. In the mean time I have separated them. What do I do? I don’t want them to hate each other. They were doing so well. Any advice? Has this ever happened to anyone?

Unfortunately, this is extremely common and I learned the hard way. Baby bonds are not considered to be "real" bonds, as once hormones start to kick in at around the age your bunnies are, former best friends will usually begin to fight. The only exception I have personally experienced is a baby growing up to bond with their parents, as long as they were never separated.

Your best course of action would be to spay and/or neuter the bunnies. Perhaps try the female first, since she is the aggressor, and if finances are an issue (it is extremely expensive to spay a rabbit, unless you can find a spay & neuter clinic). Once one or both bunnies are fixed, you can bond them again

*sigh*

You didn't bond them. Kits almost always get along.

Now puberty is in full swing, with all the changes in temperament, hormones raging etc. Your rabbits are quite likely fertile for weeks now.

Pregnant does can get fed up with a buck harrassing them, and they can get quite territorial. Does she make any noises when the buck is near?
It could be, if you are lucky, that she's just taking that hierachy thing serious, like teenagers tend to do, but anyway, I would seperate them right now, have him neutered ( it can take a month after neutering to become infertile), and her spayed.

If it's not possible to spay her now be prepared for a litter of kits anytime from now to 35 days after seperation.

My male bunnies were fine until 5 months and
4 1/2 months. Then I guess hormones kicked in and they had a fight. Now I am keeping them separate until 2 months after they are neutered. I was so hopeful but I knew there was a good chance that they would fight.

Hi, as was already said above what you experience now is very normal and you should separate them until they are spayed/neutered and about two months after, then you can introduce them as completely new rabbits in a neutral territory, unfamiliar to both, so from now it is better to keep them isolated so they can't see and smell each other so hopefully they will forget each other before this new bonding. 8 week babies are just babies and now they just hit puberty this new element has nothing to do with the fight, maybe just triggered. It would happen sooner or later and 16-18 weeks is just right time for it they are like teenagers now became sexually active.

As I understand female is 16 weeks and male 18 weeks and you keep them together free-roaming all the time?
I would say se is most likely pregnant because if you say she's an aggressor it means that she doesn't accept his grooming anymore that happens when a female gets pregnant. Or she just got annoyed of him.

So they should be separated immediately otherwise she can hurt him really badly you don't want it for sure.
And don't be surprised if she'll soon start building nest and pulling fur from her belly, it is hard to say when but maybe in a couple weeks, female rabbits are fertile from 14 weeks it often depends on their breed so it is possible that she's 2 weeks now. Gestation period is normally 31 day (27-36) so she may have babies in two-four weeks from now.

I agree with the other comments. She is most likely pregnant. Best course of action is to separate them. Get the male fixed first since it takes a while for him to become infertile. Wait on the female- since she may be pregnant and you don’t want to hurt any possible babies in there. After a month, if she isn’t showing any preggo signs, get her spayed.
Good luck and keep us posted!

JenGibs said:

Wait on the female- since she may be pregnant and you don’t want to hurt any possible babies in there.

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I understand that viewpoint, it's a quite antropomorphic one, but if you don't want a litter and know a vet who would do an emergency spay now there's nothing wrong with that.

Preitler said:

I understand that viewpoint, it's a quite antropomorphic one, but if you don't want a litter and know a vet who would do an emergency spay now there's nothing wrong with that.

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Doesn’t have to be “human” for it to matter. If you don’t want a litter, don’t risk it by putting buns together if they are not spayed/neutered. I’m not saying the OP is the reason for overpopulation of animals but there are others that are. This is just my opinion so it’s okay to disagree. If I read correctly, you like to eat bunny meat and I 100% disagree with that but again, just my opinion.