Aggression in a baby bunny?

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DazyDaizee

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Heard squealing coming from the baby bunny pen and went in to find one rabbit chasing the others around, biting at them. They are only a little over 7 weeks now. I picked the baby up and tried to settle him down. Once I put him back he started chasing the other rabbits again. Not any one rabbit in particular.. he goes for anyone that's near him.
Wasn't over food, water, ect.. and they have plenty of space.

Is this common? I didn't expect to see aggression among them until they got to that teenage phase.

I separated the problem bunny and none of the others are fighting. Should I be worried about him or plan to adopt him out as a single?
 
It might be possible that this is an early bloomer. He could be entering puberty already, especially if he is a dwarf breed.

I would keep him separate if he's fighting.

Another option is to try giving them more space. It might be too crowded and they don't have any space to call their own and are fighting over that.

--Dawn

PS: I also moved this question to the rabbitry in hopes that some of the breeders have had problems like this before.
 
At 7 weeks I would be seperating them anyway tbh. I agree with what Aurora said as well he could be an early bloomer usually its a show of dominance :)
 
They're actually Minilops and smaller than my dutch rabbit was when I got her at 6wks old.

I just took the mom out a few days ago (once they were 7 wks) and wanted to give the babies another week together before I started separating them and adopting them out.

They have access to almost my entire kitchen, so I don't think it's a lack of space issue. Not to mention the rest of them are content to snuggle together and tend to sleep in a big pile. I guess that maybe he is just an early bloomer or that's just his personality emerging.

When are they able to breed? I thought it was around 5 months? I have a guess on all the genders, but I'm not positive. I don't have enough separate cages and hope to adopt some out in pairs, so I'm wondering if I'm going to be posing any real risk by keeping a few pairs together if I'm not 100% sure on gender.

Thanks!
 
There's no risk at 7 weeks of pregnancy. I have personally never seen aggression in my little ones at that young of an age with their own siblings. If you put other bunnies with them other than siblings, I'd expect aggression, but this does seem like an early bloomer. I wouldn't really worry about any possibility of pregnancy until 3-4 months (with 4 months being more likely). I'd expect that little one is a male...and the dominant one at that. At 7 weeks their gender should be easy to tell, especially in a mini lop.
 
Because it was such a large litter (10 babies total), I think all the babies are a little smaller than they should be at this age, but I do have a pretty good idea of the sexes. And I do think that the little aggressor is a male. He's one of the smaller buns, so I was a little surprised to see him picking on everyone else. I don't breed rabbits myself, this is a foster litter (my first) from the humane society, so I'm definitely not a pro at sexing them in the first place, which is probably why I'm doubting myself.

Good to know about the 3-4 months. I didn't want to risk any pregnancies if I was wrong about any of the sexes and they stayed together longer than expected.

One more question, a little off topic.. I'm keeping one of the babies and I currently have 2 adult rabbits (spayed female dutch, neutered male new zealand white). They are both free range, so they've able to see the baby bunnies through the pen, and I've let them check out the baby I'm keeping. My male bunny is great with everyone and never aggressive, so I've allowed him to walk around with the baby. My dutch can be territorial and can get really nasty during bondings, so I'm hesitant to start the bonding process with her until the baby is a little bigger. She hasn't shown any aggression towards him yet, though we've been very careful.
My plan was to bond the baby and the male starting next week. So long as the male doesn't show any aggression (which I think is highly unlikely from him), I want to keep them in a cage together for about a week, then put my dutch in the cage and allow the other two free range for about a week. Then begin introductions on neutral territory with the baby and the dutch.
First.. wondering if this is a good plan to bond them separately this way, second, should the male be present when I introduce the baby and the dutch on neutral territory? Or will this make it worse? I worry about him getting in the middle of a scuffle if one breaks out (although we plan to be very careful).
Any tips would be great...
 
Are the two buns you currently have bonded? If so, I don't know if I'd separate them and bond them as individuals. Your doe that is aggressivemay not be aggressive when the buck isn't around but aggressive when he is around. So, even if you do get the doe to tolerate the new addition, she may still turn on the baby once the buck is entered into the equation again just because she sees the new bun as competition for her man.

If they're already bonded, I'd probably let them sniff out the new bun as a unit. I wouldn't hurry into the idea of sharing cage space, but start with sharing a larger neutral area. Then, see if you can get them to share space that your other two buns have...maybe a play area. I'd be very certain there was no aggression before I let them share a cage. I'd also be leary of putting the new bun into a cage that was the doe's cage. She sees that as HER territory and may not want to share it...even if she decides to tolerate the new addition.

I'd say baby steps is definitely the way to go. Letting them sniff the new bun while it can still be safe from harm is a great idea. With a lop, though, be careful of ears. If an ear falls outside the cage and your doe decides to become aggressive, it's pretty easy to take a nip of that ear in a very short amount of time. I'd think though that if she's very aggressive she'll be aggressive to the bun even if it is in a cage.

Good luck and take it slow. Don't try to force it.
 
The two bunnies are bonded (and yes, Wally has a head tilt. He already had it when I adopted him). Toot, the dutch, has never been really introduced to another rabbit since Wally. There have been fosters and she hasn't shown aggression like she normally does, so maybe being around him helps? But because of aggression in the past with her, I really do worry.

My two rabbits are free range.. they don't have a cage at all, so it's actually really difficult to find a neutral territory. Toot sort of thinks the whole house is hers. The bathroom is small, but about as neutral as it gets. That's why I thought adding a cage to separate them might be beneficial.. but I wasn't planning to put Toot in the cage with the baby bunny at all. I planned to use it just with the baby and Wally (who is extremely mild and has already met the baby), and then to put Toot in while Wally and the baby had run of the house for a while.

My worry with introducing them both to the baby together is that bonding Toot with Wally was EXTREMELY difficult. Because of his head tilt, his ability to focus on things and his general vision isn't great. So Toot actually went after Wally a few times throughout the bonding process and he became extremely disoriented, stressed, and would lash out in any direction trying to go after what had attacked him (the second time it happened, Toot was removed from the area immediately and we couldn't go near Wally for quite a while, he was so on edge). My boyfriend ended up getting bit really badly by him in that mess.
So I worry that first, I'll mess up the trust Wally has built up with Toot if she goes after the baby with him around and he ends up getting hurt.. and if Wally gets stressed and thinks he's being attacked, he could easily lash out at the baby mistakenly or intentionally.

I definitely plan to take it very slowly and carefully. Though I do see it working out, I know there's a possibility I won't be able to get them all to bond and I'm prepared for that.
 
I think since she's the problem and he has special needs, I'd focus on bonding her to the baby first. If it doesn't work out, you haven't stressed him at all. You might want to try a car ride with Toot and the baby. Sometimes the stress of a car ride will bring the two of them together. The car would also be neutral territory. I really think I'd worry about whether the two of them will bond before I ever entered Wally into the picture. If you can get them to bond, Wally will probably accept whoever Toot accepts. However, I'd still be leary of the first time you allow them all together as Toot may still see the new addition as competition for Wally's affection.
 

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