Bonded Bunnies Suddenly Fighting?!

[Oxnard&Belle]

Bunnies:
Oxnard - Male, Lionhead
Belle - Male, Dwarf? (or so I was told by a pet store owner but i'm not so sure)
(I also thought Belle was a girl, hence the name)


My two male, neutered Bunnies bonded together right off the bat. They were always cuddling, exploring together etc. They've been together at least 4 months now, currently they are approximately a year or a little younger. We have recently moved to a completely new house and have been here for almost a month. They were both introduced to their new area together and did completely fine. I still noticed them cuddling and acting completely normal as they explored their new home for a few weeks. At night they are gated in a small room.

One morning, I went to let them out to explore and noticed everything had been moved around and there was clumps of Oxnard's hair everywhere. Granted, he was shedding a lot prior to us moving. I thought he had started moulting or something but I did suspect something happened with him and possibly one of our cats - which they have NEVER done anything towards the rabbits unless it was playful. So a few days went by. I still noticed the rabbits cuddling and whatnot... but still noticed clumps of Oxnard's hair around.

Yesterday, I finally caught them! The bunnies were attacking each other and both biting at the other but Oxnard getting the most hair pulls and I have noticed he has multiple small bite marks on his back. I haven't noticed any on Belle but they have been doing that the last two days every time they are in a room together! Why?! They are both neutered... nothing too significant has changed except the move and Oxnard's shedding. Is Belle just getting aggressive?

I don't who initiated it all but I feel like it's Belle... should I check with a vet and make sure no illness is setting into either of them that's causing this mood change?

Please help me! I don't want them to hurt each other anymore and they were so close before:hug2:..

 

[JBun]

These things can just sometimes happen with bonded pairs. You could try separating them for a few days, then try a quick rebond. But if that doesn't work, you may need to separate for several weeks before attempting to rebond. One possible cause can be any recent changes or disruptions in their schedule or environment.

Health problems are a possibility. A rabbit feeling unwell will sometimes act out because of it and attack the other rabbit, but usually you will see some sort of other sign or change of behavior, such as reduced appetite and/or activity. If you are concerned about this or have noticed something off with either one of your rabbits, it wouldn't hurt to have a check up. Just make sure to go to a good rabbit vet.

 

[Imbrium]

My girls' bond has broken a couple times. The first time they were separated by a NIC grid wall for a few days before I tried to re-bond them simply because they were on restrictions following their spay surgeries and I felt like perhaps being crammed in a 28'' x 42'' x 14'' high recovery cage together was exacerbating whatever the problem was (or possibly even causing it). The second time, I never separated them at all.

Both times, the problem was remedied by having a "play date" on neutral territory - once in an x-pen in my neighbor's kitchen and the second time in a pen in the front yard. They'd scuffle a little when I first put them in there and then quickly sort things out and go back to normal; both times, I kept the play date going for 2-3 hours just to be sure they wouldn't resume fighting before I took them home.

However, I caught the fighting very quickly both times that their bond broke and the worst that ever happened was some high-speed chases and nips on the rear (though the first time, Gaz seemed utterly terrified of Nala all of a sudden - that's what tipped me off). Because your boys have gotten in more serious fights, it may take more than one play date (and require separation in between the dates) to get them back on track.

If you do a re-bonding session or two without seeing a decent amount of progress, the next step is the vet check to see if they can find a medical cause for the behavioral issues (or you could just do a vet check right away, since periodic check-ups are always a good idea).

Assuming there aren't any health issues, keep doing bonding sessions on *neutral* territory (I can't stress that enough - it needs to be somewhere that neither bunny has ever been). If you do repeated sessions with little or no progress (and especially if they seem to start going on a downward spiral) then it's best to stop the sessions completely and "reboot" everything. This requires them to be in separate rooms where they can't see or smell each other for at least one month (it's also not a bad idea to wash your hands/arms and maybe even change clothes between handling one bunny and the other so that you're not bringing one bunny's smell to the other - they're *very* scent-oriented and smelling the other rabbit will keep the memory of their fights fresh in their minds).

The separation gives them time to forget - like humans, time apart has a tendency to make them remember the good times and forget the bad (assuming something doesn't periodically remind them of the bad times, of course). If successful, this provides a clean slate - you'll basically have to start the bonding process over from scratch, but it'll undo the damage inflicted on their relationship by the fighting. After the separation, start doing sessions on neutral territory again. With any luck, things will go better than they did the first time you attempted to repair their bond... but if they don't, you can reboot things again (I would try a 2 month separation if you're forced to do it a second time - less risk of having to do a third separation).

I'm a firm believer that if two rabbits were able to bond successfully as altered, un-hormonal adults or young adults (as is the case with your bunnies) then it's never impossible to re-bond them if their bond is broken. Worst case scenario, it may take a long time and a lot of effort... but if you're patient enough, they'll come around!

If you get discouraged, one thing you can remind yourself about is that bunnies' personalities continue to change, grow and mature throughout their lives - they don't just develop their adult personality by a year or so old and that's how they'll always be. My girls turn 2 late next May; I thought I had their adult personalities figured out only to be surprised time and time again by indications of personal growth in one or both. Nala has mellowed out, seems more in tune with her innate wisdom and seems less volatile/quick to become angry at the world. Gaz has grown a serious backbone and really come into her own - she once seemed more like an extension of Nala; if you had her in a different room than Nala, she seemed lost and unsure of herself. Heck, they've both grown and changed in just the last two weeks as a result of going through the bonding process to form a trio with our new bunny, Normie (and for that matter, Nala and Normie both seemed to have personal epiphanies within the last day or so, leading to the trio becoming official).

In other words, even if they seem to have irreconcilable differences now, they could "grow up" emotionally over time, making it possible to re-bond them more easily at a later date (especially if separated completely in the meantime so grudges don't have time to build up).

If you run into trouble re-bonding them or aren't sure how to interpret certain behaviors, body language, etc., feel free to PM me with details and I'll do my best to help you figure things out!

 

[Imbrium]

Oh, I forgot two things... one, both times my girls' bond broke, I eventually determined that the problem started with Gaz (the more submissive of the two) humping Nala in an attempt to assert dominance - Nala took offense and started going on the attack. Oddly enough, Gaz humped the crap out of Nala on countless occasions during the trio bonding sessions and Nala didn't take offense to it... I guess she's matured in that regard, or maybe Normie's presence had something to do with it.

Secondly, I'm guessing you don't have that much experience with bonding given that your boys bonded right off the bat originally... I highly recommend reading the various bonding-related articles on wheekwheekthump (heck, even if you DO have previous bonding experience!). They take a very unconventional approach and debunk a number of common myths.

When I started my trio bonding, I had read all the wheekwheekthump articles as well as countless other bonding sites over my time as a bunny owner... while I kept all the tips I'd read in mind, I decided to take them with a grain of salt and trust my gut instincts. It took me a mere two weeks to form a trio (and only took that long because the bonding sessions were a few days apart due to not having time to do them daily)... I'd estimate that we did 6-7 hours total of bonding sessions spread out over four sessions at home and one group outing to the vet last Thursday (Gazzles developed GI stasis and I didn't want to sabotage her bond with Nala or my attempts to bond them to Norman so I took all three to the vet in a pet stroller) followed by a fifth and final marathon session (by about 5h in, I was 100% sure that it would end with them moving in together permanently).

Based on my experience, I've concluded that I wholeheartedly agree with darn near everything in the wheekwheekthump articles (and I found myself instinctively choosing the same tactics she recommends) - my one point of contention is that she feels sitting in the bonding area with the bunnies is a bad thing; I feel that it can potentially be helpful in certain situations.

It's a tool that can be beneficial if used *correctly* but if over-used or used when it isn't called for, I agree that it can absolutely do more harm than good. I periodically entered the pen and interacted with the bunnies during their first session, primarily because I felt like Nala needed the reassurance and both girls needed me to break the tension a little now and then (also, Normie was still slightly hormonal at 6 weeks post-neuter). After that, I stayed out of it as much as possible until the marathon session, where I'd guesstimate that I left them alone (usually just listening from a completely different room) 80% of the time but hung out with them 20% of the time, much of which was spent attempting to nap (that way if I managed to fall asleep and a fight broke out, I would be very likely to wake up for it) and being used as a human jungle gym.

All-in-all, I'd say that in certain bonding situations, it can be (but isn't always) helpful in the initial session and that after a certain point, the rabbits are close enough to being fully bonded that your periodic presence won't hinder bonding... but that you really do need to stay out of all the sessions in between those two points to give the bunns a chance to work things out themselves.

For what it's worth, I suspect getting involved is far more likely to be beneficial in the initial session when adding a new rabbit to an existing pair (or trio or group) - when bonding two rabbits, they're often both already open to the idea of making a friend; with an already bonded pair, I felt like Normie was desperate to make friends but the girls initially felt like they were just fine on their own and weren't very receptive to the idea of a "third wheel". I went into the pen from time to time to talk to them and try to ease them into the idea/get them on board with it (which seemed to work).

 

[Shmoo06]

Thank you for this thread! I'm having issues with my bonded neutered buns(just turned 2, Mums is a lionhead & Stitch is a mini rex I think). I made a post in the Health & Wellness section because it started when I gave Mums' baytril, and he's decided he doesn't want to be submissive anymore to Stitch. Stitch has finally had enough, and now he's being his naughty aggressive self. I think separation is in order because Stitch is being more violent, and Mums doesn't seem to care and keeps trying to hump him. sigh. I do have to run a quick errand, so I'm going to try the car ride thing and hope that helps. Thanks for all the responses in this thread. Good luck!