Bunnies Fighting

[puddles]

I have had my bonded pair of girls for around six weeks now. They are a little over a year old, were fixed last September, and they came to the rescue together over ten months ago and have never been separated.

Since we have had them, they have happily been living together in a 4x4 pen with additional play time in the front room (slowly expanding the area they can play in).

We have been predominantly letting them out to play form 3-10pm, but this weekend we have let them out to play first thing in the morning. Yesterday there was a little scuffle in the morning, but simply breaking it up calmed them down for the rest to the day. This morning there was a more serious fight. We separated them for thirty minutes and tried them together again and fur was flying again. We have divided their pen, and I think we will them together again later in the day.

Nothing has changed, except our little nervous high strong girl has gotten more confidant and trusting of her surroundings. She has even been running around binkying in her play area.

I know there is some sort of power struggle, but is normal for buns who have been bonded for months?

 

[Tessa Belle]

Hi,

Our does used to occassionally nip and pull fur out of one another and they were spayed siblings. They did this from a couple of years of age till when they passed away at 10 years. One doe tended to dominate the other and got jealous of attention showed to the other doe. Some nipping is normal but make sure your buns have some where to take refuge and run away if need be.

 

[mitchellfoster]

If you have abruptly changed the times in which they are allowed out to play, that could have been what caused the fights. If you allowed them out everyday from 3-10, and then switched that to mornings, it's possible that has thrown them off schedule and could be leading to stress.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We had two girls come to us as a pair. They had been together for 4 years and then another 3 with us. One day they really got into to fighting seriously and we finally had to house them separately. They were in hutches next to one another, but we couldn't keep them together after that or let them out together.