Bunny bites yet lays next to his Frenemy

[MrB]

Situation and long long description with question at the end

- 2 males (neither Neutered)

- Both live inside (wire fence keeps them separate from one another)

- 1 of the bunnies (Dash) nips at the other one (Charcoal) as he can poke a small portion of his head through the fence. It's like a lunge and biting action. He will often bite Charcoals side or his face. Charcoal just seems to shrug it off, he never retaliates back

- Dash (Dwarf) will often race out of his box or resting position as though to attack Charcoal (mini rex) if he see's Charcoal move. His body is often stooped lower and his head raised up slightly so as to bite upwards (probably because he's a dwarf)

- Charcoal never bites or lunges at Dash

- Both rabbits (especially Charcoal) will lay against the common fence at night as will dash, so that they lay next to each other (for company?). Neither Rabbit behaves aggressively towards one another when in this position

- Dash (the much more aggressive of the two) will allow Charcoal to lick him through the fence. He will also, at times lick Charcoal without biting him

- Dash sadly was obtained from a pet store that had him caged with two older rabbits that picked on him, so he has always been skittish and feisty and hates with a passion being picked up

- Charcoal was raised with another rabbit (for about 3 months) when young, but some cretin came onto our property and maimed Charcoal (healed now) and killed Charcoals male partner (Pixie). Pixie appeared to be the dominant of the two, so I suspect that Charcoal is looking to Dash to furfil that role? (this was more than a year ago though that the cretin killed our precious Pixie)

- We release them outside together in an open, fenced area without anything separating them from each other. They will chase each other (Charcoal grunts at dash and attempts to catch him but just tags his hind quarters with his chin if he catches him, I have never seen him bite Dash). He actually has a wonderfully gentle nature to him (always has)

- Dash on the other hand will chase and bite Charcoal. When outside they will never lay right next to each other, but will often get close to one another and lay within say 30cm of each other. Dash is clearly the more aggressive of the two and when Charcoal attempts to get close to Dash (bringing his nose up to Dashes nose, whilst stretched out), Dash will bite at him and will often leap over him and attempt to kick him

We would dearly love to bring the rabbits together one day and from what I have read, that means neutering thembut I'm somewhat concerned as they say it makes rabbits more placid - I can't imagine Charcoal being any more placid than he is now! He probably wouldn't move if he was any more placid

Oh, also, at night, Charcoal will often run up and down his cage as what seems like an attempt to get Dash's reaction - which he (Dash) always obliges by chasing Charcoal in an attempt to get him

What's with the mixed behavior?
How come Dash can be biting at Charcoal one minute, then happy to lay down next to him so that their bodies are touching along the full length of each other when inside and will often lay there for an hour, unperturbed that his frenemy is close by?

 

[kagerod]

It could be a mixture of hormones? I honestly can't tell you why he does that...

As for neutering - my bun is in right now for that. He is a super placid bunny, really chill. I honestly don't think it'll change much, except that he won't be able to impregnate any unfixed girls he comes across. As for Dash, it might help him. It could be just the hormones.

It could be that they are playing, or that Dash is trying to control Charcoal. When Charcoal goes running, it could just be because, no matter how placid a bun is, they still need to run and exercise. It's dull laying about all day. Dash just could be trying to control that.

You could always just get Dash fixed, if you're worried about Charcoal's reaction to being fixed.

 

[zombiesue]

neuter themmmmm

I'm sure your rabbits will only be happier and more of a pleasure to be around. I've never heard of someone regretting it

 

[JBun]

It's pretty common for unneutered males to fight. Even though your buns appear to like each other(which they really might), they still have those pesky boy hormones driving their behavior. On very rare occasions, unneutered male rabbits may get along, but that hardly ever happens. More often unneutered males will fight, and those fights can be serious. Since at least one of your rabbits shows that it will fight with your other rabbit, I would strongly suggest not letting them be together while they are unneutered.

Since you would like them to bond, and they already show good signs that they could possibly get along, it seems like neutering would be your best option. It hasn't been my experience that fixing a bun changes it's personality at all or even makes them placid. I have 5 fixed rabbits and they have pretty much the same personality as they did before getting fixed. My Holland was a grump before her spay and is only slightly less of a grump now. One of my two boys that I nick name my ADHD bunny, was hyper and very active before his neuter, and he's exactly the same now, several months after his neuter. My other boy loved to do his bunny 500's before his neuter, and is exactly the same now. The only thing different about all of them is that the hormone driven behavior, like hormone driven humping and spraying, has stopped. None of them became placid at all. But even though I haven't experienced personality changes with my rabbits, it doesn't mean it isn't possible. I know in some rare instances that it has happened, but that doesn't seem to be the norm.