bunny tiff?

[shelldoo]

ok we have 2 buns who bonded very well, sleep together, groom each other, eat together, and they have never fought. well this morning they got in a squall. they were kicking each other, pouncing on each other, biting each other rolling around, and pouncing on each other all over the living room...just for seconds. as soon as it started i stood up stomped my feet and clapped loudly. they heard me and the older bun (4.5 months) quickly dislodged herself from the fray, but the baby (10 weeks) kept trying to jump on her until i grabbed her and seperated them. the older bun ran and hid under the chair, the baby was still kicking in my hands, and had a large tuff of stormy's fur in her mouth. neither are bleeding, thank goodness for all that angora fur right? but my question is: will the process of bonding need to start over now even though for the last month they have been friends and had no issues? or is it like kids, that will squabble occassionally and get over it? what do yall think? right now i locked the baby in the bathroom, and stormy is hiding in her burrow.

 

[rubysmom]

I am assuming that the baby is not neutered? How about the older rabbit? Some of it could just be hormonal, "growing up" behavior. A lot of that behavior would stop when they are fixed but they still need to establish a relationship usually where one bunny is clearly dominant. I would suspect that once they are neutered or once the baby is, things would calm down again. That's not to say that they will always get along perfectly. A couple of my bonded foster pairs would get in scraps every once in awhile because one of them usually had a more challenging personality. But the vast majority of my guys are pretty routine in how they behave in situations. Most animals like consistency so they do everything they can to maintain a relationship.

 

[shelldoo]

oh yeah, both are females not fixed. we will be breeding them, at least the baby.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

It sounds like they hit the 'teen years'. Basically they'll have to be housed separately from now on. They may get along once they hit about a year but no guarentees, and even then, if you are breeding one, you should have her housed separately anyways.

The best way to stop it is to have them fixed but even then there's no guarentees it will work.

 

[jordiwes]

:yeahthat

Be sure to check them over carefully for any hidden injuries. They can get infected and become abcesses.

You will need to separate them from now on.

 

[shelldoo]

bummer. i keep them seperate at night, and when we are not home, but they won't even play together now? maybe i won't breed them, or will just breed the baby once. it happened just a few minutes ago again, and the baby is definitely the attacker, she will run straight across the room to get at stormy. poor stormy has no clue why cookie is behaving this way

 

[naturestee]

You could *try* letting them play together in neutral territory, but you'll have to be there every second in case they fight.

And Jordiwes is right- check them over very carefully. Bite wounds can be hard to spot and it's best to get any injuries treated right away. And if you know where they are you can monitor them for infections/unusual lumps.

 

[shelldoo]

i looked them over, which is hard w/ all that fur, but i am assuming there would be blood? i didn't see anything. the good thing w/ angora fur is so abundant that cookie just got a mouth full of fur, i just feel so bad, they seemed to love one another, and were almost doting, this is very distressful to me

 

[naturestee]

Bite wounds don't always bleed much. You need to check the skin. Trust me, I've been there (with a white bun, no less), and the vet found bite wounds that I didn't.:?

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I had 2 males that got along great and one day out of the blue, they started fighting. Luckily I was home that day and I came outside to see hair EVERYWHERE. They are now permanently separated and have been for over 2.5 years. It just proves that one minute they can get along great, and the next they can be fighting like there's no tomorrow.

 

[jordiwes]

shelldoo wrote:

i looked them over, which is hard w/ all that fur, but i am assuming there would be blood? i didn't see anything. the good thing w/ angora fur is so abundant that cookie just got a mouth full of fur, i just feel so bad, they seemed to love one another, and were almost doting, this is very distressful to me

I believe it is very commmon for bunnies to get along when they are babies, and then start fighting once puberty hits them. It is possible for them to get along again once they are both spayed and you've worked on bonding them again.