Distressing Baby Sister Agressions-Flemmish Babies

[flemishwhite]

It's seemingly only started this week.

Background: We have two Flemmish female sister babies. They are now 3 1/2 months old. Up until this week, they've been just perfectly lovey-dovey. They have appeared to so much love each other. The two female rabbits have different personalities. One, slightly larger, is very outgoing, very social, and also aggressive. The other sister is shy about sociability, when she eats, she eats slowly, and the other sister will come and eat her food. Since we have much more food, than they can eat, the shy sister has all she can eat.

The Problem: Just this week, the outgoing Flemmish rabbit has been attacking her sister. I saw for myself, that she was trying to mount and hump her sister. (From what I've read, both male and female rabbits will try to hump one another, it's a social thing for rabbits, of course, when the male rabbit humps the female..it's pay dirt.) My wife also has found tufts of hair were apparently where the aggressive rabbit has pulled hair out of the neck of her more passive sister. At this moment, both are sleeping under the coffee table in the living room, so there's no apparent continuing problem between the two.

I guess the solution is to get the girls neutered. But they are only 3 1/2 months old. They are already about 6 pounds...they are about the size of most fully grown adult pet rabbits. I didn't want to neuter my girls until they were about one year old. Actually, the one girl that is so aggressive to her sister, is also so very friendly with people. This is a really good trait as far as people go. I'd think it'd be good to breed her with a like person friendly male rabbit. This would promote people friendly rabbits.

And a footnote about rabbit aggressiveness.....maybe aggressive to each other, but my experience is that they really want to be obedient in the sense that they want to be good bunnies. This is with my experience with three rabbits now. They are responsive to rules about living in the house.

 

[Blue eyes]

This is no surprise at all and actually quite typical. Your rabbits are becoming hormonal and aggression isn't a surprise. You will need to keep a closer eye on them as this may get worse. It can even turn into all-out fighting.

This is why we always say that baby 'bonds' don't count. Hormones are the ultimate game changer. There always remains the risk, when getting 2 babies, that the 2 ultimately refuse to bond once they've passed the baby stage. But hopefully they will bond for real once they've been spayed.

If your vet is willing to spay now, then that would be a good idea. The sooner the better. Some suggest that if spay surgery is held off too long, that those undesirable hormonal traits may become ingrained.

The main caution at this point is to constantly monitor them to prevent any serious fights. A serious fight could prevent that future bond.

edit: I will alter this and agree with watermelons that it would be safer to separate them than to try to keep a close eye out for fighting.

 

[Watermelons]

Since they have fought, it's best to separate them so they don't even know the other one exists, this will allow them to forget any grudges they have.
Then attempt re-bonding them about a month or 2 after their surgery.

There is nothing wrong with getting them spayed at the age they are at now. Up to you and your vet.
They do need to be separated since they are fighting. Regardless.

But there is no guarantee they will bond when everything is said and done.

And I also suggest you do not breed your rabbits. Breeding a friendly rabbit with another friendly rabbit is a really poor reason to even consider breeding rabbits. There are plenty enough friendly pet rabbits in shelters. If you're not going to breed to improve the breed standard (Professional show breeders) then please just don't.

anthropomorphizing your rabbits is also a really bad habit to get into. They are not humans. They are not behaving because they WANT to be good bunnies. They are not following rules. They are rabbits and are doing what rabbits do. They are fighting and getting hormonal. They do not know your house rules and are hoping for gold stars when they behave.

 

[flemishwhite]

Even though there has been bullying on the part of the more aggressive sister, tonight they are once again back to being perfect sister pairs. I continue to be concerned in the aggressive rabbit has pulled neck hair out of her more submissive sister earlier today....this is according to my wife. I myself saw the aggressive rabbit (female) trying to hump the submissive rabbit(female). Once again, for now they are stretched out under our living room coffee table laying side by side asleep.

I will have the girls neutered, but I was planning on waiting until they were about a year old. From what I've read, females can be neutered young. They'll soon be 4 months old. Being Flemmish, they are already as big as most rabbits! It's impressive the amount of green leafy vegetables they eat a day. It's actually a little expensive buying them these vegetables.

 

[Preitler]

Hi, what you describe is actually not fighting or bad aggression. It's completly normal rabbit behaviour, nothing to worry so far. Imho humping is good - that's a way to get things sorted out with no one being hurt - my does eventually ignored it and kept munching away while the dominant doe got her stress relieve. Tufts of fur, some nipping: Normal. Don't mistake rabbits as the sweet furballs we often want them to be, they have very strong opinions about who's boss and stuff. They need to sort that out from time to time, especially while young and hormones shooting in. You'll know what a real fight looks like if you ever happen to see one, then it's time to really worry, but the only does that I have to keep seperated are those two who had no opportunity to sort things out the normal way. Neutering sure is an option, as pet and house rabbits you most likely don't want this two big bunnies go through digging, marking and nestbuilding fits that come along with false pregnancies.

 

[ladysown]

Tufts of fur lying about is INDEED a sign of aggression and is something to be alert for. does humping happen? yes. it that normal yes. But tufts of fur indicate accelerating aggression (even if it isn't constant) and is the hint you need to separate them. It's not like they can't see each other, but having space between them will prevent the all out fighting that will eventually happen where you'll be paying vet bills to fix the damage. (THAT is expensive)

I can understand your desire to delay spaying them. It's all good. But I would strongly advise you to separate them before the nasty damage happens.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

I'd separate til neutered and then re-introduce after a month. This may not get rid of all the humping (dominance) behavior but it usually eliminates the serious fighting.

 

[flemishwhite]

Thanks for all the comments. A week or so ago, I would have assumed baby sisters would forever be bonded as friends. Notwithstanding the aggression me and my wife observed yesterday, today the two bunns have reverted to their previous loving relationship.

Although, I think they are too young to be neutered, they are large at 3 and 1/2 months old, they are already at the size of most domestic rabbits. They sleep and eat about 23 hours a day. For the half hour in the morning and late afternoon when they are active, it gets just crazy with their activity!! Never experienced this with my previous rabbit, she was an adult when we got her (rescue), our two rabbits now are giant babies. (Flemmish Giants) It's good for the rabbits to be so physically active, I'm glad to see them exercise....but at 3 and 1/2 months old we have to monitor everything they do when they go into a playful mode.

 

[Azerane]

The suitable age for desexing a rabbit is largely based on their weight. (Except in males you have to wait for their testes to drop). With females, if they're exhibiting hormonal behaviour, which they are, and are a large enough size, which being flemish they would be, there's no reason they can't be spayed now (vet willing of course). According to a breeder's website regarding growth rate of flemish, yours should be around 3 1/2kg or 8 1/2 pounds by now. Bandit doesn't weigh that much as an adult and he was neutered at about 1.5kg.

 

[flemishwhite]

Thanks for all your comments. Second day now, and now two days of no aggression. The one female is slightly larger than the other. If we give them banana slices, the aggressive girl will wolf down her banana slice and then go grab her sister's banana slice. Interesting differences in demeanors. The aggressive rabbit, is a vigorous eater, her more reserved sister eats slowly. We sometimes feed the reserved sister by herself.