Fight or Play?

[WaywardRabbit]

I currently have 6 rabbits, all housed together. I work at an animal shelter and these are all rescues. Their pen is quite large. It's actually a stall divided to be shared with my mini horse.

I have 4 females, not spayed, ages unknown. They all get along quite well. One is occasionally dominant but never anything serious. I also have a neutered male living in a cage in the pen. He will be loose with the females in a couple weeks (neutered a month ago). No issues since adding him, everyone seems to like eachother.

The issue is the newest member. A 4.5 month old female. She hasn't been with another rabbit since she left her littermates. She will not stop chasing the other girls. She chases them and jumps on them. No grunting and very minimal hair pulling. No bite marks. I can't tell if shes being overly playful or if shes being a big jerk. She stops to eat and drink, she loves being pet, she doesn't appear stressed...the other females seem annoyed and tired but I can't tell if this a bad situation or if it's just an excited baby and the excitement will wear off. Is this something I should just wait out? The male is only 7 months and very playful. His energy level will match the baby but I'm worried it' too soon after surgery. We have so many unwanted rabbits in my area I do not want babies.

 

[JBun]

Rabbits don't play like that. She is trying to assert dominance. The other buns may just be annoyed now, but eventually they may lash out and somebun could get hurt.

Spaying is always advisable, but in the meantime I would remove her from the group. I would try putting her in her own cage in the area like you've done with the male. This way they have a chance to all get used to each other without the risk of direct contact. But if she continues to act aggressively(or the other rabbits do) through the cage bars, I would either remove her for a time or put a barrier between so they have no way of coming in any contact with each other and causing injuries. Even through bars rabbits can cause significant injuries with those teeth.

I personally would have them spayed, but if you don't have plans to do that then wait a few more weeks til you are ready to bond the male into the group(8 week wait period after neutering for hormones to completely fade, before bonding). Then either try and bond both in or one at a time. But be aware, the hormones from the female could continue to be an issue and bonding her in may not work or could result in a full out brawl with serious injury. Spaying her will usually help, but in some cases it's a matter of personality and she may just not be a good match for your group.

In the meantime I would suggest doing some reading up on bonding.
http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/

One more thing, determined hormonal males have been known to successfully mate between cage bars. So just something to be aware of since he is in the area with the females. If there's any chance he could manage this, you'll want to take steps to prevent it. Hopefully it hasn't already happened

 

[WaywardRabbit]

She was in a cage with them prior to letting her loose. There were no issues. Checking on them now and things have settled down and they are sitting together. So it was just a matter of her settling. I'll keep watching to make sure things stay quiet.

Spaying would be ideal but given they have zero history, age unknown, came from bad situations and were in poor health to begin with its simply not worth the risk. The new girl however will be getting done as shes quite young but she needs time.