Rabbits biting each other.

[rupertismygod]

I posted this here, because the breeders would have the most experience regarding this question.

I have two rabbits. One neutered male, the female is not.

Tonight, was the first time I introduced them to each other.

The male would chase the female, then the female would lay down. Then the male would hump her, I'm guessing the male was doing this to display his dominance?

Anyways, the male humped her 2-3 times, but then the female obviously got annoyed, because she started biting him and ripping chunks of fur off him.

As soon as she did that I split them up, then a few minutes later, I tried to introduce them again to each other. The same thing happend, the female bit the male, and the male started to yelp.

So, I split them up for good and they are now back in their own pens.

I want to bond my rabbits for companionship purposes.

Do they hate each other now?

Does the female hate the male is that why she is biting him?

Is the male too controlling, always trying to hump her? He's fixed, so I don't get why he's always trying to hump her.

Maybe she needs to be fixed? She lays down willingly often, expecting to be humped.

 

[lelanatty]

Supposedly is it easiest to bond a fixed male rabbit and a fixed female rabbit. Getting the female fixed may be a good option.

I would post this in one of the sections where the house bunny people are, as they will be able to help you with the process of bonding your rabbits and many of them may have gone through the same thing you are going through now.

The female may be getting angry with the male because he is not breeding her, and only trying to show his dominance.

 

[rupertismygod]

Good point, she may be getting angry because he is not breeding her.

Which sections, nutrition and behaviour?

If a mod see's this, they can move it.

 

[aurora369]

Moved

 

[elrohwen]

Unfixed females are generally very territorial - they want to breed, then they generally want other rabbits to leave them alone so they can raise their babies. I honestly don't think you will have much success bonding an unfixed female with anybody. Get her spayed, wait at least 4 weeks, then try again and I think you will have much more success.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

our most prolific attack rabbit was a small female. Even after she was fixed, you couldn't put her with any other rabbit no matter the place--the fight was on. Neutering usually gets rid of a lot of problems but doesn't work every time.

 

[rupertismygod]

It really looked like she wanted to be bred. I think she has strong urges of wanting to be bred.She definitely needs to be spayed.

Will spaying her, take away her sensations of wanting to be bred?

 

[elrohwen]

Yes - after she is spayed she will not want to breed anymore. However, spaying will not necessarily make her less territorial, which is far more important when bonding bunnies. It usually lessens territorial behavior, but every bun is different.

Also, when she lays down for the male, it may not be because she is waiting to be bred - it could just be that she is submissive and allowing him to be dominant.

 

[rupertismygod]

elrohwen wrote:

Yes - after she is spayed she will not want to breed anymore. However, spaying will not necessarily make her less territorial, which is far more important when bonding bunnies. It usually lessens territorial behavior, but every bun is different.

Also, when she lays down for the male, it may not be because she is waiting to be bred - it could just be that she is submissive and allowing him to be dominant.

The thing is, her character is not submissive. So, when she lays down for the male, it's probably becuase she wants to be bred.

 

[elrohwen]

Either way, she will not have that urge after being spayed. She may still have other territorial behaviors that she had before - it's hard to tell - and those other behaviors are far more important when bonding.