Rabbits fighting?

[Laurat]

Hi, I have 11 week old bunnies (brother & sister) who are bonded from birth. They have been so lovely with each other but recently started humping a lot and, yesterday they started fighting. I found clumps of fur in their hutch from overnight and now they have just been circling and in a tornado. Waffles (boy) keeps thumping at Flumpy (girl). I’m so sad. They’ve been so well bonded. They are booked in for Thursday to be neutered. They’ve already had pre assessment and specialist rabbit vet is happy to do both. I have separated them for now as waffles the boy is cowering and hiding when Flumpy comes near. She has always been the more dominant bunny! They can still smell each other through the wooden bridge divider. Do you think they will be able to rebond? How long should I keep them separate? I’m so upset

 

[Preitler]

Well, you'll have to keep them seperated for healing up anyway. And mayby for his hormones to dissipate, I would consider a few weeks, but I have no experience with that situation.
Are you sure about their age? They are a small breed, right?
It can be that he tried to hump her, if she's not old enough to mate she might have gotten annoyed because it's a social gesture too, and a dominant doe can't have that. I'm a bit surprised you've got a vet that spayes does that early, that's rare. For the buck it's a good time.

They were not bonded. Kits always get along, and then puberty hits and stuff happens. Bonding is the stuff that happens later. Read up on how to do that, like, in neutral territory and so on.

 

[Laurat]

Well, you'll have to keep them seperated for healing up anyway. And mayby for his hormones to dissipate, I would consider a few weeks, but I have no experience with that situation.
Are you sure about their age? They are a small breed, right?
It can be that he tried to hump her, if she's not old enough to mate she might have gotten annoyed because it's a social gesture too, and a dominant doe can't have that. I'm a bit surprised you've got a vet that spayes does that early, that's rare. For the buck it's a good time.

They were not bonded. Kits always get along, and then puberty hits and stuff happens. Bonding is the stuff that happens later. Read up on how to do that, like, in neutral territory and so on.

Ok Thankyou. I had the vets do a health check etc and they said their age was fairly accurate. Yes they are mini lops. I will keep them separate for now and for the weeks after their ops. I’m a first time rabbit owner so I’ve read as much as I can but I’m still finding lots out - I will read up on bonding. Thankyou for your help. I’m trying to do my best for them.

 

[zuppa]

Ok Thankyou. I had the vets do a health check etc and they said their age was fairly accurate. Yes they are mini lops. I will keep them separate for now and for the weeks after their ops. I’m a first time rabbit owner so I’ve read as much as I can but I’m still finding lots out - I will read up on bonding. Thankyou for your help. I’m trying to do my best for them.

As above said they were just babies and were not bonded, and what happened is totally normal behaviour, around 10-12 weeks boys become hormonal especially if there's girls around so it is normal that he stared humping her. Girls become sexually active a bit later (they can get pregnant from about 14 weeks already). If she is a dominant she didn't like that humping and probably showed that to him, maybe he's got some minor scuffs on him, girls can even seriously damage boys especially when they humping on her head and she has access to his private area, it can be really bad hopefully nothing like that happened to your Waffles.

It is great that they both are getting neutered this Thursday, you will have to keep them separately now and after neutering normally 6-8 weeks after to let their hormones to calm down, otherwise they can still fight. Then you read a lot about bonding rabbits and find some neutral territory like bathroom or something where you can start bonding process. I don't want to bore you with details right now because you have neutering first and post-neuter care so you will have time to do some research after they are healed a bit and you can ask again here we will give you some links and videos and all for bonding.

Before neutering just make sure you keep feeding them, some vets say that you shouldn't feed them before surgery, that is very wrong and either your vet has no experience with rabbits or maybe receptionist, so if they say that ask them directly because rabbits must eat right up to going on the table.

 

[zuppa]

Love the names can we have some pics of them as well?

 

[Laurat]

Love the names can we have some pics of them as well?

Thankyou so much for your advice. They seem ok, I have checked them both over fully and apart from loss of fur they’re both ok.
yes the vet said keep feeding them and bring food and their usual treats with them for the op.
Thankyou so much for the help with bonding- I will definitely ask!
charcoal bun is Waffles and the silver bun is Flumpy