three bunnies

[Mika77]

I have three bunnies, all fixed. I am not sure of their exact ages but the male is about six years old, one female is possibly 3-4 years old and the second girl is over a year. The male and the older female were together first and then at the beginning of this year we added the second female. At first the male was very aggressive and it took about a month for the pair to accept the new bunny. So now for the most part they all get along well except that sometimes the male or the older female chase the younger girl and they will pluck hair out of her. I do not see them do it very often but i do find clumps of her hair in the cage every few days. She does not act as if she is stressed out by this and does not seem to be afraid of the two bunnies but I am worried that they might hurt her one day. So I am wondering if this is something that is likely to stop? continue? or get worse? I think that if I would separate her from the other two she would miss them but is there some signs that I should be watching out for? Right now they are all just laying there looking totally innocent.

 

[fuzz16]

all i an say is if your worried about her safety then put a cage right next to them and see if grooming and ling by one another continues

 

[Mika77]

Not sure if the two would care too much if i took her away, it seems that she is the one following them around. She can be annoying at times, like when the two are snuggling together and she pushes her way between them so that she is squished in the middle.
It would be hard to put another cage next to the one they have because their cage is huge and there is not room for another. At the moment I do not think she is in danger but if I see them picking on her more I will have to put her in a different cage. I do not really understand why they pick on her. They did not do it at first, after they initially bonded things seemed all good for a few months and then about three months ago or so I noticed them chasing and plucking her. I know the older female is the most dominant of the three (she humps both the other bunnies)and at first I thought it was just her plucking the other female but later I noticed the male doing it too and he was chasing her a few times too. The young female humps the male so I am not sure who is the dominant of the two. I do not have a lot of bunny experience so I am not sure if that is just how bunnies are or if its something that I should worry about.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

As long as there is no "serious" fighting they should be okay. Sounds like normal behavior so far.