Bonded rabbits fighting

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This topic has 1sd reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 7 months ago by jerseygirl.

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- 09/05/2016 at 5:00 PM
  LarryMolly
  Participant
  1 posts
  Hello, I’m new to the forum and a new bunny owner as of Friday last week. I really need some advice as our rabbits have been fighting!! We adopted a pair of rescue bunnies (male and female both neutered and spayed) who had been successfully bonded for a good few months. We brought them home on Friday are keeping them as indoor rabbits in a large c&c cage with some hidey houses, boredom breakers and lots of hay. Since Friday they’ve been settling in well and getting along fine, there was a tiny bit of chasing by the dominant rabbit but nothing extreme and we put this down to being in a new home. However my partner came home today to find their area in a huge mess with fur everywhere. They were very agitated and in the middle of a fight. Luckily there was no blood but it seemed intense. My partner separated them initially but then put them in their pet carrier together for 30 minutes and tidied their accommodation. Because they in quite a large area we decided to make their accommodation space smaller for now incase the size is causing problems as its so new for them. At the moment they seem calmer and are both eating which is good but am worried about leaving them alone tonight. The odd thing is that it’s the non dominant rabbit that seems to be causing the fighting (that we’ve observed) and the dominant one is really scared and on edge.
  
  Does anyone have any advice or experience with this? Is there anything we can do? Is this normal for some rabbit pairs? As we’re new to this we are worried we’ll ruin their bond so any help really much appreciated! Thank you.
- 09/05/2016 at 11:15 PM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22342 posts
  I guess I would look for stress factors in the environment and their individual health. Sometimes rabbits hiding discomfort might take things out on a bonded mate. Or they detected something being off in the other and react to that.
  
  What about things you have in their habitat. Is there anything you notice one is a little territorial about?
  
  What time of day was it that your partner found them fighting? Is there a pattern with the times they have had a scuffle. I ask as I had a pair at my place a week ago that were bonding. They did great but as soon as early evening descended, there would be some unrest between them. Mainly started by one rabbit.
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