Bonded rabbits starting to fight?

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This topic has 2sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by Mikey.

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- 04/16/2017 at 11:27 AM
  Rachel
  Participant
  1 posts
  I have my male rabbit Gus Gus who is about 3.5 years old and Alice who is a little bit over a year old now. They have been bonded for months and lately Alice has started being aggressive to Gus. She was a rescue rabbit who is very timid and shy and I think she always will be, sometimes she would get scared of me or Gus but never to the point where she would try and fight him. I don’t know what is causing it? I have a pen for them that’s about 6 feet x 6 feet that has a hutch inside with little stairs so they can go in and out of it but they don’t stay in there all the time together (I’m still training them to not chew on the foam flooring I put in the bottom so when i’m at work or sleeping they are deprecated) Would that have an effect? I recently like power cleaned the cage so that could be it but she was still being a little more grumpy than usual a little before that. That’s the only thing I can think that could cause her to be aggressive but any other ideas? How do i get them to stop and start being friends again?
- 04/16/2017 at 4:52 PM
  tobyluv
  Participant
  3310 posts
  Is Alice spayed? I assume that she was spayed before you starting bonding her with Gus, but if not, that could be the problem.
  
  Are there any other changes with her – her eating, pooping, her activity level, her interactions with you? If so, she may be having some physical problem. If she happened to be in any discomfort, that could cause aggression.
  
  If they are actually fighting, you will probably have to separate them and let there be a cooling off period. Then re-start the bonding process. If rabbits fight, they can severely injure each other, plus fighting can make it impossible for future bonding to occur.
  
  Sometimes the bond can break between rabbits. It hopefully can be re-established, but sometimes they just can’t be together. I’ve never had a bond to break with any of my rabbits. Maybe someone with more experience in that will be more helpful to you.
- 04/16/2017 at 8:33 PM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  Deep cleaning the cage + area changes and removes the smells they have in there to claim shared territory, which can sever a bond. She is trying to reestablish hierarchy
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