Crazy bunniness!

[cainan]

My two little bonded bunnies (bonded for a year now) have not stopped fighting – VICIOUS fighting – since last night.  I’ve had to divide their pen into two to keep them apart.  I spent all night separating them when the fighting got too bad (I read on a HRS page that sometimes they just need to fight things out themselves) and cleaning up enormous chunks of fur. :/

What in the world could have caused this?  Is this some yearly dominance thing?  I did notice that a couple of times Merry would jump over Banner and like give him a kick on the back when she was right over him.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated – I don’t think I can take another night (and morning) of this.

 

[Pandorachik]

Well, I am definatly NOT an expert on bonding – I know little. All I can do is share this good video on bonding. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfUDIIe_Kpk
You could also get articles, and check out some vids. on youtube to help

[LBJ10]

Has anything changed in their environment? Was one at the vet for an extended period of time (not just an office visit)?

[cainan]

Hi,

So here’s what I noticed today – Merry is definitely the aggressor. I let Banner out of his part of the pen and he was his normal little self until Merry starting lunging at him from her part of the pen.

The ONLY thing that I can think of that happened is that on Sunday night Banner got caught in some yarn from my knitting (just one strand) and freaked out (of course, instead of standing still and letting me remove it ) and ran from my bedroom across the house to his room, trailing the knitting behind him. He did the flop down/heavy breathing thing for a while – he was definitely scared. I don’t know if he did anything to her when he was scared that ticked her off and now she’s being unforgiving?

I did notice too that she had major attitude with me this morning. She’s generally sweet and even tempered, but she was lunging at me as well. :-/

[Beka27]

I wonder if she is okay? Aggression can be out of fear or pain.

[Sarita]

I would not let them fight it out if the attacks are vicious – that is not good.

I would take them both in for an exam to see if there are any illnesses – also I would want to make sure that if there are any wounds from the fighting they are treated.

[Sarita]

Another question – what do you have in their pen – sometimes taking everything out but the litter box can be a good idea. Sometimes rabbits get territorial over stuff in their cage/pen – don’t know why but they do.

[cainan]

I am definitely not letting them fight anymore… I wish I could remember where I got that advice! Merry just had an exam and she checked out 100%. She’s not exhibiting any (obvious) signs of pain or illness – eating and eliminating are normal, and there’s no tooth grinding. I’ve checked for wounds and Banner (mini rex) has a couple of spots where he got bruised, but no broken skin. Merry is fine. If anyone is afraid I would have thought it was Banner after the knitting incident.

The pen has a lot of things in it – nothing new – a two floor house, 2 willow tents, 2 litter boxes (if I only use one Banner goes where the other one used to be!), some toys… they’ve been fine eating from the same dishes but when the fighting started I gave them each their own.

They were living in 2 connected xpens, which I’ve now separated. They’re back in pre-bonding config – next to each other so they can interact but not close enough so that they can bite. 1 litter box each, evenly distributed toys (Merry prefers the balls, Banner prefers the boxes, etc.).

Worst part is that they’re supposed to be boarded on Friday (thankfully it’s with foster mom) ;(

Thanks all for your insight!

[Sarita]

Try rebonding them without any of the extras in the pen when you are ready.

I had a lady who I had bonded a pair for and then all the sudden they started fighting – well Boo, the larger female was the instigator. I had her bring them back to me to see what I could do. I finally figured out that taking out any and all hidey houses, tunnels, etc….solved the problem. So I say give that a try.

[cainan]

I’ll try it and let you guys know how it goes!

[Author]

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