Fighting - Please help - new owner of 3 female buns

[3toomanybunnies]

Hello!
I’m hoping someone might be able to give me some advice with my buns. We have 3 females from the same litter, approx 4 months old.
They’ve been brilliant - until now - and two are fighting furious chasing, fur going everywhere. Happened three times, between grooming and sleeping together, and I don’t know what to do

How do you know when it’s a BAD fight - am I meant to interrupt every fight???
am I ruining anything?

I especially don’t know what to do with the 3rd bun - she’s Switzerland and bonded with both so who do I keep her with?

this is stressful owning multiple buns

 

[JBun]

Hormones. You need to separate, spay, wait 3-8 weeks for hormones to fade, then you can attempt to rebond. Though there are no gaurantees that rebonding will be successful. Adult personalities are different than when they're babies. If you have two very dominant females, it's not usually a good combination for a successful bond.

You may need to separate all 3 until spayed, or if the third bun is really chill and isn't causing any issues, you may be ok to keep her with one of the others, though you'll need to decide which(best to choose the least likely to cause problems). But if you do keep two of them together until the spay, you need to keep a very close eye on their behavior, and separate with the first signs of any aggression, or you could risk serious injuries occurring. If you're not sure, best to play it safe and separate until spayed.

Once they're all spayed, you'll have to see how it goes. If the problem bun won't rebond, then you will either need to keep her separate permanently, find her a new bunny companion(usually a neutered male is the easiest pairing), or try and rehome her to a good home.

In the meantime, I would suggest reading up on rabbit body language and bonding. When bonding, it's very important to have a good understanding of what the signs of aggression are, when aggression is escalating, and when it's essential you intervene before injuries can occur.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-bunnies.html
http://cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bonding_rabbits_together
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Understanding_your_rabbit
http://language.rabbitspeak.com/

 

[3toomanybunnies]

thank you so much! That was really helpful

I am setting up separate zones for them and looking forward to getting them spayed. I will definitely not be rehoming anyone just have to assess how it all goes!

Thanks so much!