Girls fighting

[bunnies_downunder]

Hello everyone,

Hope someone can shed some light.
I have two girls who have grown up together but lately have been fighting.
One of the girls always loves sitting on my bed and loves pants but since they've been fighting and I've separated them my girl runs away from me and doesn't want to lay with me anymore or pats.
What can I do to get her confidence back?
Is this a hormonal period / phase?
Both girls also hang with another girl and two boys who are castrated. They generally are always happy together.
Both girls are about 1 year old.
The 5 of them have a big burrow they share too.

 

[JBun]

Are any of the girl rabbits spayed, if so, for how long? Are they all a bonded group that permanently lives together normally? Since babies, or for how long? How long have the boys been neutered, and how soon after neutering were they bonded back with the girls?

Have any been separated from each other recently, for any length of time, even a few minutes, particularly the two girls that are fighting? Have any been anywhere other than your home just prior to the fighting happening? Any changes that occurred recently, new pets or a change of area or in an area or room new to them, especially when the fight occurred? Anything new, different, unusual loud outdoor sounds, anything causing them stress that could have set this off? Anything that happened just prior to the fight that could have set it off?

What did their fight look like (chasing, biting, latching on, any trying to kick or bite the stomach), were they immediately separated, and was it only the one fight or did it happen more than once? Was this a full on tornado fight with biting, and did any injuries occur? Or was it minor chasing and nipping (not latching on)?

And is it they live free range in a burrow on your yard/property outdoors? Or they live indoors and they get outdoors time in their burrow? How have you separated the girls that were fighting? Is one now kept in a separate area? And is this the one that doesn't want to be with you and let you pet her?

 

[bunnies_downunder]

Neither girls are spayed. They generally like to sleep outside with the others in the night.. in the morning both girls like to braze on some green then they both come in side and hang together inside for the day, sometimes the others follow and more hang inside for the day. If I'm home the door stays open a little so they can come in and out as they please. If is just the last two mornings my smaller girls has been chasing by a slightly older and bigger girl and she is chasing and biting.

I've keep the little one in with me and this morning she jumped up on the bed and wanted pats
.. yay

I will try putting the little one back with the others, or perhaps open the areas up and see what happens.

The five of them are generally always together.. could be a maturity thing or I'm hoping a phase.

 

[bunnies_downunder]

Here is my sweet girl wanting pats this morning and kissing me

 

[bunnies_downunder]

This is my bigger girl..

 

[JBun]

If she is just doing a bit of chasing and nipping, and the other bunnies basically run away and don't challenge her, this can be normal dominance behavior between rabbits. But if it escalates into a flurry of attacking and real biting (different then a minor nip), then the rabbits need to remain separated for a while, until you can either figure out if something set them off and fix it, or if it's a fight for dominance then they may have to remain separated or you risk serious injuries occurring.

Possible triggers for unusual aggressive behavior are a predator nearby, loud sounds stressing the rabbits, anything new or out of the ordinary that puts the bunnies on alert, or allowing the rabbits to be in a new area can spark territorial behavior.

 

[Mom to Minx]

Well all I’ve got to say is both of your girls are so very cute! Hope you get this all sorted out!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We had 2 neutered girls that were "bonded" for more than 5 years and lived in the same hutch. They started fighting, for real, blood and all that, so we had to separate them although they were in hutches side by side--however, we never let them out together anymore as we couldn't help with the Vet's Mercedes payments--the bill for the fight damage was not exactly inexpensive and we had 17 rescues at the time.

 

[bunnies_downunder]

Well all I’ve got to say is both of your girls are so very cute! Hope you get this all sorted out!

They are both so sweet thank you

 

[bunnies_downunder]

If she is just doing a bit of chasing and nipping, and the other bunnies basically run away and don't challenge her, this can be normal dominance behavior between rabbits. But if it escalates into a flurry of attacking and real biting (different then a minor nip), then the rabbits need to remain separated for a while, until you can either figure out if something set them off and fix it, or if it's a fight for dominance then they may have to remain separated or you risk serious injuries occurring.

Possible triggers for unusual aggressive behavior are a predator nearby, loud sounds stressing the rabbits, anything new or out of the ordinary that puts the bunnies on alert, or allowing the rabbits to be in a new area can spark territorial behavior.

I let them be together again but again rolling and fighting..and bitting..
It could possibly be the shared burrow or maturity... Who knows if my little black female will mature and fight too.
Maybe it's a maturity thing.
It's a shame all rabbits can't just be together and be happy
I'll keep them separated for a few weeks and try again.
Otherwise they will have to stay separated.
They all have partners actually except my little hazel girl so I will get a male for her and have him fixed.
Then Sid can live happily with her new partner and hopefully bond with him.
Then no more rabbits...once I get the male I'll have 10
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