My bunnies got in a fight

farleys · May 26, 2011

Hi, I am new here. Last week I went and picked out my new bunny, a dwarf /mini rex mix. ITs a girl, and she was 7 weeks old monday. ANd i wanted to get a male, for her to grow up with. I work at a veterianry clinic and will have them spayed and neutered as soon as they are ready and old enuf. Anyway from everything i read, at such a young age, it should be very very easy to introduce them. SO i got a male mini rex today, only 6 weeks old, and the same size as her, and i let them lose together, thinking since they were so young, and havent been away from their litter for long thought it would be easy. I was WRONG!! The female, attacked him bad, hair flying, and squealing, and now he has some deep bad scratches, and a bad wound on his back. He is coming to work with me in the morning for the veterinarian to look. Is this normal for such a young rabbit? They were okay for like 5 minutes, and then out of no where she attacked him

Nancy McClelland · May 26, 2011

It happens.

Must_Love_Pets · May 26, 2011

I have the fear that my 2 will fight when I try to introduce them with NO devider. I am such a nervous nelly and this is exactly why. They are completely fine when they have a devider and can just sniff each other and they seem to want to play with each other and show no signs of aggression so it can be very misleading. I will know this saturday when my sister comes over to help me so we can each quickly snatch up a bunny if it goes sour. YIKES!!!!

:-( So sorry sweetie, I hope they are both ok. Let us know how they are. You must be a wreck.

dragynflye · May 26, 2011

you can't just toss two bunnies together and immediately expect them to be bestest friends. it takes time and careful introductions to make it work. even if you get them bonded now, in a month or so, you will have to separate them so they don't breed before they are old enough to be spayed/neutered. they can reproduce before they are old enough to be fixed. you won't be able to have the female spayed until around 6 months, then you have to wait 4-6 weeks (i think it was) before the hormones will have gone down enough to make bonding possible.

so for now, separate them. you can put their cages side by side, with a little space so they can't fight through the bars. this will help them get use to each other, and might help the eventual bonding go easier.

farleys · May 26, 2011

I just want to say, that i already know all of that about reproducing, beleive me i have worked at a vet clinic for 14 years, and have also done tons and tons of research, as well as know lots of people with bunnies. SO I know you cant toss bunnies together and expect everything to be perfect, EXCEPT when they are this young, it usually is this easy, i have seen lots of mixed litters get put together at a young age and they all get along fine. So It was very unexpected. And he is okay for those that asked. He will take some time to heal, but he will be okay. i have never seen anything like this in such young bunnies! It was very scary, and stressful.

elrohwen · May 27, 2011

It doesn't really matter if they get along right now, honestly. You'd have to separate them very soon and then wait until after they are fixed, so bonding them now won't get you ahead of the bonding game. Just wait until they are older and fixed before trying to bond them.

It's definitely stressful when they fight, but just take it as a sign that they aren't ready for a friend at the moment. Their personalities will change as they grow and after they're fixed, so this reaction now doesn't really have any bearing on how they'll be together as adults.