One sister attacking another??

[lisa48312]

Hi everyone,

I had 2 hysterical little girls tonight. My 2 daughters eachhave a bunny as a pet. The bunnies are also sisters.(One ismore social and the other more timid) They are about 7 1/2months old(we've had them for 6 1/2 months)and have alwaysbeen extremely sweet and tender towards eachother. They areoutdoor rabbits and we've noticed the last couple of weeks, while goingout to feed and water them, the timid one making grunting noises whileeating and moving around the hutch. We'd never heard thatbefore from her.

Then tonight, my daughters got them out of the hutch to bring theminside to play with them for a while. The social one came inwithout any trouble and was hopping around the small screened in porcharea. I helped my other daughter bring the timid bunny in(shewas being very nervous). I brought her in and AS SOON as Iset her down, her sister attacked her by chomping down on herback! The timid one was trying to get away and was making allsorts of noises(loud, nervous grunting). I shooed the oneaway a couple of times but she kept on lunging at and chomping down onher sister. I finally separated them and took the aggressiveone back out to the hutch(noticing a lot of fur still in hermouth). My daughters were so upset about it and I didn't knowwhat to tell them.

Can anyone provide some insight on what this behavior means?? Thanks soooo much, in advance.

Lisa

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

It means they've reached the "teen years". That's when rabbits hormones change and quite often rabbits fight.

A possible way to curb this is to have them both spayed but it doesn't always make a difference.

If they are fighting a lot they need to be separated because one can get seriously hurt or kiled by the other.

It makes no difference that they are sister nor that they have always been together.

I had the same problem with my bunnies but mine were both males.

Bondings are most sucessful in this order: female/male, female/female, and male/male.

They may never get along or they might get along beautifully when they reach adulthood.

 

[cirrustwi]

Are they spayed? If not, that mighthelp. Just because they are sisters doesn't guarantee theywill get along. You might need to get them spayed becausethey are probably sexually mature now and that brings outterritoriality.

I would try getting them spayed and once they are totally healed up,work on bonding them again. Hopefully they will decide to befriends again. If not, your little girls will just have tohave twice the play time

Jen

 

[lisa48312]

Hi, thanks so much for the input!! No, they are not spayed.

Can you tell me more about a bunny's life span and timeline?When are the teen years and then when are they considered fullygrown?

If we chose not to have them spayed, could this behavior continueindefinitely? I'd rather not have to pay to have them bothspayed if they would grow out of it. Money is money. :?

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

What we call the teen years generally starts sometime around 6 months or later and can last to 1.5 years (it did with my males).

It's a good idea to get them spayed anyway to reduce the risk of problems such as ovarian cancer and other things.

Rabbits can live to be 10+ years and depending on the breed is when they reach adulthood.

For more information please check out the Cheat Sheet for Rabbit Care at the top of the board.

 

[lisa48312]

Thank you for the information. I'd beentold that 2 females together would get along beautifully and to stayaway from puttingmales together. So when thishappened, I was shocked and wondering if maybe they'd told me wrong andsold us 2 males or a male and a female or something. Or worseyet, I was wondering if one of them was sick. This is ourfirst experience with bunnies, so we're learning as we go,basically.

 

[sandhills_rabbits]

Wow.... what a great post! When I started readingthis thread I guess I didnt really understand about the bunny teenyears and how the hormones could so greatly affect the bun'srelationships with others. I read all the info everyone provided, andnow i feel more enlightened about this situation.

I guess I have to be prepared that my two girl baby buns who get alonggreat now might end up acting out toward one another as they get older.

 

[gjsara]

lisa48312 wrote:

Thank you for the information. I'd been told that2 females together would get along beautifully and to stay away fromputtingmales together. So when this happened, I wasshocked and wondering if maybe they'd told me wrong and sold us 2 malesor a male and a female or something. Or worse yet, I waswondering if one of them was sick. This is our firstexperience with bunnies, so we're learning as we go,basically.

well glad you found you way here!!! if you havent i would recomendseperating them they can kill each other. its funny alot of peoplesee bunnys as cute and cuddley but as they say evey rose has a thorn.im going to give you some websites that helped me out when i first gotmy rabbit.

http://www.rabbit.org/care/index.html

this site has everything just about its a great refrence

http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk_intro.html

and this is just a good way to understand you bunny!

good luck and hope we can help with any other questions you may have

sara

 

[lisa48312]

Thanks, I'll check the websites out.It's hard to hear that one would actually kill the other if kepttogether. But I separated them immediately after seeingthis behavior. We had gotten them both 6+ monthsagothinking they'd be good companions for eachother, beingsisters and all, and so now that they're needing to be separated, itkind of defeats the purpose. We had so enjoyed seeing theiraffection to eachother....it was so cute.

 

[bumperbunny12]

Some rabbits just bond--some justdon't. I had a friend who got a rabbit from me (a doe) then 3months later got another doe. I told her that they wouldn'tget along, but they did, beautifully! Getting spayed mighthelp, but it might not, they will still be territorial. Theymight get along together fine in new surroundings, but in a familiarterritory they get to thinking that it is "MINE!" and that anotherrabbit (especially one of the same sex) is seriously tresspassing.

Bigger breeds don't seem to live as long as smaller breeds. about 8 years is average.

 

[Rowan]

My girls started getting more and more aggressiveto each other before they were spayed, and I had to break up a coupleof fights, but since being done they're back to really close bonding. Iknow it's expensive but if you can do it I'd say it's definitelywortha try as what's getting between them most right now ishormones. Hopefully afterwards they'll be back to how they were.

Kate

 

[lisa48312]

Thank you all so much! It's a comfortknowing I've got a place to come to get answers to my questions whenthere's a "crisis".

 

[BunnyMom]

lisa48312 wrote:

I'd been told that 2 females together would get alongbeautifully and to stay away from puttingmales together.

I was told the same thing by the breeder I bought my first three girlsfrom. Two were mother and daughter and I think they fought with eachother worse than with the third! We kept them all in separate cages andany together playtime was VERY CLOSELY supervised. We also found thatwhen food was present they were much less interested in fighting (asyou can see in my avatar, everybunny is behaving nicely).

 

[Emma james]

Hi, thanks so much for the input!! No, they are not spayed.

Can you tell me more about a bunny's life span and timeline?When are the teen years and then when are they considered fullygrown?

If we chose not to have them spayed, could this behavior continueindefinitely? I'd rather not have to pay to have them bothspayed if they would grow out of it. Money is money. :?

I have the same problem now. My one bunny has just made her sister really squeal. I had to seperate. I'm having them spayed very soon.

 

[Preitler]

How does your setup look like? In my opinion it's important that their space is divided so that they can get out of each others eyes if they feel like it, with several hiding spots - and no dead ends. If the submissive doe can't get away the domanant one can see this as affront and escalate. I Use at least two hutches per pair, connected with tunnels, and they can go out in the garden during daytime.

I'm not a fan of seperating, imho it cements the animosities, I avoid it whenever possible, but sometimes characters don't match, and hormones sure make things more "interesting". Had 2 pairs of does, now after super dominant Fury died I connected all 5 hutches and try to get Ruth and Chantal warm up to Red, it helps that there currently are 4 16 week old doelings in there too.

 

[JBun]

I have the same problem now. My one bunny has just made her sister really squeal. I had to seperate. I'm having them spayed very soon.

This is a very old thread. If further discussion is needed, it's better to create your own thread in the appropriate subforum. It can be somewhat confusing for others wanting to comment and not realizing the OP is no longer relevant.

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/how-to-post-on-the-forum.92892/

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Every rabbit is an individual--while some behaviors may be the same, each bunny can be very different--one commonality is that all are territorial, some more so than others. We had 2 girls, sisters that were neutered and were together for 5 years. They started fighting and drawing blood, so, they were quartered separately and not out of their hutches at the same time--Vet bills are never small!