I have two rabbits, an 8 month old neutered lionhead called Ernie and a 5 month old mini lop called Rita.
They're house rabbits who have the run of the middle floor of my house. They also have a large two-tiered cage (around 30sqft total) left open during the day which they have free rein to hop in and out of through the day. At night they go into the cage and the door is shut as Rita has a tendency to wee on my bed at night and Ernie likes to jump on me to wake me up as soon as it gets light (which recently has been as early as 4am!!!) and he digs at me until I get up :hyper:! They are both really good about it and they jump in around 10pm ready for bed. They snuggle into each other and it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen! Sometimes Ernie doesn't go in at bedtime, and if he doesn't it's no big deal he gets to stay out for the night as I don't want them to see being in the cage as a punishment.
Last week I spent the night at my boyfriends and left them alone for the first time overnight. My roommate told me the next day that at around 5am she heard a LOT of noise coming from my room and went in and thought they might have been fighting as Ernie had a mouthful of Rita's hair, so she opened the cage and Ernie hopped out and Rita flopped back down so she left them to it. I looked Rita over and couldn't see any signs of bleeding anywhere in her fur, or in the cage on the sawdust. I just put it down to maybe it was a mount that got a bit out of hand
Last night I was having lots of cuddles with Rita and giving her a really really good brush to get rid of moulting fur and deep under her fur I found 2 separate scabbed over wounds that look like they could be bite marks. They are old because they're fully scabbed over however they don't show both the imprint of top and bottom teeth like I would expect, only one half - once before Ernie had bitten me and I had two injuries, one from the top teeth and one from the bottom whereas Rita only has the one half? They're semi-circular in shape and one is on her left side above her back legs and the other on her right side above her shoulder.
With regards to their behaviour - they still spend hours licking/grooming each other and will lay down next to each other and Ernie will actually curl his body around Rita's.
I am very wary of leaving them alone together now as I am worried that if Ernie has bitten Rita that badly (which is the only explanation I can think of?) he may do it again and she may end up needing veterinary attention.
(Before anyone asks me to take her to the vets she has a neutering booked for tomorrow afternoon so I shall ask the vet about it then but the wounds are pretty much healed and don't seem to bother her)
Does anyone have any advice on how I can handle this, whether they should be separated or if I should just hope it's an isolated incident?
They're house rabbits who have the run of the middle floor of my house. They also have a large two-tiered cage (around 30sqft total) left open during the day which they have free rein to hop in and out of through the day. At night they go into the cage and the door is shut as Rita has a tendency to wee on my bed at night and Ernie likes to jump on me to wake me up as soon as it gets light (which recently has been as early as 4am!!!) and he digs at me until I get up :hyper:! They are both really good about it and they jump in around 10pm ready for bed. They snuggle into each other and it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen! Sometimes Ernie doesn't go in at bedtime, and if he doesn't it's no big deal he gets to stay out for the night as I don't want them to see being in the cage as a punishment.
Last week I spent the night at my boyfriends and left them alone for the first time overnight. My roommate told me the next day that at around 5am she heard a LOT of noise coming from my room and went in and thought they might have been fighting as Ernie had a mouthful of Rita's hair, so she opened the cage and Ernie hopped out and Rita flopped back down so she left them to it. I looked Rita over and couldn't see any signs of bleeding anywhere in her fur, or in the cage on the sawdust. I just put it down to maybe it was a mount that got a bit out of hand
Last night I was having lots of cuddles with Rita and giving her a really really good brush to get rid of moulting fur and deep under her fur I found 2 separate scabbed over wounds that look like they could be bite marks. They are old because they're fully scabbed over however they don't show both the imprint of top and bottom teeth like I would expect, only one half - once before Ernie had bitten me and I had two injuries, one from the top teeth and one from the bottom whereas Rita only has the one half? They're semi-circular in shape and one is on her left side above her back legs and the other on her right side above her shoulder.
With regards to their behaviour - they still spend hours licking/grooming each other and will lay down next to each other and Ernie will actually curl his body around Rita's.
I am very wary of leaving them alone together now as I am worried that if Ernie has bitten Rita that badly (which is the only explanation I can think of?) he may do it again and she may end up needing veterinary attention.
(Before anyone asks me to take her to the vets she has a neutering booked for tomorrow afternoon so I shall ask the vet about it then but the wounds are pretty much healed and don't seem to bother her)
Does anyone have any advice on how I can handle this, whether they should be separated or if I should just hope it's an isolated incident?
