Fighting Bunnies

[tazz1227]

Hi everyone. Long time no hear from. My kids Boy Boy and Girl Girl are doing well. Getting big. Just turned 10 months old. Well here is the problem. They are, rather Boy Boy is starting to fight and bully Girl Girl. Boy Boy is about 10 pounds and Girl Girl is about 7 pounds. They have never faught before and it scares me because I heard Boy Boy "growl" for the first time. It scared Girl Girl too because she ran. But I find the only time they do that is when I come in the room and Boy Boy comes for a treat and "rubs" and while she is getting attention, if Girl Girl comes over for a treat too, she will run her off. She will nip at her, growl at her and chase her away. I break them up but Girl Girl is getting so timid and I am trying to get them to like being held but she is scared to come near me because Boy Boy will "bully her" and act a fool !! HELP !! All advise is welcome!!

[zippy-kat]

fighting bunnies !!


what about separating the two for a bit?
maybe it will give them a chance to 'cool their tempers'--it sounds like Boy Boy is very territorial

I'm just grasping for ideas here--bunnie behavior problems have me a bit baffled lately! lol (Although I think i (FINALLY) have Sophie's figured out!)

[Daisylover]

Tazz,
Didn't you say they were neutered????

By the way, Heather and I were wondering what happened to you.....so we're really glad you're back on-line.

My Chocolate will chase Miss Emma away when it's feeding time but that's the only time she picks on her....otherwise they sit and snuggle and groom each other....go figure! I'll think about this and get back to you.

[sujei]

y not leave boy boy somewhere else while u give ur special attention to girl girl and repeatably do this until u get girl girl comfortable. when u finally attempt placing them together again during treat time and boy boy repeats her behavior then seperate once again. untill boy boy understands. i believe the best way is to leave boy boy in her cage while in plain sight dealing wit girl girl and them when girl girls turn is over shift ur attention to boy boy. thats the best i can do good luck

[tazz1227]

Hi Daisey...that is exactly when it happens. When I come home and give them afternoon treats is when they fight. Boy Boy will do her "tricks" for her treat and Girl Girl will just jumpin and Boy Boy will chase her and she growled !! It scared me. What is a mommy to do?? All I see is rabbit hair FLYING !! Oh...I was away in France for 2 weeks and then I had to kiss up to the kids when I got back. They were lonely. A friend of mine fed them but didn't spend a lot of time with them so they had a slight attitutde when i returned. But it wasn't anything that a nice banana couldn't cure.

[Daisylover]

France, huh? Life is TOUGH!!!!! So did you have a good time? I was in Paris for a long weekend about 10 yrs ago....I loved it but hated it too....hard to explain. It's just some place you have to see to believe I guess. It was beautiful but there were a LOT of beggars.......

At any rate

I don't think this fighting thing for the treats sounds very serious.
Do you feed them their meals at the same time??? Separately or from the same plate (so to speak)?

As you know punishments do NOT work with bunnies.... If it really bothers you I would give them their treats in separate rooms but at the same time..put Boy Boy in the liv room, give her her treat while holding Girl Girl and then carry Girl Girl to the kitchen and give her her treat in the kitchen or something like that. Whatever you are giving them must be something special that they both really love so they will fight over it....and this is the only way I can think of to prevent it.

So you use bananas as a bribe, huh???? Mine are so easy......
yes they love bananas but blueberries (maybe 4-5 each) and apple slices get fought over too. They are such a scream!

Good luck!! Let me know how it goes!

[tazz1227]

France was nice..yes many beggers. The main thing that got me was all the food was "looking at me" !! They served animals with their head and tail still attached !!! Now I know food does not come from the supermarket but I don't want it looking at me ! The treat that fight over is this ravioli treat I got from Petsmart. A friend of mine brought it and they LOVE it !! I give them a little fruit every morning before I go to work. I peel Girl Girl's apple and pear because she does not like the skni. Yes she is spoiled !! But she is so darned cute !! Never tried blueberries. I will have to try that.

[Daisylover]

Sounds like your trip was wonderful! Where all did you go or did you stay in Paris the whole time? I thought the chocolate was also to die for and became a fan of kirsch as a cocktail!!!!

[tazz1227]

Didn't make it to Paris, I was in Strasborg. It is a 4 hour ride from Paris to Strasborg. I told everyone when we got home we needed to go to detox and weighwatchers. All we did was eat and drink.

[Daisylover]

Well, you'll just have to go back to France someday and fit Paris in to your schedule!!! And I'll go with you since I didn't appreciate it all that much on my first trip!!!

I've started yet another experiment with my buns When Chocolate gets mean to Miss Emma and chases her away from the food, I found that yelling Chocolate's name and saying NO, made no impression at all.

I read somewhere, probably in an article dealing with difficult bunnies, that you have to show the offending bunny that YOU are the boss (yeah, right! ). You are supposed to be able to make this impression upon the bunny by gently but firmly holding the bunnies head to the floor....thus making you the dominante bunny : I have done this several times to Chocolate the last few days and this morning I could tell that she wanted to chase Emma from the food but didn't!!!!! This may have been an aberration on her part but I choose to look at this as a hopeful sign. You might thiink about trying that and see if it helps your situation. The thing is you have to be consistent and do it EVERY time your bun gets out of control.......

[tazz1227]

Holding her head to the floor??? AW !! Really?? For how long? And it really worked? ok...if you say so, I have been following your advice so far and you haven't led me wrong.

[Daisylover]

Well, there's always a FIRST time for me to be wrong!!!

I push her head gently to the floor and hold it there very briefly---5-8 seconds????? This morning Chocolate made no effort to chase away Miss Emma from breakfast at all.....so when she wasn't her ornery self, I felt guilty!!!!! Why does parenting have to be so hard!!!!!

[tazz1227]

AW!! It is so hard being a parent. I will try. What do you do when they look at you with those big pretty eyes??

[Daisylover]

Well I take a deep breath and tell them that THAT LOOK won't work on me......even though it does!!!!

[Heather Wallace]

Hi both, Daisy and Tazz. yes it is nice to see you both back on the forum, it hasn't been the same without you both, thats why I haven't been on much as there is only a few Bunny lovers on here. I have been using a UK forum which is great, nice people, you should try it. you would be most welcome. My user name on there is Hutchmate. The address is

www.bunnybazaar.co.uk

Go direct to the forum section, all the talk is of rabbits.

Anyway, Tazz how are BB+GG getting on now.

By the way, ipost your pic on the site, its on page 3.

http://bunnyboarders.20m.com