basically my situation is last year my rabbit had an unplanned litter, i managed to home all of the litter - except for three males.
who have now started to mature and one of them is picking on one of the others

but which one should i remove?
they enjoy each others company, but one of them is going to have to be taken out of the group.
i can't decide which one would be best to remove

if i take out the victim, is the aggressor just going to start on the other brother?
if i take out the aggressor, is the other brother going to start on the victim?

i've watched them for hours in the hutch and it is definitely only going on between these two rabbits - while the aggressor does mount the other brother, he doesn't give chase or try to bite him, where as with the victim - i've seen him come away with a mouth full of fur following a chase.

i'm more inclined to take out the aggressor, but if anyone has any views on this, they would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited by xdow : 06-03-2012 at 21:46

I'd keep all three separate, I think - but get them all neutered asap. You didn't say how old they are? While they are entire - and especially at this time of the year! - entire rabbits, no matter how well-bonded they've been until now, are going to get territorial and be trying to establish hierarchies. That can cause serious injury which is obviously bad for the rabbit but the resulting vet bills can have a serious impact on the bank balance too.

There are 30,000 rabbits in rescues and refuges all hoping for a home so the more rabbits that get neutered / spayed before they can go in search of sex the better.

However, should you keep them in adjacent hutches / cages? Or should you have some space between them? I'm not sure but I know you will get excellent advice on the Rabbits United forum - http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/

I really recommend you ask your question over there, probably in Rabbit Chat or maybe Behaviour and Bonding.

Good luck with them. Is their mother spayed? If not, spaying her will stop her getting uterine cancer which, for unspayed females, is something like 80% likely by the age of 4.

Get them ALL neutered. Why don't people just do this as a matter of course?!

they're around the 5-6 month mark off the top of my head, their date of birth to within a few days is on the old calendar but i have no idea where its gone.

to be honest, if i'd known they'd been born, sooner than i realised, i'd have taken the full litter and euthanised them for snake feed before they furred up, rather than have them to feed, sex and re-home/filling up the shelters.

i used to breed netherland dwarves, so my 5 dwarves are entire for that reason
the mother, an english spot, isn't done because technically she's not mine - her owner could still come claim her if they wanted, i still have information up in the vets of where we found her (though after 2 years, i don't think anyone is coming for her)

This is the age they become sexually mature, give or take and depending somewhat on the breed and the individual. So entires living together - especially if they can scent entire females either directly or via someone's clothing.

The guys on rabbit rehome may be able to help you with homing too, or at least advise. I wouldn't mention the snake option, though.

And fwiw, after two years, I think it's entirely reasonable for the mother to be spayed, not least because it may prolong her life. You could then bond her with a neutered boy. Two happy bunnies.

thanks for the post, i'll have a look about

have been thinking about getting the mum spayed for a while (to get herself pregnant with these kits, she broke into one of my bucks runs so she's very intent on being a mother)

i need to enquire about having a ferret doctored soon (a friends ferret), so i'll see how much this will cost at the same time.

for the time being with these three though, i've taken the aggressor out and i'll see how the other two get on.
if anything further happens, i've got another spare cage to separate them as well so that will be okay.
but i will be honest - i cannot afford to get all of them done.

the three bucks i'm happy to keep and they will be looked after as well as possible, but neutering is something they can live without unfortunately.