sisters fighting

Question
Hi there. We have a pair of sisters, born mid May 08 (four and a half months old approx.)
We bought one at 6wks of age and the other about a month after, as we heard they enjoyed companionship and when they were re-united it was great and they have been inseperable ever since..until today!
For some reason they began sniffing and nibbling each other, then a nasty fight began and before I could seperate them they had bitten chunks of fur out of eachother and the smaller one (the one we got second) was left quite traumatised. It was a really nasty episode. We have seperated their living quarters for the time being.
Why would they have done this? Would it help to get them spayed?
Thanks for your advise.
Rebecca (+Biscuit & Maybeline!)


Answer
Hi,

they are reaching sexual maturity, and the first one to do so exerted dominance over the other.  My suggestion would be to keep them separate for now.  Start researching a good rabbit vet (not all are) for the surgeries.  This will greatly reduce certain negative behaviors and make them less prone to fight.

What you saw probably wasn't a fight as much as it was one asserting dominance over the other one.  Pulling out loose fur chunks is not serious, and the dominance issue needs to be settled before they can re-bond.  If it breaks out into full blown fighting that needs to be stopped, but otherwise they need to figure this out first, then the bonding can begin.

The key is a good rabbit vet.  One who does this work on rabbits frequently, with an extremely high success rate.  And also one who will prescribe them both post op antibiotics and post-op pain meds for you to give them for 4-5 days or so.  To keep them out of pain and eating.  If you need to find one go to:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.

Spaying them will also double their lifespan from 5-6 years (dying from uterine cancer) to 10-12 years.

You will need to keep them separate 4-6 weeks after the last ones' procedure.  It takes that long for their hormone levels to stabilize at their new, lower levels.  Once this is done, you can start rebonding them.  

Check the HRS web site and search on "bonding".  They have great articles discussing bonding two bunnies.

Lee