What to do to keep a rabbit from being aggressive with another rabbit?

Question

About 6 months ago, I got a female rabbit. 2 months later, I got another female. It took a few days to get them to bond, the one I had being older, bigger and aggressive. But then they got along pretty well, the older one being the boss and humping the baby to show it off. Sometimes there were little fights, but nothing serious, just showing off.

2 months ago, the baby, who grew bigger than the old one, decided she was sick of getting humped, and humped the older bunny. So for a a week or two, they were humping each other all the time to decide who would be the dominant. The smaller, meanier, and older rabbit won. The younger one has always been very submissive except for the 1-2 weeks that they fought. But now, my elder still "attacks" the other bunny. They woke me up a few times at night, I just said "HEY!" and they stopped. But today I came in my room and my big baby was running around the cage (she often does) to escape the elder's attacks/bites... I noticed it was rougher than usual, so I picked up the "prey" and took her out. She has a small bite on her back right leg, and it bled a bit...

The elder attacks the other... Even if the young one is so submissive... I've never seen such a submissive rabbit.

So, here is my question, do you have any suggestion on how to get my elder less aggressive?

I don't want to split them, the young one is sad and always tries to cuddle the elder, even if she is not welcome... They live in the same cage, are not neutered, and used to be perfectly bonded except for a few little play arounds for the dominance, which is normal.

I'm worried about getting my elder neutered, because I heard here (in Québec) vets don't know much about rabbits (I actually experienced it...) and neutering a female rabbit is a very delicate surgery.

Thanks for your suggestions/help.

Answer 1

Really the only way to solve this is to house them separately.

Rabbits really are more of a solitary animal and dont need the company of another animal.

Most actually prefer their own space and to be alone.

I would keep them apart and only put them together to play when you can watch.

Answer 2

Hmmm... Thats weird. But I have 2 girls that are from the same litter that did the same thing. They dont anymore. (they are abut 4 years old) But I had to get them a bigger cage. They used to be in a hutch, but when my family built cages for them in the ground outside, they got along a lot better.

I hope the baby is okay!

And I hope 9e87bgfv1f(<-- My cat said hi.) everything works out!  

Answer 3

Contact here about rabbit experienced vets in your area: http://www.vrra.org/

Unfixed females are cage aggressive and most always live to be about 4-6 years old compared to the 10+ a fixed one lives

They also tend to be better with their litterboxes, be careful about keeping them in the same cage, the older one can kill the younger one

Keeping your rabbits in an x-pen will also help with the cage aggression: http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/adoption/...