Hi, I have a bonded pair of brothers who have recently begun to have some friction, and haven’t found much relevant info online.
Background: I adopted Mr. Maple and Earl Grey from a shelter 5 weeks ago. They’re 5 years old, spayed, and have always lived together as a pair. They’re cautious yet friendly, and in good health. In the first few weeks, they almost always napped together, and groomed each other a lot. They would only part to use separate litter boxes. Their home is 20 sq pen, and when I’m home they have access to another 30 sq ft of hallway space which has lots of room to run as well as multiple hides.
However in the last couple weeks, I’ve noticed them becoming more comfortable in their space and around me, but little spats have begun.
I first noticed a half minute of mounting, maybe once or twice a day, then they’d return to “normal”. Since then these disagreements have increased in time and frequency. And today they ran around for a minute mounting, Mr maple pulled a couple tufts of hair, then Mr Maple thumped repeatedly. They were so worked up I couldn’t get them to stop by offering greens. Eventually I distracted them, and they wouldn’t eat from the same bowl as normal. About half an hour has passed, Earl Grey seems chilled but Mr Maple is continuing to thump every few minutes and appears to be on alert. Anytime one approaches the other it starts again. I’m not sure when or if to intervene, and how. There aren’t any injuries but I’m just getting stressed that they haven’t resolved things for now. Any advice on the situation or links to articles about long time bonded rabbits would be great.
by toomanyplants5