Two aggressive males, post-neuter, still fighting.

Hello. First off, I've been browsing threads for the last few minutes and couldn't find one that dealt more with males than females, so I figured I'd start a new one. If I'm asking about something that's already been well-discussed (as I'm sure it has), just direct me towards it. Thanks!

We are first-time owners of two male lionheads. Right now they're just over six months old. They have a large rabbit cage (or "rabbitat") they shared up until about 4.5 months, when they started being very aggressive towards one another, but never towards us. After humping and chasing escalated to biting and screaming (awful noise), we separated them. We had them neutered after a visit to a local vet yielded they were of age and weight for the operations. That was three weeks ago today. We've still been unable to put them back in the same cage together without just crazy violence. They're brothers and they seem to absolutely hate each other. We let them out to run the sunroom, and they play individually and have a good time, but when the time comes to put them away, we still have to keep them separated, otherwise there's bloodshed. We've been told that it takes a couple weeks for the testosterone to leave their systems. They don't seem to have mellowed even a little bit. Are we stuck with rabbits who can't be social? Will this ever end? Anybody got any suggestions? Really hoping for a happy resolution here. Thanks so much.

I'm not speaking from experience with neutered rabbits, because I never had a pair done. I do have experience with neutered cats and dogs though.
and I do have experience as a rabbit breeder, and I can say that I never keep bucks together for longer than 3 months of age.

I do believe that they may never be friendly with each other, and bucks can kill or seriously main one another. I've seen one once with his face partially ripped off. (Just warning you to be careful)

I would think if it like having to aggressive male dogs. Neutering them will not make them suddenly friends with each other...not even after the hormones leave their systems.
The same for male cats and spraying. Unfortunately, if one waits too long to neuter the male may never stop behaving like a tom-cat.
I don't see why a rabbit would be any different.

once they "hate each other" it is permanent, "fixing" them won't make them like each other.

You need to separate them so they can't see or smell each.
Their hormones won't have settled down enough by now anyways, for them to tolerate each other.

They will need to remain separated for at least six months.

Then you can place them side by side and see how they tolerate that.
If they tolerate that well, then you can look at introducing them to each other in a neutral location.
Have on hand water/towels/thick gloves in case they have issues.

IF they have issues, consider it a done deal, they won't get along.

I agree with ladysown. However, I really don't think they will get along. The rabbits either get along, or they don't. There really aren't any cases where they learn to love each other.
That being said, I just raised 3 bucklings (all from the same litter) together in a ten by ten enclosure with 3 hutches attatched, with lots of hiding spots, and two feeding bins . They were still living together when they were sold at 5months old. There would've been more violence if their enclosure was not so big and if they did not have so many hiding spots. So, if you re-introduce them in a few months, make sure that their "rabitat" is big, has lots of hiding spots (cardboard boxes, buckets, ect.), and has 2 feeding bins.

The "pet rabbit" people perpetuate the myth that rabbits are extremely social creatures that need each other for companionship. And they throw spay/neuter around like it is magic cure for everything. Even Vets push it.

We used to run a rescue and saw a lot of rabbit pairs (same gender AND m/f pairs) come in with horrible injuries/scars. One or both altered in most cases. But as WildWolf said: Rabbits tend to get along, or they don't.

We've seen full sibling pairs nearly kill each other, and we've had full siblings that stayed together for 8 years companionably.

If they've escalated to the point they were pulling fur and screaming, I am sorry to say, but these two are unlikely to become friendly cagemates. IF you can get them to a point they tolerate each other, you could leave one day for a run to town and come home to find a massacre because somebunny woke up on the wrong side of the hutch that morning. <br /><br /> -- Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:24 am -- <br /><br /> When I raised Lionheads, I purchased a few bucks only to find that they attacked *does* - instead of breeding them, they'd go crazy on them. I've never seen anything like it. I've raised many breeds of rabbits, shown rabbits and have even attended shows where two breeders strike a deal, pull a doe off the show table and put her in with a buck for a quick pairing.

But Lionheads... they are a different kind of rabbit. I was still able to keep Jrs together for the most part. Although we did have some crusty-tempered kits even at a few weeks of age.

You need to try and re-bond them like adults. The house rabbit society has plenty of suggestions on how to get two adult rabbits to slowly get use to each other.

I would clean the cages thoroughly and give each rabbit a bath to remove odours.

I would also swap cages daily so the scent of each male is both and they are less likely to be territorial.

At first try them togeather in a large room that is neutral territory and foot stools or boxes littered about do they can hide from each other and you should be ready to seperated them.

Some adult rabbits won't bond, it is just the way they are and unfotunately in my experience Lion Heads are one of the breeds I've found to be anti-social

Good luck

Man, thank you all so much for the info. We'll try some of these tips and see if there's any change. It'll, of course, be done under supervision. We never leave them alone together except for when they're loose in our sunroom, which is quite large. Them being alone together in there never gives any trouble. But the rabbitat, forget about it. They just may end up in separate rabbitats, and that'll be just fine. Again, thank you.

s.