Hi all,
I will be posting my experiences bonding my two rabbits Othello & Calypso here. Any thoughts/advice/observations would be greatly appreciated 🙂 I have had Calypso for about 1 month, and she is approx 6 months old and spayed. Othello just arrived and he is 2 months old and not neutered yet as he is still too young. I have read it isn’t a good idea to introduce a non-neutered rabbit to a spayed one, but I was advised as he is so young it should be ok because his hormones aren’t raging yet, is this correct?
Calypso is currently living on the balcony and Othello in the hutch I hope to move her into once they are friends. Calypso comes into the house and wanders around freely, Othello hasn’t done this yet.
OK, the story so far…
I made their first introduction in the bathroom where neither of them had ever been before. They began by sniffing each other’s noses, both of them with ears forward. Then they started to sniff each other’s bums and if I recall correctly, Othello began to chase her. I was not sure if they were fighting or playing, but they were running after each other very fast so I sprayed some water on them to break it up (as I read is a good thing to do), and Calypso went running over to my boyfriend Nick and climbed onto his lap for safety (which she has never done before). Othello then ignored her and began grooming himself. He did a bit of boxing at one point but stopped. Calypso sat with Nick for about 15 minutes and did not want to go back down to meet Othello, even after I put him in his carrier. She sat shaking and panting with Nick so we eventually took her back to the balcony.
Othello spent the night in his hutch. I put his carrier back onto the balcony with Calypso and in the morning I noticed she had peed and pooed in it, everywhere, which she has never done before. Maybe because his scent was in there? we brought Calypso down to the garden and left Othello in the hutch. They were very interested in each other, sniffing through the wire at each other for about half an hour. Both had their ears forward and they seemed very non aggressive. Calypso enjoyed circling the hutch while Othello followed her from inside. He was very excited and seemed to want to play with her. She began running around the garden and did many binkies which I have not seen her do so excitedly before, so I thought she must be very happy.
We decided to let Othello out of the hutch for a while and put her inside instead, to reverse the situation. He took no notice of her and began exploring the garden while she insisted on sitting in his litterbox where he had just done a wee. Eventually we decided to let her out and see what would happen. She ran out of the hutch and immediately started chasing him; it’s hard to say whether they were fighting or playing – there was no growling or hissing or any sounds, but there were running very fast and we broke it up after about ten seconds.
Nick picked up Calypso and she was shaking but she seems to do this quite a lot. She didn’t seem to be majorly freaked out. When we put her back in the balcony she immediately flopped over and lay down as if she was very tired.
All up I’d say their first 2 meetings were (from my limited viewpoint) non-aggressive but I am concerned about the chasing. They seem very tense when they are in the same space together – it’s like they sniff each other and no one moves then suddenly someone gives chase and the other one bolts off. He is definitely more bold than her in all respects – he has been running around the yard everywhere, whereas the first time we brought her down there she very slowly explored the place with her body stretched out very long and low to the ground.
On the third day I created a wire fence to divide Othello’s hutch into two, because I was hoping to put Calypso in there for periods so that he doesn’t begin to think it is his and only his. They could poke their noses through the wire. I put Calypso on one side and Othello on the other, and they both stuck their noses through to suss each other out. He stuck his nose through and Calypso began to nip at him and soon enough they were both squabbling from either side of the fence, going up on their back legs to attack each other through it 🙁 they would stop fighting and then othello would put his nose through again and she would start nipping and scratching and then the fighting would begin again.
i let this go on for about 1 minute, trying to push her back each time, then i took her out. it seemed to me, she was the one initiating all the fighting. There were no aggressive noises but she had her ears back a few times, whereas his were up. The lady from the shelter where i got Calypso was very surprised to hear she was being dominant, and said all the other times calypso has been brought to meet a male she has been submissive. This time though, I’m bringing a male to her, so maybe that’s the difference?
i put her down outside the hutch and she seemed fine, hopping around the outside of it while he came up to sniff her through the mosquito netting (the difference this time being that no one could put their nose through anything because of the netting). they seemed to be playing, and both had ears forward, but a couple of times she tried to swipe him through the netting.
both of them have been rubbing their chins all over everything which i’ve read is a territorial thing. I haven’t seen her do it before but now she is chinning everything. She also did more poo and wee than i have ever seen before in the carrier he was in at one point!
I hope they can be bonded 🙁 the mozzies are starting to arrive with the warmer weather and i really need to move her into the hutch and off the balcony. she also seems more scared of me now, as if she doesn’t like me for bringing her to him the last few days….
What are your thoughts, from what i have described above? I had thought, being similar ages (she is only 4 months older) they would be relatively easy to bond. She is normally very non aggressive, never nips me or anything. I am surprised to see her acting cranky toward Othello. He is slightly smaller than her but will grow to be larger, being a standard Rex. She is some kind of a cross.
Thanks for reading!
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