Wooohooo 🙂

In terms of size, age, etc, it really doesn’t matter. How easily they bond just comes down to the rabbit’s personalities. Contrary to what you might read online, same sex pairings do work, although on avg male-female might be easier. But male-male pairs seem pretty common as well.

If possible, it can be nice to take Louie on some speed dates to see if he hits it off with any bun in particular. Some rescues will do this and help find a compatible bun.

Even with speed dating (or without it), the bonding process can take a few weeks in an easy bond, or several months in a tough one. So being prepared to house 2 separate rabbits for potentially several months is important. I like using x-pens and NIC cube grids to make temporary housing and fencing for during bonding etc.

If you haven’t already, I recommend reading the Bonding section in the Bunny Info section on this site for a good background on what’s involved and what to expect.

It is important to have a neutral space to work with them in, so that could be some other area of your house where Louie doesn’t go. But you could have them housed side-by-side for pre-bonding in your room, they just shouldn’t be to interact unless you are doing a bonding session.

It can be a lot of work but I think it’s worth it! 🙂

Be prepared for both rabbits to mark all over the place when the new rabbit comes home. This doesn’t always happen, but it’s common for there to be “poop and pee wars” where they mark along boundaries etc. Getting a rabbit that’s already castrated is def a good move!

The neutral space used for bonding should not be the same area where the new bunny lives, because it should be neutral for both bunnies. It is OK for the new bunny to move into Louie’s territory (as long as it’s divided up appropriately), as this can actually help the bonding process. Before starting actual dating sessions, it helps to have the bunnies get really used to each other’s scents (aka. pre-bonding). Typically you house the bunnies side by side as neighbors, and then swap who is on what side every day or two. When one rabbit is free roam, this can mean a pen set up in the other rabbit’s area, or both rabbit’s penned temporarily and given alternate free-roam time. The main consideration with housing is making sure they can’t nip each other through fencing or access each other, so usually people set up the fence so there is a buffer of about 4-6 inches between walls.

It’s really good you are doing this thinking now to prepare! That set-up sounds like it would work out. 🙂  Then all you’d need is a second x-pen or some cube grids to create that space buffer to prevent nipping through the x-pen bars.