Aggressive Male Rabbit told Female

[Jasmine]

I adopted 2 rabbits (1 spayed Female brown Lop/mix who is 1yr old and 1 nuetered Male White New Zealand who is 9 months old). I didn’t know anything about bonding so I left the Male Borf (Male) roam the house while I let Lola (Female) roam the kitchen (I had kitchen blocked off), the reason being, Lola is very skittish and scared and Borf is very social, I was trying to make them comfortable. I wanted them both to be free roaming rabbits. Now I have been trying to bond them for 3-4 days. The only thing that seems to work slightly is a force bond (both is in litterbox in the tub being petted or putting them in litterbox in Lolas cage), during this bonding period Lola grooms Borf and Borf grooms Lola, but when I expand the area with an old curtain on the floor that neither one of them have been on, Borf starts chasing Lola around. Lola tries to come up to Borf but he’s not having it. Oh and not to mention Borf has no front teeth because of some dental problem before I got him, so he can’t bite her. Lola refuses to fight or bite back when Borf does chase her. It’s easy to stop Borf but he continues to chase after good terms and bad terms. Borf hasn’t mounted her either, but I know she’d accept his dominance because she’s always trying to lick him. Borf will either try biting (since he has no teeth) on her side neck or her genitals, most of the time Lola lets him “bite” her but then she runs after “20 secs” of his annoyance. What is his problem? Is this a hopeless bonding? Should I return one of them even though I really don’t want that to be an option? Why won’t Borf Mount her? Did I mess up the bonding by letting borf roam the house first? I need help, I love them both, vet said they are two healthy rabbits, so I don’t understand what’s going on here. Bonding is just becoming hard or at least it feels like it ? any ideas? Please no mean comments for this is my first time bonding rabbits, the only reason I’m doing this is because Borf is my bfs rabbit and Lola is my rabbit.

[Mikey]

You did kind of mess up by letting Borf free roam the entire house first. He is acting out because he is territorial of his space. Plus, it is so much easier to bond when both rabbits are caged or penned first. I highly recommend you get two large pens, one for each bunny. Keep the pens a few inches apart so neither bunny can reach, but they can both smell and see one another. Keep them like this for about a month. After this wait month, start swapping all of the items in the pens (litter boxes, food and water bowls, toys, etc.). Swap once a day for a full month. During these two months of prebonding, you should work on deep cleaning an area to start bonding them in. After these two months and after youve deep cleaned an area, start working on bonding in that now neutral space

[Jasmine]

Okay 2 months is a long time but I’m definitely going to give it a try! Thank you very much!

[Mikey]

The wait is totally worth it, dont worry!

[sarahthegemini]

Sorry but it’s only been 3 to 4 days? It’s not a hopeless bond, you’re just expecting too much too soon. It hasn’t been a week yet!

[Author]

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