Are they ready to live together??

[Tashg]

Hi,

I’m new to owning rabbits so any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

I brought my male rabbit Roger now 9months and wanted to get him a friend after reading up on rabbits and realising they like living together! We introduced a female rabbit Binky now 4months into Rogers life 2 months ago! We had one real fight in there first introduction but nothing too bad since then! I have been bonding them every night for between 1-2 hours in our bathroom (neutral ground). Things have been going well they groom one another lay by one another and seem very much in love!

However when I’ve tired to introduce them into a bigger space (a run) in the garden they fight! This run has been mostly for binkys use as Roger has free roam of my garden! Do they fight because she thinks it’s her territory??

I don’t know where I go from here I would love them to live happily together but don’t trust them at the moment and I would never forgive myself if something happens to one of them!

Help!!

Thanks Tash

[BB & Tiny]

From what I’ve read on here, bonding is easier if both parties are altered. If I’m not mistaken females can be done at six months ?

I would think she very much views that run as her territory if she has been the primary occupant.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable comes along to clear up specifics of spaying, territory etc.

[Paradigm]

I’d say it’s too early just yet. It can be dangerous when one or both rabbits are unspayed as they can behave unpredictably and develop territories.

Besides this, you can’t know if your rabbits are ready to live with each other until they’re together for extended periods of time in the area you plan to leave them in.

A weekend (or whenever your work schedule allows multiple days off work) is a good time to stay in and watch them. Make sure you sleep where you could interrupt.

Sometimes rabbits can get territorial over a particular toy, etc and you might not know that they’ve develop or are going to develop territorial behaviour until you’ve watched them for extended periods.

Try spending longer with them in the bathroom and either alternating the bunnies between freeroam and the run so that neither feels that it is theirs.

Be careful, because while this worked well for George and Charlie, when it came to bonding the trio Charlie would become so possessive over the pen that he would attack Albus through the bars.

Anothee option is throughly cleaning the pen before use to eliminate either bunnies smell. Reorganising the inside of the run and moving it to a different location can help confuse bunnies enough that they don’t realise it’s their own pen.

That said, I’m quite fond of very long bonding sessions and had my rabbits together for 7-16 hours before I put them together overnight and let them have a supervised sleep over next to our bed before I considered them bonded.

[Tashg]

Thanks for the information both! They are outdoor buns so doing a supervised sleepover will be difficult but I wi try doing extended bonding sessions and see how that goes! Binky will be spayed as soon as she’s ready about 1/2months to go so maybe we will see a change then! It’s strange how in the bathroom they are totally in love but outside in the pen not I will try cleaning the pen and moving its location to see if that makes a difference also!!

Thanks

[vanessa]

1. I wouldn’t bond them until she is 4 weeks past her spay.
2. It sounds like they are doing well in small spaces (common in bonding). I would keep them apart but living RIGHT next to eachother. After she has had 4 weeks to recover from the spay, return to the bonding. Once you are back at them doing well in a small space, increase it GRADUALLY. Not immediately.

Since they are outdoor buns, it will be easy for them to see the entire yard as their territory, where the bathroom is obviousely neutral. I would cordon off an area in the garden where they can’t see their normal areas. I’d spray that lawn with 50% vinegar/water mix to get rid of any familiar smell. And pick a part of the yard where neither has had free run. That way – if you can find an area of the yard that is neutral to them, and they do well in that small space, you can gradually make it larger, and gradually show them more and more of their familiar territory.

If indoors is the only spot that works for the bonding – then find an indoor spot that you can gradually make larger, and start inching them toward the front/back door, where they can see the yard – then slowly bringing them outside in a small area, and making it gradually larger.

But I would wait until 4 weeks past her spay date.

[Author]

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