Baby bunny questions

[Fenris.Wolf]

Hey guys! So I have a 2 year old girl rex who is just the sweetest thing, loves being held and patted and is just generally really friendly but she seemed a bit lonely and since I’m at work all day I thought I’d get her a friend. I just bought a baby boy rex (whose parents were both perfect, no aggression there) and he’s 9 weeks old. So I have two questions.

1) When should I start bonding the bunnies? The older ones spayed, so no chance of babies. The first day the older girl bit him gently through the cage when they were sniffing but hasn’t since. The baby boy however just keeps running up and down the fence frantically, sometimes charging her and trying to bite her. I expected some scuffles from them, but I’m worried he’ll provoke her and since shes so much bigger that she’ll hurt him if I let them out together. Should I just keep letting them sniff through their cages until he’s older? Or is it best to just get the fighting out of the way while he’s still young?

2) The baby boy is a little bit nippy sometimes. It never hurts and I can tell its 100% for attention. Its only ever when I’m on my computer and not patting him or looking at him. Should I be doing something to stop him (like, saying ‘no’ or clapping or something?) or will he kinda just grow out of it? I don’t want him to bite me when he’s older, so I’m worried I have to be doing something now so he knows not to bite when he’s older.

Thanks!

[kirstyol]

I am not too sure about the bonding question, but as for the nipping we went through this with Bramble. He was only six weeks old when we adopted him and I thought he was just missing his siblings at first. He never hurt either of us and only ever nipped at our clothes rather than our skin so I let it go, it was only after he bit me quite hard and then bit my partners hand that I thought I should do something about it. I read up that making a yelping sound when he nips you is the best thing to do because it is what another rabbit would do if it had been bitten, it lets him know that he has hurt you and he will know not to do it again. Bramble’s nipping didn’t stop instantly but it has improved so much, he now only nips slippers, he seems to particularly like mine.

[LittlePuffyTail]

You’ll definitely want to wait until after he’s neutered to start any bonding work.

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