Bonding Question

[Patrick&Olivia]

Hi Everyone! I hope someone can give me some advice. I have a 7yr old male rabbit named Pat who I’ve had for three years. He is not neutered and has been a solo bun his whole life. We just adopted a year and a half old lop named Olivia who was not spayed. We introduced them and of course biology took over and Pat tried mating. We’ve kept them in close proximity to each other so they could get used to each other but not touch. 

Olivia was spayed this past Monday and has returned to her hyper running around binky-ing self. We tried letting them out together yesterday. They sniffed around each other for a few moments then Pat tried to hump her again. He is clearly trying to mate. We separated them and when they approached each other they sniffed each other and then it looked like Olivia was trying to groom Pat’s face but then she nipped pretty hard. Hard enough to make Pat hide behind me for a minute. At that point, bonding was done for the evening.

I guess my question is, are we complete fools for trying to bond these two? Granted, we just started bonding dates. Everything I’ve read says that Pat can’t get neutered as he’s too old for the anesthesia. Do we let him hump Olivia and get it over with? What do we do if she nips like that again? Typically Olivia is kept in her cage/pen and Patrick comes out and tries to sniff her and thump to get her attention. She’ll interact with him for a bit and then will just flop on the floor and relax. Has anyone had any experience trying to bond a pair when only one bun is fixed?

This came out way longer than i wanted it to, so I’m sorry! Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated! 

[Hunny's Momma]

If she was just spayed this past Monday 1st off I’d give her more time to heal before bonding sessions… My girl Hunny is spay but my boy Ash is not (will be next week) & all he wants to do is play hanky panky… They are all sweet & loving thru bars, grooming & laying next to each other but as soon as they are face to face Ash’s hormonal instincts take over & Hunny wants nothing to do with him at this point & she will try to get as far away as possible even if 3 min before she was nuzzled up to him thru the bars… She’s even nipped at him once or twice to put him in his place but nothing serious just a lil’ “hey, you better cut that out or else” nip. I can’t give you any advice on whether or not ur male is too old but this has been my experience the past couple of weeks with my buns. The way they act otherwise I know it will be a quick bond once Ash isn’t all hormone crazed…

[RabbitPam]

You really need to wait about 4 weeks from the date of the spay before putting them together at all. Hormones can surge before quieting down, and she may still be at risk of being fertile, so I would not attempt it for another 3 weeks.

He would bond much more easily if he were neutered as well, since his behavior is still hormone based even if she can’t get pregnant in a couple of weeks. So if they still are too aggressive, consider doing him next and then waiting another month. If you were to get another female one day, he would still be able to get her pregnant so it is safer to get him neutered when you considering bonding him at all. BB’s bun Jack had about 3 female bond mates in his long life, so it may be in your guys future.

Otherwise, I would not get discouraged about bonding them. It just needs more time and patience. Treat them as separate buns for now and then try again.

[Author]

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