Bonding Rikki and Felix

[Vickisnz]

Hello, this is my first time posting to theis forum.  I have a gorgeous 2.5 year old unspeyed female Flemish Giant Rikki and have just got a 2 year old neutered Flemish giant called Felix, and I am needing some advise on bonding them.  Prior to getting Felix they had 2 "dates" on neuteral territory which seemed to go reasonably well, there was some circling by both some mounting by both, some snuggling and some grooming of each other, if anything I think my (unspeyed) girl loved him a little to much and wanted him to mount her a lot but seemed happy to not be dominant, so Felix has moved in permanently.  They have their hutches side by side and for the for the first few days, were let out seperately to roam the backyard, getting used to each others smells etc.  Then I let them have supervised time out together, all seemed to be going well, my girl wanted to be real close to him constantly and seemed to be presenting her back end to him, he was a little more standoffish, there was no mounting or fighting that I saw and she became a little less demanding of his attention.  Their time outside together was increased until they were out there for a good few hours, sometimes snuggled together othertimes sleeping nearby, there has been no fighting, no bites noticed, no fur loss, all seemed well.   Today my girl doesn't want to be near him, every time he hops over to him she hops away, there has been no fighting or signs of aggression she is just really standoffish.  Now the thing is Felix has only been with us a week, so have I gone to fast, should I go back to letting them have time out alone.  She could be being hormonal, I have spoken to our vet who suggested waiting a bit longer to see how they bond, we are happy to get her speyed if this will make a difference.  Does anyone have any advice for me?  Thanks.

[MoveDiagonally]

Welcome to BB!

It’s recommended that all bunnies be spayed or neutered before bonding. Un-altered rabbits are notoriously unpredictable in bonding situations and the risk of fighting and injury is much higher. My advice would be to get her spayed and start bonding about 4 weeks after that.

Outside of bonding, spaying female rabbits is pretty necessary for maintaining good health. Un-altered female rabbits have an 80% of developing reproductive cancer by the age of 4.

[Author]

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