Bonding two rabbits, one fixed female, one not (sex unknown).

[Mari]

I’m a new bunny owner, I just got my first bunny at the beginning of December. And she’s fixed, she was around 4-5 months old when I got her, so now she’s about 8-9 months old. She hasn’t been acting like herself the last month, normally she flops and binkys but the last month she hasn’t been doing any of it, she’ll binky and play about twice a week. I thought it would be a good time to get her a companion. So, my friend gave me another rabbit today, her female was pregnant when she got her and had her litter. The new rabbit is 4 months old, and the sex is unknown and isn’t fixed. I had the new bunny on my bed and at first the existing rabbit ignored the new one and then the existing rabbit started taking notice and started grunting and attacking the new rabbit. I actually got lunged at, grunted at, and bit by my existing rabbit while trying to calm her down. And she has never done any of that before even when I first got her. I tried letting the new rabbit explore and it just ended up in, what I think is, territorial fights. But the new rabbit will always run away and my existing rabbit will chase. I moved them to the living room where my existing rabbit doesn’t even go, and they snuggled a bit on the couch then it was back to a fight. So, right now my existing rabbit is just roaming around my bedroom and the new rabbit is in the existing rabbit’s cage. What can I do? I want them to bond, but I don’t want the new one to be attacked every time I try a bonding session, especially if the attacks are territorial.

[sarahthegemini]

You got the new bun today and already you’ve put them together? You need to let him/her settle. Get him/her neutered, wait for hormones to disipate, pre bond for a month and then start bonding sessions.

[tobyluv]

Please keep your rabbits separated at all times. The first step in bonding is for both or all of the rabbits to be spayed and neutered. You are risking severe injuries if they are allowed to be together. There is also the possibility that due to fighting or aggression, one will come to dislike the other so much that you will never be able to bond them. Take the new rabbit to your vet, to determine the gender and to set up the spay or neuter surgery. Then follow sarah’s advice regarding the bonding procedure.

Here are 2 good articles on bonding:

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/9/PID/940/Default.aspx

https://rabbit.org/faq-bonding-multiple-rabbits/

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