Bonding with a house rabbit

[Faylen]

My neutered male, Blue,  has been a cage free house rabbit in my home for almost all his life. He has the run of the house apart from the bathroom!

I have recently adopted an adult unspayed female, Peaches! She is truly lovely. She has had two litters previously, lived around lots of rabbits and mainly been outdoors. 

She is adapting to house rabbit life very well, loves it! She is being kept seperate from Blue but they are able to visibly see each other / smell each other when he enters the room she is currently homed in. 

She is booked to be spayed in a weeks time, I am then planning to officially start bonding / face to face introductions a few weeks later. 

I am just looking for any help or advise on bringing a new rabbit into a household where the existing rabbit has no restictions and pretty much owns nearly every room. He spends a lot of time in the room she is in (divided up) and will continue to do so but his living quarters are the opposite end of the house. 

Is it okay for him to still be coming into this room (family room) while she is seperated? 

And does anyone have any experience of the bonding process to be a lot harder with such a domesticated / people person rabbit?

Peaches is very calm and very sweet and so is Blue but he has been centre of attention for a very long time. We have a very close bond between us and i really hope and pray that they can eventually get on.

Thanks in advance! (sorry for a long read)

[tobyluv]

You need to be sure that they can’t nip each other through whatever you have dividing the room.

Since the bathroom is neutral, you could try bonding there, or you could set up an x-pen in any room. If the x-pen had been used before, make sure it is washed to remove any scents. To hide or mask any scents in the carpet or rugs, lay a blanket or sheet down and place the x-pen on it. That would create a small neutral territory. That forces them to be in close proximity, but they still have room to run around a bit. When I have bonded bunnies, my husband and I get in the x-pen with them, to break up any fights (some scuffing is normal) or to stop any excess humping. We start with a few minutes the first day, then increase the time every day. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but all my bonds have been pretty quick and easy. They certainly all aren’t like that, though.

Welcome to Binky Bunny and good luck with the bonding!

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