First time bunny bonding. Advice welcome.

[Seza]

So I’ve had Luna since January as my boyfriend gave her to me for my birthday. I’m usually against gifting animals but at least the animal was being given to me so of course she will be looked after well. I lived with my in-laws until recently so I could not get her a new bunny friend until now.
I’ve brought home a baby female bun that I’ve housed seperately from Luna.
I know ‘bunny dating’ would have been better but unfortunately I don’t have that opportunity.

So I am new to bonding bunnies and I just wanted some guidance. I want to do the ‘stunt double’ technique first. I want to ease them into things as much as possible. I don’t mind how long it takes but I do want to make sure I’m doing it right and making the right decisions for my babies.

I’m not sure if I should house them seperately but where they can see each other while doing the stunt double technique or if I should have them away from each other while using the stunt doubles?

Any feedback and advice is welcome. I greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to write back. I am new to this and have read some info but advice from more experienced bunny people is great too.

And if I do decide to house them where they can see each other I was going to move Luna’s enclosure to a new part of the yard so it would more like neautral territory.

[MoveDiagonally]

Are both of them spayed? Bonding really shouldn’t happen until both bunnies have been altered + 1 month for hormones to die down. The recommended age for spaying is 6 months though some vets will spay as early as 4.

If they are not spayed you can do pre-bonding (stunt doubles, switching litter boxes, etc) but I wouldn’t introduce them until they are altered.

[Seza]

Well I’m waiting for baby bun to be old enough then have them both done at the same time then wait a month. But yes I wa thinking of doing the pre-bonding thing with the stunt doubles etc until they are both spayed. So it will be quite a slow process but at least it won’t be stressful to them.

I just wanted to plan ahead and ready myself for when the time comes to move on from pre-bonding. Also I didn’t know if I should keep their enclosures away from each other while pre-bonding or if I should let them be able to see each other from their enclosures.
I have had two unaltered females together happily before but this is completely different though. And I was just lucky in that circumstance.

[MoveDiagonally]

Housing them next to each other is usually a good thing. Occasionally it can make them more aggressive but I think more often than not it’s beneficial. BB has a really awesome bonding step/info page: https://www.binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/9/PID/940/Default.aspx

I used the methods/steps outlined there when I bonded my original pair with a lot of success. Another member here with 5 bonded rabbit has some really helpful blogs about bonding that you can find here: http://www.wheekwheekthump.com/category/bonding/

[CheriB603]

You said in your first post “move Luna’s enclosure to a neutral part of the yard”. Do you mean just an outdoor exercise enclosure, or are they housed outdoors?

[Seza]

So far housing them near each other hasn’t caused any aggression.

And they are primarily housed outside. I’m not actually allowed to have them in the house but I do bring them in. At the moment they are inside as I’m moving the enclosures into a different part of the yard because I need to lay grass down.
I was just wondering if I housed them into a part of the yard that is new to my eldest would it be like neautral ground at least for a while?
My thinking was Luna would be in a new part if the yard and maybe wouldn’t feel like her territory is being ‘invaded’ by another bun? That was just what I was wondering. Thought it might help with a good start to pre-bonding.

[Author]

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