I feel Dumb

[MySweetPea]

I got a new rabbit yesterday his name is Sage and he’s super cute, he’s fixed and litter box trained. So all yesterday I let him get used to everything, new sounds new smells. I even picked him up and put him on the floor and he hopped right back on my lap. (how sweet) So then today i thought “Hey lets let him meet Sweet Pea (my other male rabbit who i’ve had over a year and is also fixed) I lined my bathtub with towels and put them both in there, everything  was going great there were smelling each other through the pasta strainer I have ( I read somewhere that was a good way to start) then I moved it and BAM they started fighting. I broke it up as soon as it happened no one got hurt just some hair flying around. Well the reason I feel stupid is I forgot the very first step in bonding the PRE-BONDING where you put your rabbits in different cages next to each other a few inches apart for 2 weeks. Well now I’ve done that and there fine with one another, they both stay in the same corner next to each other  they don’t try 2 get at each other or anything like that. So I guess what I what to know is did I make a bad experience for them? If anyone has any tips please let me know thanks

 

[mrmac]

Housing them next to one another sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t. It sounds like for you, it is working! Next time you put them in the tub do not put towels in. It makes it a “stress bonding” session. The point is that it is slippery and they cannot get great traction so that they cannot get at eachother as easily. You did not give them a bad experience. How long ago was Sage neutered, do you know?

[MySweetPea]

Ok thanks I’ll try no towels in the tub next time. Um I’m not sure how long he’s been fixed, but I can email and ask the lady I got him from.

[mrmac]

I was just asking because if it was recently his hormones might still be kind of out of whack. You could also move the pens so that they are touching and if there is aggression or biting at eachother through the bars then move it apart a couple inches again. When I was bonding mine, I had some aggresive biting through the xpen bars and I wove cardboard strips through so that they were right next to one another but could not touch.

[Elrohwen]

I don’t think you did anything wrong at all! Many people go bunny dating at shelters, and bunny dating is nothing different than what you did, so I don’t think a quick meeting to figure out how they feel about each other is a bad thing. Sure, it didn’t go well, but now you know where you’re starting out and can try some more basic things like cage switching to see if that helps before you do more tub sessions.

mrmac also had some great suggestions.

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