New member to forums a little help :D

[dustchdwarf123]

hello guys! we have had suzee for about 6 months now and she has warmed up to us tremendously. me and my girlfriend have been thinking greatly aboubt getting suzee a playmate. Well, a simple treat and food run turned into a bunny coming home with us a 10 week old female named sophie!. I have been doing so much research and have a good idea of how patient and important the bonding process is. BUT I wanted to get some advice from a few bunny owners themselves. I will tell you my plan and let me know what you think!

We have had sophie for a few days sitting in a cage about an inch away from Suzee, at first of course suzee was wild, aggression signs showed. but after a few squirts in the face and a 4 days of being next to eachother she has calmed down and can live with sophie being next to her in a cage….out of the cage well not so much, if suzee is out she will show signs of aggression towards sophie in her cage and attack it. my guess is she does so beuase its her territory. I haven’t started sessions yet, sophie is 10 weeks old not spayed. Right now im thinking that I shouldn’t start bonding sessions for a few weeks let sophie get warmed up a little more, she is young. so far that is where I am at. If anyone has any advice (good or bad) please let me know im open to all ! THANKS!

[LBJ10]

Is Suzee spayed? If not, then given her age she is probably feeling the hormones right now. The presence of another bunny is going to make an unspayed female feel territorial, leading to aggressive behavior.

Since Sophie is so young, I’m assuming she isn’t spayed yet.

My recommendation would be to hold off on any real bonding until they are both spayed. With Sophie being 10 weeks old, that means you’ll have to wait a couple of months.

[dustchdwarf123]

Yes Suzee is spayed, has been for about 3 weeks, the hair on her tummy has grown back and we have kept a good eye on her scar and everything is good and she is starting to become the little sh** she is Leaving them side by side for the time period is a good idea? I feel bad for Suzee because we don’t want to keep movie Sophie around every time we take her out, roaming time is alittle difficult in a smaller Apartment and Suzee will show aggression towards Sophie even through the cage (only when suzee is out of hers). Its not bad to let Sophie roam around the same place as Suzee correct? Keeping them side by side isn’t putting stress that I cant see on sophie they seem to be calm next to eachtoher, the only time Suzee does nayhting is an occasionally cage bite but I she understands the word “ey!”

[LBJ10]

Ah, I see. You will probably want to give Suzee a couple more weeks. Everything goes haywire in the weeks following a spay or neuter. Once their hormone levels normalize, then things start to get better.

In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to get the used to each others’ scents. So having them in side-by-side cages is okay unless there is obvious distressed being exhibited. Some people will allow their bunnies to play in the same area, but not at the same time. That’s okay, just keep in mind that there may be some poop wars going on.

[Little Lion Head]

I can give you an idea of what worked well for us. We had Pumpkin for about 5 months before bringing Shamrock home. We knew they would be living together in Pumpkin’s current condo in the living room eventually. I wasn’t comfortable housing them next to each other in the living room b/c it was quite obviously Pumpkins territory and I knew she would freak. So Shamrock spent a couple weeks in our bedroom and then we switched their living spaces. It gave Shamrock a chance to get his scent all over everything in the living room and made it less of Pumpkin’s territory. We did this for a week and then started bonding sessions in a completely neutral territory (bathtub).

After our longest bonding session (11 hours in a pen in the living room) we starting letting them sleep in side by side pens (one in the condo and one in the pen in the living room).

Then deep cleaned the condo, washed the blankets, and cleaned the rug. We put in a brand new litter box and let them be in the living room and condo together (supervised). We are ALMOST there.

Sorry for the long post, but I thought what we did in the beginning might be helpful.

I personally would wait until your new little gal is spayed and healed before I would start introducing. Hormones are gonna be wild Good luck!!

[JackRabbit]

You definitely want to wait until at least 4 to six weeks after both are spayed before doing introductions. Crazy hormones lead to territorial behavior and aggression and any fights now could lead to bonding problems later. JMO, but I’d keep them completely separated and out of sight of one another until spayed and hormones have calmed and then start mixing their scents. To me, its just not worth rushing it and risking bonding issues.

[dustchdwarf123]

Thank you guys for all your help! Here is what I will continue to do: Leave Suzee and Sophie side by side in their cages, Suzee will get roaming time (but we have to move Sophie, her cage isn’t that big we will get a bigger one like Suzee as she grows) and so will Sophie so they can learn eachothers scent. I wll do this until it is time to get Sophie spayed then wait 6 weeks to start bonding sessions! looks like it will be about 4-5 months before I will bond the two together but that doesn’t bother me, this will give us enough time to gat Sophie to love us just as much as Suzee. I hope I got it right ! Thanks

[Little Lion Head]

We got a couple weeks to bond w/ Rocky before starting him in with Pumpkin. I think both you and Sophie will appreciate that!

[dustchdwarf123]

Posted By Little Lion Head on 4/03/2015 2:47 PM

We got a couple weeks to bond w/ Rocky before starting him in with Pumpkin. I think both you and Sophie will appreciate that!

Thanks you !

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