Pre-Bonding nipping and one sided positive signs

[alyssaamarall]

Hi everyone! I recently adopted a  male bun to be a lil companion to my female bun (and i gave him some time to settle in before introducing). it is only day 1 of pre bonding so I’m probably overreacting but I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to deal with the nipping? my female bunny has shown some great signs like lying down beside his enclosure and grooming herself near him, however he doesn’t exactly reciprocate it too often. he lies near her somewhat but not as often as she does with him, they both do flop in the same-ish area tho. as well, when they sniff each other through the enclosure, he tries to nip at her, which leads me to separate them with a dustpan. any advice is appreciated, thank u! she is spayed btw and he has his neuter appointment in a couple months (the vet said they didn’t wanna do it any earlier than 6 months of age)

[Wick & Fable]

It’s generally advised that you should wait until your male rabbit is neutered before trying to bond. Hormonal rabbits are unpredictable and, by default, don’t play well with other rabbits. That makes bonding attempts now a bit moot. Maybe you can build a little positive foundation if they interact nicely across the wall, but the risk of creating negative experiences (a fight) as well as injuries, in my opinion, heavily outweighs that– rabbits can hold grudges and that will make things more challenging down the road.

I would personally house them with a gap in between so he can’t get to her at all– a rabbit can do a lot of damage through just a pen wall. His hormones are going to be a big obstacle in any attempt to bond them right now. Neutered rabbits can definitely still nip during bonding (it happens often), but they are much more likely to eventually work things out in the end and become bonded. Un-neutered rabbits will be unpredictable and this is dangerous.

If you’d like a pretty ‘safe’ thing to do, you can perhaps start pre-bonding, which is swapping their litterboxes, toys, and pens so they are accustomed to each other’s scent. That being said, I don’t know if that will do anything with a hormonal though (unsure if he’d get aggressive with you or when placed in the other rabbit’s territory out of instinct), but at least they wouldn’t be able to potentially harm each other.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[alyssaamarall]

thank you so much! i added a gap between so that they can still sniff each other but can’t directly access each other or nip at one another. i also have been swapping their litter boxes and he hasn’t gotten aggressive actually, he just seems to ignore it and carry on with eating his hay lol. thanks again:)

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