First Bonding Help

We decided it was Time for our Baby girl Leeloo to have some company as she has been spayed and had always been ever so good with both humans and animals she has come into contact with however.....

We picked up a male bun today who is absolutely tiny (Seriously i didn't realise they started so small! We got Leeloo when she was ten weeks and she seemed tiny but this one is minute!) And we introduced them to each other, nothing stressful, just being in the same area, heavily supervised by myself and my Partner. At first leeloo was very interested, sniffing and licking the male, no signs of aggression but within about 3 minutes she began to get very violent and aggressive with my partner, charging, growling biting and scratching, very scary stuff considering she hasn't been in the slightest aggressive in a very very long time. She only at this point charged the baby bun and tried to latch onto the back of his neck (We quickly intervened) and We put the baby bun away in its own cage so she didn't consider it a threat and we made a fuss of her for a while (Treats, cuggles the lot) all of a sudden she turns and attacks me, something she has never ever done as she has always seen me as the alpha.
She used to have a problem with my fiance, trying to dominate him but this was solved with spaying so we don't know what to do

Is this aggression toward us normal??

Heres hoping it calms down as we are bitten to bits on our hands lol

It's just messed up the pecking order for her and she has to get used to it again. I wouldn't try bonding whilst he is still a baby.

timb0h said:

It's just messed up the pecking order for her and she has to get used to it again. I wouldn't try bonding whilst he is still a baby.

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We're not sure how old he is exactly, we;re trying to find out but the person told us he was only taken from his mother in the last few days so i'm assuming he must only be a few weeks. Plus he seems very delicate (Still finding his feet as his back legs are a bt wobbly) so we were thinking of putting him upstairs out of the way

What would be a good age to bond them?

Your new bun sounds very young. The shouldn't be taken from their mothers before 8 weeks of age, so if this is the case he will need extra care. I would keep them separate until he's been castrated (this is possible whenever his plums drop, so within the next month of two from the sound of things). He'll be stronger by then and there will be fewer hormones flying around so bonding will be easier.

When was she spayed? It might be that she needs more time to settle down. Also, did you introduce them in a completely neutral area? If it was somewhere that she has been before then she would have seen it as an invasion of her territory.

It sounds like he was taken away from his mother too soon if he can't even stand properly yet :shock:

I wouldn't try them again for many weeks, preferably a couple of weeks after he is neutered, when can be as soon as his plums appear. Your new baby bun is very delicate and could get seriously injured or killed by her very easily!
I would advise a vet check if your bun is still wobbly. It's possible he is not properly weaned yet. I would also get them to confirm that it is male as mistakes happen.

They have been completely separated as after that first attempt i didn't want to risk it at all.

I'm still trying to get in touch with the person who owns mummy bunny to find out how old he is, he's small enough to hold in one hand!
We have been giving him special care as he seems very delicate (We saw his sisters and they were much bigger) and he now has his own special area in the house. His legs are actually looking much better today, he was commando crawling across the floor yesterday but seems to be getting the hang of it today He is eating well and is making himself at home right now, laying on my lap as i type lol

I also checked him thouroughly for any injuries or bites as we couldn't quite tell if Leeloo got hold of him properly in that second or so when she lunged but he is mark free and didn't even seemed bothered by it at the time! I think i was more upset (Yes i had a bit of a cry, lol i'm soft about bunnies and being pregnant doesn't help! lol) We are going to get him nutered as soon as is possible

Leeloo was spayed over a month and a half ago now, we thought she would be fine about a new bunny (She accepted a dog! lol) She has been much nicer to everyone today, no new bites or scratches and didn't freak out when she smelt him on us (It was a tense few seconds when i realised he'd been crawling about on my knee upstairs!)