Bonding Paddy and Flo

Hi everyone I am new to the forum! I have a buck called Paddy who is 15 weeks old and was vaccinated and castrated 2 weeks ago, he has a large hutch outside (we are starting work on the run which will be a 24/7 run attached to this hutch) and at least 4 hours either free range or in a different run which is two dog pens put together, I'm guessing it's about 8ft so he gets plenty of space and exercise! He is such a cheeky bun, such a softie as well who loves a good nose rub and shredding cardboard boxes !! Anyway Paddy's wife bun Flo arrived last week and I'm bonding them today, I would say she is about 10 weeks old, she is at the moment uneutered but of course I will be getting her done asap.

So far bonding is going well, I have put one of the dog pens up in a neutral area with plenty of boxes/ hidey holes/ hay/ etc and so far I have had lots of social eating together, a bit of licking each other and some chasing but it lasted seconds and they haven't done it since so I think it's going ok.

My question is shall I separate them tonight and do the same tomorrow and continue this until full bonding seems to have happened or shall I keep them together and put them both in Paddys hutch tonight? (I would disinfect it all to make it more neutral). Any ideas would be appreciated! I will post some piccies of the two shortly.

Thanks Hayley

Here are some piccies of the little monsters so far today, still seems to be going well at the moment, they are mostly just eating beside each other, Flo groomed Paddy a bit and then he reciprocated! Yay! Haven't seen any more chasing yet but I'm not getting too confident haha . Must admit I thought Paddy would be dominant as he is such a cheeky bun whereas Flo loves nothing more than to sit on your lap and lick you, but it seems Flo is the boss at the mo!











Oh and I've put a big parasol over the pen now to give them shade as its getting sunny here!

Hi. I have only bonded (re-bonded really) our male pair, so I'm not an expert. Personally, I wouldn't put them together overnight unsupervised even if they have been okay together today. Your male rabbit will probably be much more territorial about his hutch (even if disinfected) than about a pen in a neutral area and if they have a fight you will not be there to intervene. Serious injury could occur.

It sounds like it is going well though, if they have started grooming. That is a much bigger pen than I used when bonding ours, but if they are interacting with each other and not avaoiding all contact then I guess it must be working. Some bunnies seem to get along straight away, whereas ours were fairly aggressive.

If you don't want to separate them tonight, you could bring the pen indoors and put a partition between so they are not separated but cannot fight. Is that the kind of pen you can split in two? Preferably so they can see each other but not bite through the bars.

You may have to rebond after she is neutered as she will need a couple of weeks on her own after the op to recover. That might break the bond.

Thanks for your reply! I followed the advice and had them indoors next to each other and then continued with bonding yesterday, it's gone so well and they really love each other! They were snuggling up together and grooming each other so I disinfected Paddys hutch and out them in and watched with baited breath...and they were fine! Went straight to the litter box together for hay munching times and more snuggling and grooming and they haven't been apart since! I will post some more piccies later, they are having a blast in the garden at the mo so will try and take some snaps!!

Paddy is black and Flo is White btw

Thanks for your help x

That sounds like a dream bond - they have taken to each other with hardly any aggression at all. If they do start scrapping, don't worry - just go back to step onewith the bonding. Back in a small neutral space, closely supervised until they start snuggling/grooming again.