Bonding advice for a novice please!

Hi all,

I have an approximately 8 month old buck (neutered 2 weeks ago) and am looking to get him a companion. I'm going to see an 8 week old doe tomorrow and fingers crossed she will be the newest family member

I've been reading up on bonding on the net and have a few questions, hopefully you'll be able to answer them for me.

Would I be best to wait until the doe is fully grown before introducing her to my buck? He is only 3 and 1/2 pounds himself and I've read conflicting info on the net about whether they should be equally sized.

I know they can't be physically together for at least another two weeks incase he is still fertile, but in the meantime should I put their cages close so they can see each other, get used to their smells etc?

Lastly, should I try bonding them before she is spayed or am I best to wait a few months when she is done? I'd prefer for them to be living together before but don't want to stress them bonding if I'm only going to have to start over again after her spay and recovery.

Many thanks for reading
Grace

Don't worry too much about size, I know people who have giants bonded with medium sized buns and have no problems.

A lot of people will tell you to wait until she is spayed to bond them but I have an unspayed female (she is only 3 months) in with 2 neutered males and they live fine together, but she will be done at 6 months. I would wait at least a month after his neuter because they can retain their sperm for 2-4 weeks and the hormones can still be quite high so he is quite likely to hump her quite a lot.

I never put the cages close with bunnies before I bond. I leave them completely alone until bonding day and then put them in a completely neutral space where neither has been before and leave them there for 48 hours and only interfere if there is full on fighting (not chasing and fur pulling).

Again there will be others who would put their cages close before bonding, I don't know if this helps or works as I have never tried it

Good luck and I look forward to pictures

Thanks for the advice

Well she came home yesterday and so far so good! We gave her some time to settle, then let my buck into the room while she was in the pen. He ignored her for a while, then there was a lot of sniffing through the bars on both sides. She was trying to follow him around, it was very sweet. Did sit in the pen with them both as it was going so well but he tried to bonk her so will leave it a bit longer for his hormones to calm down!

Gratuitous pic of her



And one of my buck so as not to leave him out

A little bit of humping is fine, it is establishing heirarchy, sometimes the female humps the male as well, as long as neither of them get aggressive over it, also if he humps her face split them (not completely, just take him off her) as they can bite the penis...

Gorgeous buns by the way, Dutches are gorgeous!!!

Didn't know humping could be a dominance thing, thanks will try not to jump in and step between them so quickly next time. Have to say having introduced numerous cats and dogs to each other letting these two meet was by far the most scary! My heart was in my throat, but really pleased with how it's gone so far.

Thanks, I do love the dutches but having met some lops have to admit I'm trying to resist the urge to increase my brood further