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Bonding a young rabbit with an adult rabbit

Linnea

Young Bun
I have a 2,5 year old neutered male Rex and I am hoping to bond him with a female Lop cross in a few weeks. The Lop cross is however still small (approx. 9 weeks) at the time when I am to pick her up.

I am planning to start the bonding process by keeping them in separate runs with wire mesh between them so that they can get used to each other and so that I can see how they react to each other. I am a bit worried since she will be smaller than him, but on the other hand she will not be sexually mature yet which in my opinion increases the chance that they should get on well in the beginning. I’m planning on spaying the female when she’s old enough. Anyone with advice on bonding a young rabbit with an adult rabbit?
 
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I've dome it and it worked like a dream :)
Willow was 4 months old when bonded to parsley and he was 2.
I never popped them side by side just into the one puppy pen.
Willow was very submissive which stopped the humping from parsley happening too much.
Baby buns also have the instinctive urge to snuggle with other buns, so that helps a lot!
I had them happily bonded within 48 hours :)
 
I've dome it and it worked like a dream :)
Willow was 4 months old when bonded to parsley and he was 2.
I never popped them side by side just into the one puppy pen.
Willow was very submissive which stopped the humping from parsley happening too much.
Baby buns also have the instinctive urge to snuggle with other buns, so that helps a lot!
I had them happily bonded within 48 hours :)

How did you get on when your baby bun reached sexual maturity? I've been considering this a lot myself lately, but have been put off by bad experiences people seem to have had! I would love for Niles to have a friend!
 
natsusakura: Thank you for your reply :) I would also be interested to know how your rabbits got on when Willow reached sexual maturity.
 
We had willow spayed as soon as we could, so she never really got humpy or anything, she got a little honky, but never tool anything out on parsley.
You can spay them from 4 months onwards so if you get them bonded when she is just a baby they'll be able to go to the vets together when she goes in for her op.
:)
 
Hi there, we're currently in the process of bonding a pair, one male castrated one week prior and one female age 8 weeks. First impressions everything was great, textbook behaviour from both of them right out of the gate. we're now on the second day and i'm starting to get concerned. during the day today they were lovely together, laying down side by side, cleaning themselves together and doing some exploring together. this evening however the male's started humping the female at times quite aggressively and he hasn't really stopped. i'm concerned they're going to fall out because she must be getting tired and scared with the constant bombardment from him, her behaviour has been tolerant but she doesn't really have much choice, she lays down low when he mounts her and just stays put for a few seconds before wriggling free. when he isn't harassing her she seems quite happy to just clean herself and sit quietly. will this faze pass or is it because he's only recently neutered? he's also stomping a fair bit. i'm just stuck on wether to split them up for a break or leave them to sort it out. there's been no aggression between them just what seems to be a very strong sex drive on his part.
 
Hi there, we're currently in the process of bonding a pair, one male castrated one week prior and one female age 8 weeks. First impressions everything was great, textbook behaviour from both of them right out of the gate. we're now on the second day and i'm starting to get concerned. during the day today they were lovely together, laying down side by side, cleaning themselves together and doing some exploring together. this evening however the male's started humping the female at times quite aggressively and he hasn't really stopped. i'm concerned they're going to fall out because she must be getting tired and scared with the constant bombardment from him, her behaviour has been tolerant but she doesn't really have much choice, she lays down low when he mounts her and just stays put for a few seconds before wriggling free. when he isn't harassing her she seems quite happy to just clean herself and sit quietly. will this faze pass or is it because he's only recently neutered? he's also stomping a fair bit. i'm just stuck on wether to split them up for a break or leave them to sort it out. there's been no aggression between them just what seems to be a very strong sex drive on his part.

You need to separate them just now as the male hasn't been neutered long enough for his hormones to calm down.
Also he is still fertile till he has been neutered for about 6 weeks.
the baby is still too young to have babies, so you shouldn't have to worry about any accidental litters.
Separate and wait at least another 4 weeks and then try again xxx
 
We had willow spayed as soon as we could, so she never really got humpy or anything, she got a little honky, but never tool anything out on parsley.
You can spay them from 4 months onwards so if you get them bonded when she is just a baby they'll be able to go to the vets together when she goes in for her op :)

Thank you for your answer :) It is always nice to hear other peoples experiences.

Hi there, we're currently in the process of bonding a pair, one male castrated one week prior and one female age 8 weeks. First impressions everything was great, textbook behaviour from both of them right out of the gate. we're now on the second day and i'm starting to get concerned. during the day today they were lovely together, laying down side by side, cleaning themselves together and doing some exploring together. this evening however the male's started humping the female at times quite aggressively and he hasn't really stopped. i'm concerned they're going to fall out because she must be getting tired and scared with the constant bombardment from him, her behaviour has been tolerant but she doesn't really have much choice, she lays down low when he mounts her and just stays put for a few seconds before wriggling free. when he isn't harassing her she seems quite happy to just clean herself and sit quietly. will this faze pass or is it because he's only recently neutered? he's also stomping a fair bit. i'm just stuck on wether to split them up for a break or leave them to sort it out. there's been no aggression between them just what seems to be a very strong sex drive on his part.

I agree with natsusakura. It can be stressful for the little one with the humping if she can't get away from him. Better to separate and wait for his hormones to calm down a bit and then try again.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm really in two minds on what to do now. This morning they're being nice as pie with each other, currently snuggled up in the corner next to each other, which makes me think they're ok. They were the same yesterday however it seems to be in the evening that the male finds his drive and gets sex mad. He's also started showing some aggression towards my girlfriend (his owner who's lived with us since day 1) which is obviously very upsetting for her. I've encouraged her to pet him as normal and when she's petting him he seems fine but when she isn't he stomps a lot and will always come to me rather than her. I don't want to break them up and upset them but obviously if the situation's too much for either or both the buns then that takes priority.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm really in two minds on what to do now. This morning they're being nice as pie with each other, currently snuggled up in the corner next to each other, which makes me think they're ok. They were the same yesterday however it seems to be in the evening that the male finds his drive and gets sex mad. He's also started showing some aggression towards my girlfriend (his owner who's lived with us since day 1) which is obviously very upsetting for her. I've encouraged her to pet him as normal and when she's petting him he seems fine but when she isn't he stomps a lot and will always come to me rather than her. I don't want to break them up and upset them but obviously if the situation's too much for either or both the buns then that takes priority.

hmm you're right it does sound tricky, can you keep them apart at night in a puppy pen that has a panel separating them?
Then he won't be able to hump and she'll be able to get some rest.
I just worry about the risk factor of him still being fertile.
Cos even though females aren't sexually mature till they're 4 months, do you really want to take the risk?
The stomping of the feet isn't aggression, it's him trying to tell her something.

Get her to feed lot's of yummy herbs as treats and he'll soon come around again :)
I have a whiny boy called Biscuit, like all he bloomin does is stomp and do a wee grunty unhappy noise if you aren't giving him noserubs :lol:
 
hmm you're right it does sound tricky, can you keep them apart at night in a puppy pen that has a panel separating them?
Then he won't be able to hump and she'll be able to get some rest.
I just worry about the risk factor of him still being fertile.
Cos even though females aren't sexually mature till they're 4 months, do you really want to take the risk?
The stomping of the feet isn't aggression, it's him trying to tell her something.

Get her to feed lot's of yummy herbs as treats and he'll soon come around again :)
I have a whiny boy called Biscuit, like all he bloomin does is stomp and do a wee grunty unhappy noise if you aren't giving him noserubs :lol:

Great feedback thank you. Had a rather dramatic turn of events here! Got home from work to find that she's somehow scaled or jumped over the three foot wall around the crog loft and i can only imagine plummeted down into the office below. I got home to find her quite happily bobbing around in the bedroom looking completely unfazed and thank god un-injured! I found him looking very anxious still up in the crog loft, his face just had "I didn't do it." written all over it. I've moved her tray down to the bedroom now and she's been using it and eating out of it quite happily for the last hour or so, I'm not comfortable leaving the male up there knowing that it's possible for them to escape the boundaries and i've no idea how she got away unscathed I don't want to take my chances a second time with a heavier rabbit, so I'm unsure where to put him now. I think I'll bring him back downstairs and keep her shut in the bedroom for now, given that I was going to separate them anyway as he was a bit much for her I don't think it would be wise to re introduce them on his turf.
Please offer your wisdom as soon as although the rabbits seem perfectly happy this wasn't the smooth introduction I had in mind for them!
 
Oh gosh!!
Glad she's not injured!
Keep a wee eye on her though just in case she shows signs of pain later.
If you buy a puppy pen or 2 you can have them living in the same space side by side and that will help the bonding.
It sounds as though it'll be a fairly straightforward bond anyway.
:)
 
Hey guys, good news! i reunited them last night on his turf as there was a door between them and he was getting pretty frustrated by it. i was half expecting him to throw a tantrum because she's in his territory now but to my relief he just inspected her newly placed litter tray then went over to say hello and check her over. i described their behaviour to a woman who bonds rabbits for a living and she said it sounds like the bonding's a success, and the humping should slow down once he gets over the initial excitement of having a playmate. big relief obviously, he seems a lot happier to be back in his element and they're currently off exploring together, she's doing a lot of darting about and jumping kicking her legs out so i can only assume she shares some of his enthusiasm!
Thank you for all your advice guys it's great that this forum's available as you can get to feeling like there's no immediate help when you're stuck in a crog loft with a horny rabbit!
I've attached a picture of them both so you can put face's to the tales, Lord Byron's the bigger chocolate one and Guinness is the black mini rex pup!

/Users/llyrhughes/Downloads/photo-3.JPG

well that didn't work... any tips on uploading images?
 
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