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Whats the best way to introduce two rabbits for the 1st time

Foxy

Young Bun
We have two Netherland dwarf rabbits called Binka and Rosie. Binka is nearly 12 months old and Rosie is roughly 5 months old (they are male and female and Binka has been neutered about 8 weeks ago) I am hoping they will be friends but want to go about introducing them the right way - can anybody tell me the best way to go about this please. :D
 
Put their cages along side each other for a while, so they can have a sniff & get used to each other. Then after a couple of weeks, put them out on neutral territory. Expect some humping, & chasing, but just keep an eye.

It might help if the female is spayed as she'll be less hormonal?

Bonding's weird. Polly & Alfie took me 5 mins, as did Rosie & flint. Joey & Smirnoff (2 boys) took me 8 weeks, Chocolate & Cracker took me 2-3 weeks - all meeting 3 - 5 times a week on neutral territory. If it works on first introduction, I wouldn't separate them. Chocolate was hard to bond, & the 2 boys took a while, that's the only reason I did it over a few weeks.
 
Have they already been living next door to one another? As this is usually a good start, so that they can get used to each others smells and noises.

Will you be getting your female spayed as well? As female buns tend to be more territorial, and hormonal, so this could present a problem unless she is spayed.

After they've spent some time living next to each other, arrange for somewhere to be used as "bonding ground". This MUST be somewhere that is new to both buns, so that neither will be territorial and have the upper hand. -- I used my bathroom and my OH's house when bonding my two.

Introduce them to neutral territory, allow boxes, food, and other distractions and hiding places. You may want a pair of gardening gloves handy in case you need to separate them if they fight.

DO NOT fuss either of them, no matter how much they may beg you for attention, this is just their way of gaining the upper hand!!

There may be fur flying, chasing, "boxing", mounting, this is fine, only split them up if they are seriously fighting.

If they ignore each other - great!!! -it means they are not bothered by the other buns presence!! Grooming themselves and eating in front of the other is also great progress!!

When bonding my 2, they were living next door to one another with their food bowls next to the divider of the pen, as eating is a social event for bunnies, so by encouraging them to eat "together" would strenghthen the bond.

I then put them together in the bathroom for 30 mins before work, following the above advice. then put them back in their runs next to each other. After work they then went back in the bathroom for 1 hour to 1.5 hours.

This was repeated the next day too. By the third day, I put them in their carrier together and we drove to my OH's house. Car journeys are good as they will get scared and turn to the other bun for comfort.

We then spent 2 hrs at my OH's house (neutral territory again) before driving home.

As they had been so well behaved I decided that when I got home, I would leave them together in the living room for the night, and I slept on the sofa in case there were any problems. Whilst this now wasn't neutral territory, it wasn't a regular place for my original bun to be.

There were no problems in the night, so I took them both to the original (male) buns pen and put them in together. They have been together ever since!!

Once you feel they will be OK, leve them tigether, as constantly splitting them up can mean going back to "square 1 " each time you try to bond them :D
 
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