• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

scared to introduce them........

h0wiep

Young Bun
hi all.
We've recently added a 10week old dwarf lop female to our family (she wasnt planned.....but a recent viist to a local pet store for hay turned into love at first site when we saw little missy waiting patiently for a new home) Anyways......having already got a year old dwarf old male, we knew it may be tough to bond them, but we thought we'd chance it.
Currently they are both kept in the same room, in separate cages, whilst she isnt even cared about him, he seems to be completely interested in her, but we're unsure as to whether this is negative or positive behaviour. When we let her out for a run around the house, he gets a bit over excited.....frantically running around his play area, following her every move (she doesnt even notice him) and once when they sniffed...he sort of almost went for her. This has sort of made me worried for when i eventually introduce them, as im quite scared he might rip her to bits. We havent tried introducing them on nuetral territory yet, as she's had a slight eye irritation, but its all cleared now. Has anyone got any advice on whats best to do?
thanks in advance.
 
oops....forgot the rest of the sentance.....ignore it, not relevant.
anything else to comment? thanks
 
Welcome to RU. First question would be is your male rabbit neutered? If not then he'll obviously need doing before you introduce your female rabbit. Then your new baby will need spaying when she's old enough.

I've never bonded rabbits, I chickened out and let the rescue do it for me!! Bonding needs doing on totally neutral territory and is usually easier if both rabbits are neutered. You could try to bond prior to your female bun being spayed but you might find it easier to wait until she's been spayed and settled down.

I'm sure someone else will be along soon who's experienced in bonding :D

ps any pictures of your buns yet? We like pictures on RU :D :D
 
As Kayjay says the male have to be neutered first. Please wait 6 weeks after the op, because some sperm could remain in the spermatic duct for this time.
A young rabbit shoul be at least 16 weeks old for bonding. Younger ones have no chance against older rabbits in ranking fights. They can be badly hurt because their skin is very thin and tender.

If rabbits can nose each other through the bars of the cages before the bonding, they cannot clarify the hierarchy at once, which may lead to aggressiveness against each other. Therefore I would not put cages together, but separate them in different rooms untill the bonding starts (specially if the male is not neutered yet).

Basic assumption for every bonding is that it has to be done in neutral territory. None of the rabbits should have marked it as his or her own territory. Arrange some cups of water, some haystacks and food in different corners of the room. Prepare two or three litter boxes. Cut two exits in cardboard boxes and position them as hiding-places. Make sure there are no dead ends, where a bunny can be driven in without possibility to escape.
Place rugged gloves ready. If the rabbits lock jaws, you have to separate them. It’s dangerous to do this with bare hands.

Bonding means establishing a hierarchy. Ranking fights are terrible to watch, but they are very essential. Sniffing, hunting, attacking, bucking, biting, running away, and hiding is natural. Please do not stop this. Only if they locked jaws or blood is floating you have to step in.
For bonding rabbits you need nerves of steel and a lot of patience. If you are worried too much, ask an experienced rabbit owner for help.
Never separate rabbits during the bonding. It will disturb the process and stresses the rabbits more than going through with it.
The bonding is done when the bunnies rest side by side, eating together from one cup, or grooming each other. Only now you may resettle the rabbits into their usual territory. Clean the bawn or cage of your rabbit with vinegar before you put them in. Maybe there will be some little fights when the former owner of the cage recognizes it as his/hers.
 
u shocked me a little then Kayjay, a friend recommended this website for help.....and got a shock when i saw ur response....but i can understand ur concern, didnt want u to think i was that kind of rabbit owner......dogs chasing rabbits?? absolutely not!!! what i was going to say was we thought our bunny was quite placid around animals.....as when my friend brought his little puppy around they were fine together. But, i dont think its relevant anyways. thanks for your hep Kayjay (have posted a pic of our first bunny, dunlop, who is the male. i dont have any pics of little missy on my comp yet, but i will shortly.

Back ot the topic tho, thank you for the advice Kayjay & Black R, uve bothe been really helpfull. Dunlop (male) is neutered, and has been since he was 4months old. Little missy is only 2month old, so we'll have to wait to get her spayed. We will most prob wait till she's spayed before bonding, which by then she'll be over 16months. We were planning on doing the bonding in the bathroom, most prob in the bath tub (obv without water :) As dunlop has wandered several times into the bathroom, and so it may not seem like neutral territory to him. It all sounds quite terrifying to me to be honest, but I'm told that its great when you see two rabbits playing and grooming each other.....so im definately going to persevere with it! I think id be devastated to see them properly fight it out.
 
As your male has been neutered for a while you can bond the two buns together at any stage. Buns can be bonded at any age, provided they are fully supervised to start with, the young age of your female should not present a problem.

Having cages next to each other will not present any problems to your buns in the long run, you can always occassionally swap them over a few times prior to pairing them up, however this is not essential. As has been said you need total neutral territory when you are bonding any rabbits together, if they are indoor rabbits it is advisable prior to doing bonding them to restrict them to easy clean areas of the house to prevent problems after they are introduced. All areas previously used by the rabbits need to be cleaned with a 'smelly, non toxic' substance to remove rabbit smells.

When bonding I would suggest having a broom handy to enable you to separate the buns if required, buns who are fighting will have their eyes closed and will bite anything in their way, including you! From experience I would suggest that gloved hands are not adequate protection.

If you are unsure / nervous find someone in your area who is experienced to assist you.

Janice
 
He's gorgeous :love:

Your new little one can be spayed when she's about 6 months old and maybe then you could see if there's someone off RU or from a rescue who could help with the bonding?

Sometimes it goes really well anyway, with my two, they were put together at the rescue, there was a bit of chasing and humping but nothing much and they then settled down to eat and groom each other. And they've been madly in love ever since - it's lovely to see them happy together, so it's well worth the stress of doing the bonding.

Sorry about your introduction to RU - we're a nice bunch honestly :wink:
 
let me just say how friendly and helpfull everyone is!!
thanks everyone. its much appreciated!!
ive taken all the advice in, and im going to take it slowly with these two. I'll be sure to keep u all updated on any events......fingers crossed!!

p.s. Ive heard that vinegar is a good method of getting rid of bunny smells to make a place neutral? is that true.

p.p.s. is there anything i can feed them to help with the smelly wees :lol:
 
h0wiep said:
p.s. Ive heard that vinegar is a good method of getting rid of bunny smells to make a place neutral? is that true.

Yup - you'll be hungry for chips after tho!! :lol: :lol: Bit useless but I got some granules from P@H for putting in litter trays, can't remeber the name, but they're really good and absorb smells when they get wet.
 
Pippa's wee smelt really badly until she was spayed, so maybe that's what your smell is. I find the only way to counter smelly litter trays is to clean them out more often. I'm going to try some of those granules for my guineapigs as they're indoors and the smell gets to me even though I clean them out every other day
 
thanks for the help, i tink i might put on a brave face this weekend and try a bonding session! eeek!!
as for the smelly wee's, ill may look at using the granules mentioned, or just clean her out more often. I dont ever remembering our little males wees ever lingering.

p.s. I let little missy out ths morning for a run around, and she was obviously in a great mood!!! (even after having her medicine) she was darting around on the laminate floor like it was an ice rink......with no grip spinning around, binkying, it was very amusing and very very cute. I think i might send her in an application form for dancing on ice on TV for next year :lol:
 
Back
Top