Hello! I rescued a male dwarf lop a few months ago and had him castrated so that I could find him a lady friend. He is approx 1 and a half, a very friendly boy.
I keep him as a house rabbit, he has a dog crate with his litter tray etc in and I leave the gate open to it all the time so he has the run of the house when we are home, or one room whilst we are out.
I also have guinea pigs which he has met and is absolutely fine with, they all run around together when I get the piggies out. Anyway so it's about 6 weeks since his castration and I have just last night rescued a female spayed giant.
I took Woody (my lop) with me to meet Bella (the giant) when we collected her, they met in the kitchen of Bella's home (which was neutral territory). Woody was interested in her and tried to mount her but I think he also went to nip her but didn't really follow through. Bella was very gentle towards him, she is perhaps the most laid back rabbit ever! Anyway the initial introduction was ok, and there was no way I could leave Bella in the home which I rescued her from (very poorly kept), so I took her home.
This is when I made the mistake of bringing them straight into Woody's room together. They travelled home in separate carriers and when we got home I let Woody out into the room he is usually in, I took Bella's carrier in there too and left her in there with the door open but she chose not to come out. Woody didn't notice that I had brought her in and he just carrried on his business until about an hour later he hopped past her carrier and noticed her, at that he ran into her carrier and attacked her! I quickly separated them and for the rest of the evening I tried to slowly introduce them through the bars of his cage but he just kept trying to bite her. She isn't interested in biting him. From reading up on things today I can only assume he is being like this because she was in his territory, so tonight I will try again by taking them to a friends house perhaps, or one recommendation was to take them out in the car together. I'm just so worried he will hurt her, I didn't expect him to be like that as he is so good with the guinea pigs but perhaps that is irrelevant.
I really want this pairing to work as there is no way I can take her back to her previous home, and it's not practical to keep them separated long term, I only got another rabbit to make him happier.
Anyway I would love to hear from anyone who has faced a similar situation and how it turned out, and any tips would be great. I am going to arm myself with a spray bottle to intercept any fighting!
Will they get there in the end or will this simply not work??!
I keep him as a house rabbit, he has a dog crate with his litter tray etc in and I leave the gate open to it all the time so he has the run of the house when we are home, or one room whilst we are out.
I also have guinea pigs which he has met and is absolutely fine with, they all run around together when I get the piggies out. Anyway so it's about 6 weeks since his castration and I have just last night rescued a female spayed giant.
I took Woody (my lop) with me to meet Bella (the giant) when we collected her, they met in the kitchen of Bella's home (which was neutral territory). Woody was interested in her and tried to mount her but I think he also went to nip her but didn't really follow through. Bella was very gentle towards him, she is perhaps the most laid back rabbit ever! Anyway the initial introduction was ok, and there was no way I could leave Bella in the home which I rescued her from (very poorly kept), so I took her home.
This is when I made the mistake of bringing them straight into Woody's room together. They travelled home in separate carriers and when we got home I let Woody out into the room he is usually in, I took Bella's carrier in there too and left her in there with the door open but she chose not to come out. Woody didn't notice that I had brought her in and he just carrried on his business until about an hour later he hopped past her carrier and noticed her, at that he ran into her carrier and attacked her! I quickly separated them and for the rest of the evening I tried to slowly introduce them through the bars of his cage but he just kept trying to bite her. She isn't interested in biting him. From reading up on things today I can only assume he is being like this because she was in his territory, so tonight I will try again by taking them to a friends house perhaps, or one recommendation was to take them out in the car together. I'm just so worried he will hurt her, I didn't expect him to be like that as he is so good with the guinea pigs but perhaps that is irrelevant.
I really want this pairing to work as there is no way I can take her back to her previous home, and it's not practical to keep them separated long term, I only got another rabbit to make him happier.
Anyway I would love to hear from anyone who has faced a similar situation and how it turned out, and any tips would be great. I am going to arm myself with a spray bottle to intercept any fighting!
Will they get there in the end or will this simply not work??!