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Bonding 2 boys advice please

NixNax

Young Bun
Hi, I have 2 male rabbits, both French lops. One is 18 months old, one is 9 weeks old. Should I wait until he has been neutered or try bonding them before he starts getting hormones. Would my older bunny be more likely to accept a boy while he's a baby? I want the baby to be a bit bigger before letting them be together without barriers but when should I start bonding? They have given each other a sniff through a cage and followed each other through it with no aggression. The baby is upstairs in our room, and Trixie our older boy is downstairs. Yesterday I handled the baby and I think Trixie could smell him on me as kept chinning me then licking and doing gentle nips. Should I try to keep each other's scent away from each other or let them get used to each others smell?
 
I've never bonded boys but going off advice given to similar situations, it would be best to wait until your younger boy is neutered as if you were to bond them now, they might start to fall out when the younger one's hormones come into play. 6 - 8 weeks is recommended post neuter before introducing them. This would be different if the younger one was a female. They will be able to smell one another anyway as their sense of smell is amazing.
 
Thanks, i had read alot of people wait until after they're neutered but wasn't sure if that was because the rabbit was older than what ours is. The baby has just come away from his siblings so wasn't sure if he would be fine bonding as he's been around other rabbits. I won't worry about their scents being on me then. Since i read your post i think my older bun can smell the other one as he keeps hopping upstairs and sitting on the top step and sniffing the air. We have a stair gate so he can't get onto the landing but he keeps going up and sitting there. He doesn't appear bothered by it.
 
You will need to wait for about 3 months maybe longer as I am not sure if FLs can be neutered as early as smaller breeds, before introducing them. This will need to be in a neutral area.
 
Yeah I was thinking time wise it would be sometime between Feb and April. I might wait until the Easter holidays then I can dedicate some proper time to the bonding. Trixie escaped upstairs yesterday because one of my kids didn't shut the gate properly, he chinned the cage Toffee was in and sniffed it but he got nipped by Toffee and then he got quite angry and grunted at me trying to get him away from the cage. Not what I wanted! Might put our old stair gate back at the bottom of the stairs or buy something that could act as a barrier around the cage in case it happens again. Can I put toffee downstairs in the same room as Trixie and keep them separate but still have same use of the rooms or is that still classed as bonding? Or am I better keeping one upstairs, one downstairs and out of each other's sight? I don't want to do anything that might affect them bonding at a later date!
 
Okay brilliant. I'll give toffee the upstairs apart from the bathroom and my son's room as want to keep them neutral and give Trixie the downstairs.
 
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