my first bond... what next? please help

I recently adopted a 8 month old male New Zealand White called Albert, he spent his first few months of life living indoors with a (human) family. therefore he is very friendly and sociable. so sociable that if nobody is in his run with him (hes an outdoor bunny now) or my dog isn't nearby (he loves my Labrador) he will sit in a ball looking lonely.

This behaviour made me certain I wanted (needed) to get another bunny for comfort, so I booked him in to get neutered. I then went back to the rescue and adopted Violet, a 9 month old lilac otter mini rex. the lady who I got her from said that she was extreamly nervous of everything, and that she had once tried to 'put her in with' some other females and she had 'kicked the s*** out of them'.... so I was dubious, but she said she would have violet back if she didn't get along with albert. she travelled horrendously! a few times on the way home I had to see if I could feel a heartbeat, she was lifeless!

the first few days were a bit rocky, neither rabbit had been handled or exercised much, their claws where excruciatingly long so my arms were constantly shredded (but their claws are fine now thanks to lots of running and digging). but day by day violet is getting more and more confident, so I think the lady just didn't spend enough time with her.

ive had her a week yesterday, and albert had his operation a week today. They've been spending time everyday in adjacent runs, sniffing eachother, violet pulling his fur, trying to dig into his side, and pooping ALOT at the perimeter. albert adores her and spent the first few days lusting over her at the mesh, occasionally spritzing her with urine. However she didn't seem to care about him, except from 'presenting' her bottom to him I think? I switched their runs a few days ago, to swap scents and this prompted violet to flop next to albert and the two sunbathed side by side (with mesh between). I took this as a really good sign!

the vet had told me to keep them separate for two weeks, to allow him to heal. I read that by this time his hormones should also be settled.

but yesterday I was doing the washing up and thought... why is there something in alberts run?! ran outside to see that violet had somehow got into his run and albert was mating her! he flopped off and shrieked, while violet started grazing the grass. I sat with them for a few minutes, amazed that they were no signs of fighting around. he then had another go but she moved away, then proceeded to hump him for approx. a minute. I placed her in her side of the run before anything bad happened, I thought it was best to leave it on a high.

later i went to check on them to see that violet had got into his run again, this time i could see that she had piled her toys up to use as steps! this time there were some chunks of fur from both rabbits around and violet had wild, wide eyes and wouldn't let me catch her, touch her and she was squealing a lot like she does when she doesn't like something.

i moved the run to the lawn where the grass is long (to stop them digging) and secured all the pegs so they cant escape again.

this morning i put albert in the new run, then put violet in. she charged for him, nipped at his face then dived under his stomach (to bite his penis/castration wounds?). i immediately put violet in her side, and they have been grazing normally alongside each other ever since.

i appreciate that things have moved fast for the two buns, im going to wait at least another week to try let them share a neutral space. violet is not spayed, and i really don't want to put her through that trauma.

sorry for the essay, but any suggestions of where i could go from here? i worry that im doing it wrong, ive only ever had one bunny at a time in the past.

thanks

Has Violet been spayed? If not then there is a chance that she could be pregnant. I believe that males can still be fertile up to about 6 weeks after their ops.

I don't know an awful lot about bonding, but I believe that they need somewhere completely neutral to start off with. Has the new run been used by any other buns and have you cleaned it with diluted vinegar or similar to make sure that there are no smells in it? Hopefully someone will come along with more advice.

Rosie42 said:

Has Violet been spayed? If not then there is a chance that she could be pregnant. I believe that males can still be fertile up to about 6 weeks after their ops.

I don't know an awful lot about bonding, but I believe that they need somewhere completely neutral to start off with. Has the new run been used by any other buns and have you cleaned it with diluted vinegar or similar to make sure that there are no smells in it? Hopefully someone will come along with more advice.

Click to expand...

This.

You said Violet is not spayed, there's a chance she could now be pregnant.
Also, chances of a successful bond are higher if both are neutered/spayed as hormones lead to fighting etc.
You say you don't want to put violet through the operation, but it will calm her behaviour down, and unspayed females have a much higher risk of developing cancer.

You should read some threads in the bonding and.behaviours sections, as well as information on being spayed that is available.on the RWAF website, as well as in the health section on here.

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I didn't read the last bit of the post as I was skim reading. If she's not been spayed then she definitely should not be near your boy at the moment. There is a chance that she is already pregnant as Albert will still be quite fertile this soon after his op. As Tash has said it will be much easier to bond them if she has been spayed as she will be very territorial and hormonal. I would be wanting to get her to a vet asap for a check up to make sure that she is not pregnant. If she is then I would really consider an emergency spay. He is a much larger rabbit than she is and if she were to try and carry the kits full term it could give her serious health problems. I don't think that she would be able to have them naturally and even being pregnant with them might be too much for her.

Your female rabbit sounds quite wild to me, and I would doubt you would be able to bond them with her in this frame of mind. Without spaying her I doubt she will ever calm down sufficiently to be able to live with another rabbit. And even having been spayed there is no guarantee the bond will work.

Your male rabbit sounds lovely and friendly and it's a great idea to want him to have a friend but most females (unsprayed) get very broody and will pester their partner. This can lead to frustration for the male as he can't oblige and then you finish up with 2 rather unhappy rabbits.

As your female rabbit jumped in with the male twice signifies a highly hormonal bunny and this won't alter until maybe 2 months post spay.

Also you could/should check your female isn't a male as this is a very common occurrence.

thankyou all for your help, I will go and get her checked out asap.

the only reason that I hadn't gone ahead with spaying was because I had been told by a breeder that it was only important for the male to be neutered, so I shall look into that also.