Is it too soon?

Hi everyone! This is my first post so I hope this is in the right place! It's a bit long winded so please bare with me!
A few months ago we took on a female Rex unspayed rabbit from a friend who's daughter didn't want her anymore. We decided to have her live inside (she's always lived out) as we live on a farm and have a lot of foxes. We had her spayed quite soon after as she was very defensive of her cage. But while myself & my husband can deal with her she's terrified of children. We have a daughter who would love to interact with her but even if our daughter strokes her she instantly growls at her but as yet hasn't bitten. She's very settled in the house, with everyone- apart from our daughter. The vet feels that she may of been dropped.
Myself & my husband spoke and we decided that we didn't want to put her up for rehoming as we feared that she wouldn't ever find a loving forever home due to her behaviour so we decided to keep her & look into getting another rabbit that our daughter old interact with.
We have now taken on a male Rex unneutered rabbit who is 7 months old. Apparently he was bought as a pet for someone's children & a week later while the children where misbehaving they bought him back and said their kids didn't deserve him. They also kept him with 3 other boys and they all bullied him.
He too lives inside & is in a separate cage from my female. They where on either side of the room and over the last few days we've put them closer together. The cages are now side by side. Our female freeroams the entire downstairs of the house. So we started off by letting her out, she ignored him for the first couple of hours and then went up to his cage. She Had a good sniff around his cage and walked away. A few minutes later she went back and he came over to her, they had a good sniff of each other and she walked away again. This went on all day. We then put her away & let him out and he did exactly the same thing. I'm currently taking it in turns letting her out for an hour, then putting her away and letting him out. They haven't met face to face, but through cages or when one has been out there has been zero aggression at all. They are both in their cages currently but laying side by side (the cage is inbetween them) is it too soon to let them out together? Shall we wait until he's been done (he's booked in for the 27th) I'm in no means wanting to rush this at all, but looking for the best advise.
I work from home & care for all the animals (the rabbits are really more mine than my daughters) I have experience dealing with aggressive animals (dogs, horses, birds) but rabbits seem to be a whole different ball game!

Thanks for reading & in advance for any help!
Georgia x

Welcome to RU

Personally I'd wait til he is neutered & try introductions a few weeks later. Rabbits can hump a awful lot during the bonding period & I can only imagine this would be a lot worse with all those hormones still present. It is often when one bun gets irritated by the non stop humping & fights back.


Neutral space is recommended for bonding - somewhere they haven't been. You'll need to supervise closely til you see only positive behaviours

Welcome. If you introduce them now the boy will pester her which might lead to a fight so the best way is to wait until 2 weeks post neuter and then introduce them in a neutral area where the female has not been before. Females are quite territorial hence a neutral area as she could attack him and this would hinder any chances of bonding them. I usually use a big space with lots of distractions, plenty of hay and some treats. I find it best not to separate once together and it usually takes up to 3 days for them to settle down with each other. We shall look forward to hearing how they get on.

Hi Georgia, my male took 6 weeks to stop humping the girls after neutering so I had to keep them apart as the girls got annoyed with him. This was longer than previous so I think it does vary.
I bonded in a neutral space and it all worked out fine.
Good luck!

Hi, now for all your advise!
She's not been allowed in my daughters play room so that where I plan on introducing them as it's neuteral. I've managed to bring his appointment forward to Monday for castration. There's been lots of grooming and nosing each other through the bars.
They did meet briefly face to face earlier! She was out and he was in the pen & I didn't realise my daughter had taken one of the pins out and he'd pushed the pen apart. My husband tapped me on the leg and both bunnies where flat out asleep on the dogs bed infront of the fire (there's a guard in front of it) I watched them briefly for a few minutes before putting him back. Touchwood they'll be ok but that'll be it until he's fully healed from surgery.

Gf91 said:

Hi, now for all your advise!
She's not been allowed in my daughters play room so that where I plan on introducing them as it's neuteral. I've managed to bring his appointment forward to Monday for castration. There's been lots of grooming and nosing each other through the bars.
They did meet briefly face to face earlier! She was out and he was in the pen & I didn't realise my daughter had taken one of the pins out and he'd pushed the pen apart. My husband tapped me on the leg and both bunnies where flat out asleep on the dogs bed infront of the fire (there's a guard in front of it) I watched them briefly for a few minutes before putting him back. Touchwood they'll be ok but that'll be it until he's fully healed from surgery.

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Hi there and welcome :wave:

I am glad you've got a friend for your female rabbit

A rabbit's hormones don't just disappear once neutered. They will still be 'raging' for another month after the op. I personally never try bonding until 8 weeks after the op. In Rescue we found that some males were still very hormonal up to 12 weeks post castration.

That said, your two happen to be getting on. I would keep an eye, and if he gets amorous, see how she deals with it and act accordingly.

Good luck