Rabbits bonding

Hi everyone,

I am struggled to bond my two rabbits this time, despite I had experiences on bonding two pairs before. May I ask for some advices?

I had a male rabbit (Stressy), I have him for 7 years, he had bonded with two different females before. One took two months to bond and the other took five months to bond.

I have this new female (Doppie) for 6 months. I have been trying to bond her and Stressy for 4 months. They seem to be bonded for few weeks (though still separate them in different cages) and I was ready to put them in the same cage this Easter holiday and I can keep an eye on them. However, Doppie pulled her fur and sort of nesting the past two days. When Stressy got into her cage, she is so defensive, since then they both started to mount each other (back to early stage). I believe it is because of her false pregnancy, hence Doppie has changed her behaviour and Stressy thinks she is aggressive.

I am now concerned if they will be bonded at all? And even if they are bonded later when they stay in the same cage, will they fight again when Doppie has her next false pregnancy period?

Just a bit of background of Doppie. I adopted her from a trusted rescue (I adopted the other two females rabbits from the same rescue). They brought Doppie to do the spay operation. However, Doppie makes nesting once every 4-6 weeks. My vet won't be able to tell for sure if she has done a proper operation before and there's no way to check.

Any advice/ suggestion is welcome.

Thank you

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Unless they have both been spayed/neutered for at least 6 weeks for their hormones to die down, the bond is unlikely to work. She sounds pretty hormonal to me. I would ensure you bond in a small neutral area where neither has been before, and in the meantime don’t let them go into each other’s cages, as they will be territorial over their own space. Once you start bonding it might be bettter to keep them together in the bonding area rather than doing dates. I would only increase the area once you know there had been no chasing and mounting for at least 48 hrs. Moving them or increasing space too quickly can cause trouble

Thank Zoobex, Stressy has been neutered for 6 years and Doppie has been spayed for 2 years. They were bonded in a small neutral area at first, then slowly bonded in a bigger area. They both are 95% bonded, just that Doppie has this change of behaviour makes me concern that they will break the bond later. I wonder if they stay in the same cage, her behaviour will improve even if she has this false pregnancy?

The problem could be because they are living separately and Doppie has become territorial over her cage. If they were to live together in the same cage (how big is it?) then they would become fully bonded and hopefully Doppie would not be aggressive. At the moment (Spring) quite a few of the Does I have are very broody so it might not be the best time to put them together.

Hi Tonibun,

Thank you. At the moment, each of them have a 1m x 1m indoor cage. Once they are bonded, the cage will be expanded to 2m x 1m (two story). They swap cage eveynight, so both cages have their scent and they can get used to it (both cages are right next to each other). I've been doing this for the past four months. Since they are nearly bonded, I let them get into each other cage freely but back to their own cage at night.

Today, I spent two hours with them in the playroom, they have no problem, grooming each other, sharing foods and drink. Then I let them in the same room by themselves for four hours, no problem again. They now are back to the cage separately. Doppie now is trying to pull the cage hardly and wanting to come out, but I can see her mouth is full of fur....

May be as you say it's Spring, she is more broody?? But if they are bonded and she wants to be with Stressy, then should I still try to put them in the same cage?


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Spring can indeed encourage hormonal behaviours, but I've never heard of a spayed bunny having false pregnancies. That's really weird. If she were my rabbit, I would probably do an ultrasound to check. On a side note, I wouldn't let the male go inside the female cage - females are very territorial and don't like other bunnies to invade their space. Males are often more forgiving in that respect. But I actually wouldn't I put two not bonded rabbits in a cage at all. A cage attached to a pen, yes, but a cage doesn't leave them their space nor any way to escape if things go wrong. I'm myself in the middle of bonding - the two bunnies have spent 24h in the hallway... I'm hoping to move them to half of the rabbit room this afternoon, but I'm removing all the hideouts / cushions that could be appropriated and will only put a very big litterbox and a new cardboard boxes with four holes so no one will get cornered.
Good luck!

I agree with Maya, I wouldn’t let them into each other’s cages at all. And I do think it is worth having an ultrasound scan to check to see if Doppie was actually spayed.

I really hope you don’t mind me saying, but I’m afraid the cages you have been sold are too small to enclose a rabbit in at any time, they should each have a minimum of 3m x 2m of permanently available space, see the Rwaf site https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-housing/indoor-rabbit-housing/ This could be contributing to the behaviour of the rabbits.

Nicole Mok said:

Hi Tonibun,

Thank you. At the moment, each of them have a 1m x 1m indoor cage. Once they are bonded, the cage will be expanded to 2m x 1m (two story). They swap cage eveynight, so both cages have their scent and they can get used to it (both cages are right next to each other). I've been doing this for the past four months. Since they are nearly bonded, I let them get into each other cage freely but back to their own cage at night.

Today, I spent two hours with them in the playroom, they have no problem, grooming each other, sharing foods and drink. Then I let them in the same room by themselves for four hours, no problem again. They now are back to the cage separately. Doppie now is trying to pull the cage hardly and wanting to come out, but I can see her mouth is full of fur....

May be as you say it's Spring, she is more broody?? But if they are bonded and she wants to be with Stressy, then should I still try to put them in the same cage?


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They sound bonded to me but keep separating them must be very confusing for them. I would think you should be ok putting them in the same cage BUT not the female's cage. Try early morning and monitor them for the rest of the day, if they are not fighting they should be safe enough to leave for longer. Give them lots of hay so they can both graze on it together. I have an 8 yr old, spayed 7.5 years ago, but she has been broody this year but hasn't actually made a nest. The spayed bunnies get broody but don't normally make a nest.

Hi Maya, I will need to speak to the vet again. She did mention that there is a way can check if Doppie has spayed or not, but she said this method is accurate on dog or cat, might not be accurate on rabbit, hence I just leave it as I don't want Doppie to suffer from any operations or testing.

Regarding the bonding, I let them spend about 8 hours in the playroom yesterday, then let them stay in the same cage last night. I slept next to the cage all night, luckily there is no problem at all. They spend the time together all day long today, still ok. So I believe they are now fully bonded. I can only wish if Doppie has her hormonal behaviour next time they are both still ok without any fight. I will definitely mention this to the vet as well see what she thinks.

Sounds like you are progressing smoothly!! Good luck with your bonding

Zoobec said:

I agree with Maya, I wouldn’t let them into each other’s cages at all. And I do think it is worth having an ultrasound scan to check to see if Doppie was actually spayed.

I really hope you don’t mind me saying, but I’m afraid the cages you have been sold are too small to enclose a rabbit in at any time, they should each have a minimum of 3m x 2m of permanently available space, see the Rwaf site https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-housing/indoor-rabbit-housing/ This could be contributing to the behaviour of the rabbits.

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Hi Zoobec, Don't worry! I understand the cage may be a bit small than recommended. When I adopt the first rabbit from the rescue, they did come to check out my home and the cage, the rescue is happy about the set up, hence I always use the same cage / set up since then. I think it's also because I have another playroom (whole bedroom) for them to play for at least 4 hours everyday. By the way, thank you for the information.

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tonibun said:

They sound bonded to me but keep separating them must be very confusing for them. I would think you should be ok putting them in the same cage BUT not the female's cage. Try early morning and monitor them for the rest of the day, if they are not fighting they should be safe enough to leave for longer. Give them lots of hay so they can both graze on it together. I have an 8 yr old, spayed 7.5 years ago, but she has been broody this year but hasn't actually made a nest. The spayed bunnies get broody but don't normally make a nest.

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Hi Tonibun, yes I believe they are now bonded, please see my reply to Maya. [emoji4]

Regarding the nesting, I'm actually not sure is Doppie really making the nest or just aggressive due to me separate her and Stressy while they are actually bonded. Please see photo attached, it's like a hair ball she made every night for three nights. What do you think?

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