I am a first time rabbit owner getting my first rabbit in July (male mini lop 6 months when I got him, 1.5kg and neutered). He was starting to look lonely throughout the day so I adopted a female lion head x lop (possibly about 2 years, almost 3kg and spayed) in October. When I brought her home my male forest came strait up and smelled willow through the crate door they both seemed very happy and comfortable around eachother the whole time. I gave then about 2 months to get used to eachother through the hutch doors and swapping the the hutches there in over night.
However when I started bringing them inside to try bonding them in a neutral place willow would try to nip at Forest (never broke skin or left any visible injuries just pulled a bit of fur out) slowly they started getting along better and will flop next to eachother and forest will groom willow but she won’t groom him. Willow will also let forest jump over her and mount her however the last time I had them inside (about 3/4 days ago) they had been together inside for almost 2 hours most of the time they had been flopped next to each other cuddling and forest climbing on willow and she suddenly started to chase and nip at Forest this time with lots of fur pulled and a little bit of broken skin I don’t know if that was caused by the fur coming out or her teeth.
Since the attack I’ve been to worried to bring them in together again but they are acting like nothing happened when they are outside. They are in separate hutches but share a walk-in run so can see and smell eachother and I’ve not seen any signs of aggression either before or after the attack
To try and stop any unwanted behaviour when they are inside together I use a water spray bottle. Is this something that will help or not any other options to help out with this would be helpful
Any advice on what to do to get them bonded would be greatly appreciated
However when I started bringing them inside to try bonding them in a neutral place willow would try to nip at Forest (never broke skin or left any visible injuries just pulled a bit of fur out) slowly they started getting along better and will flop next to eachother and forest will groom willow but she won’t groom him. Willow will also let forest jump over her and mount her however the last time I had them inside (about 3/4 days ago) they had been together inside for almost 2 hours most of the time they had been flopped next to each other cuddling and forest climbing on willow and she suddenly started to chase and nip at Forest this time with lots of fur pulled and a little bit of broken skin I don’t know if that was caused by the fur coming out or her teeth.
Since the attack I’ve been to worried to bring them in together again but they are acting like nothing happened when they are outside. They are in separate hutches but share a walk-in run so can see and smell eachother and I’ve not seen any signs of aggression either before or after the attack
To try and stop any unwanted behaviour when they are inside together I use a water spray bottle. Is this something that will help or not any other options to help out with this would be helpful
Any advice on what to do to get them bonded would be greatly appreciated