Rabbit introductions

Having read threads of various rabbit forums, and as many articles as I could find on Google, I decided to go ahead and introduce my two rabbits together - 2 males, one around 2 years old (Mary - yes, he has a girls name, no it wasn't by accident ), the other just over 4 months (Joey).
Their cages have been side by side for a few weeks now, with no signs of aggression. However, when I let them out in my room, Mary kept mounting Joey, and Joey would get annoyed and nip at Mary.
Once the mounting stopped, Joey would still chase and nip at Mary, and I split them up before things got nasty.
I tried putting the both on my lap, as they tend to relax when being cuddled, but Joey wanted none of it and kept nipping at Mary.
I then read about confining them to a cat carrier. I've done a similar method to this with my mice when I introduced them, as they kept chasing each other around the large new tank, but when confined to a small carry case they got over it and cuddled up.
There was a little spat or two at first, but there wasn't enough room for them to be annoyed at each other, and eventually they just sat there ignoring each other.
I did this several times yesterday and today, and this evening I got brave enough to try them in a small indoor rabbit cage (Ferplast 100/Roger 3 size)
This time it was Joey doing the mounting, but no nipping (Mary doesn't have any front teeth so this would be impossible anyway!), and if Mary was fed up he'd hop off and back up to a corner to prevent Joey doing it. They settled down and were sitting near each other, and then began sitting next to each other (see the photo in my signature! Though Mary seemed a little tense, he did start to calm down).
I then put them back in the carrier for a bit, so I could keep an eye on them while I gave Mary's crate a good clean. I chose Mary's crate as if he wanted to defend it, he can't bite Joey, whereas Joey could bite him.
I put them into the clean cage, and Mary began mounting Joey, but after this initial burst, they calmed down and are now fine together. Mary seems to be a little bit quiet, though he has been eating and hopping around, and Joey's keeping busy exploring the cage.

I've never done rabbit introductions before, just guinea pigs, rats and mice, so wanted to know if I was doing things right or taking things a bit quickly (though I have been keeping a close eye on them and seperating them to cool off if they get a little rough).
I also wanted to know if it was too soon to leave them in together overnight. I don't want to wake up and find one of them injured, but I don't want to reverse all the progress that's been made today.

You nedd to give them a large space, and make sure it's neutral, somewhere neither bun has been. Putting them both in a small cage or carrier will only work if you then put them into a car or simelar situation where they will ook to each other for comfort. Nipping and mounting unless really aggresive and meant (you will see a differnece) is normal it's just them working out who is boss. If it does get really aggressive you will physically have to split the buns as they will try to latch on to each other and bite. If you keep a towel or sheet close by when bonding and if serious fighting does occur throw it over the buns this usually stops them in there tracks as all goes dark.

Good luck i hope this helps XXXX

Hiya,

I think you said that Joey isn't neutered yet, is that right? Unneutered males are abit of a risk in introductions as they can often fight. Although what you have done so far sounds very positive, he's at the age that his hormones will kick in any time soon. It would probably be better to wait until he is neutered to have them living together.

When you do introduce them you need to give them time to work things out. Stick to one thing to start with - a neutral area they need to spend plenty of time in it (several days) and the mounting will tapped off as you have found. Each time you move them to a new area (your lap, a cat carrier, their cages) they need to reestablish the peeking order in the new place so the mouting will start again. By switching so frequently you'll confuse them.

Don't rush it Once they have spent a few days - week on neutral territory and if any conflict has stopped then you can put them in the non-neutral cages.

Tamsin

I don't drive, but putting them in the carrier seemed to work anyway, as it didn't give them enough room to chase each other around (which is why Joey was getting a bit annoyed I think)
I did try them in the bathroom before this, neither have been in there, but they weren't too happy about it.
None of the nipping in the indoor cage seemed vicious, but as it's my first intro I was just a little apprehensive. But today I just let them do their thing. At least with rabbits, they don't scream like they're being murdered (rat intros can be very noisy!)!

I was a bit worried that Joey was reaching his 'terrible teens' - his urine has developed an extremely strong smell, is this a sign that his hormones are starting to kick in? He's a good boy and used his litter tray from day one, and hasn't sprayed anywhere (yet!). My vet won't neuter until 5 months. I know some will do it younger, but to be honest I've gone to alternate vets because of not being able to get an appointment, and haven't had good experiences, so I'd rather stick to a vet I know to be good.
I feel a bit useless at introductions, as with rats I've found it's usually quite a quick process (putting them in a neutral cage/room and letting them settle into a pecking order, give the main cage a thorough scrub, put them all back in with plenty of hideyholes and yummy distractions and voila, happy ratties), and the guinea pigs were relatively easy (even though I was a bit wary, as they were both males too, but the younger one took a shine to the older one and was following him around like a lovestruck fan!)

A related question. Mary has all his veg diced up or grated, because of his teeth. If him and Joey were to live together, would it be fine for Joey to be eating this too? Or is it better for him (teeth-wise) to be chewing on bigger pieces of veg? Is there any way I could really stop him, if that was better for him?
I've dealt with Mary for so long, it's a bit of a new experience having a "normal" rabbit now :roll:

I know I should be taking things slowly, but I have carefully been putting them in Mary's cage (fully supervised). There's been no nipping, a slight amount of mounting, and then usually ignoring each other.
Today I took them to the vet for their myxi jabs (end of Joey's and start of Mary's). I'd taken them in in seperate carriers, but one belonged to the vet so I just left it with them and put them in together (I wasn't driving, was given a lift, so if I needed to split them I could've kept one on my lap), got them home, and put them both in Mary's cage. No mounting, no nipping, no chasing, just this!

Then they hopped off and ate hay side by side!

I will keep seperating them when I'm not here for now, but the good news is that the vet had a look and thinks Joey is older than I thought (I was never really sure of his age to be honest!) and is ready to be neutered, so I'm probably going to take him in Wednesday (as Thursday is my day off, I can collect him Wednesday evening and keep a close eye on him Thursday)
Hope I don't jinx it, but I have good feelings about these two

That sounds very encouraging!

Caz

I think Joey's in love! Shame it's unrequited, Mary just seems to be totally unsure of what this big blob of fluff is doing trying to snuggle up to him..