Is the time right to bond? Help please!

[gmb27]

Hi all, I'm looking for some help with a challenging situation.

We have a 18 week old female mini lop who has not yet been spayed. This week we took on a 18 month old neutered rabbit as a rescue. The male is calm, well behaved and house trained. The female is playful and energetic as you may expect.

I've no experience with a mixed neutered/not yet neutered pairing with an age difference. Generally they ignore each other on sight and smell (seperated by a run) but if they come nose to nose the female nips the male and pulls fur. Its quick and they carry on immediately afterwards as though its not happened.

He is much bigger than her (twice the size) so i worry that even though the aggression appears to be from her, she could get hurt if it continued.

Has anybody experienced this before or is it impossible to start a bond until she is spayed?

Thank you!

 

[Omi]

I have bonded two of my bunnies in fairly similar circumstances, although the age difference was much greater. We had an existing neutered seven year old male, who had lost his bonded partner. We then rescued a female, who was unspayed and just 3 months old. I experienced the same with my female, that she was playful and energetic. At first the male thumped whenever he saw her (they were also separated by a run). There was no aggression between them when they met face-to-face, although there was a lot of chasing. Apart from this initial chasing, which lasted about a day, it was a very easy bond with no issues. She then was spayed with no disruption to their bond. It's a good sign that your male doesn't retaliate when he is nipped.

 

[a reader of books]

I don't think it's always necessary to spay girls before bonding them. It's only relatively recently (the past 15-20 years, I would say) that spaying girls has become standard procedure, and before that unspayed girls were often bonded to neutered boys without any issues. It depends on the bunny, really, and how hormonal she is and whether that gets in the way of bonding. Nipping and fur-pulling is not unusual when bunnies get to know each other, so it might have nothing to do with her not having been spayed yet.

I think if you have plans on getting her spayed soon, it would be easier to wait, but if you don't, then I'd just try bonding them and see what happens so they can have companionship. When bonding, since you'll be there to watch them, I wouldn't think him being much bigger would be an issue, as you'll be there to stop him if it looks like he'll hurt her.

 

[tonibun]

If there is wire between them this will cause the nipping so try to keep them apart until you bond them. I would bond them now and get her spayed later on . I hope it works out well.