Bonding 2 males, please help!! :)

[claor]

Hey guys, Long time reader, first time poster.

I have two boys (both neutered).

Franklin ( 1 year and 5 months old)






Murphy (7 months old)





I got murphy so franklin would have a friend, But it seems they are not getting along.
I started by putting droppings in the others litter, swapping cages, houses, food bowls etc. both showed aggression through the bars of the cages.
They were then separated (kept at different houses whilst Murphy was neutured).
When they were separate i got look-alike teddies and stuffed them with their fur etc. both murphy and franklin liked the surrogate teddies and would groom them, this seemed to be a good sign.
I brought them back together just recently and tried to stress bond them on a short 10 minute car trip, they snuggled up to each other during. I then immediately put them in a neutral pen, but they were showing aggresion to each other almost right away.

They had a couple of fights, (growling/nipping/hitting) which I broke up almost immediately.
Murphy originally fought back but seems very scared of franklin now and likes to hide but does not seem to know how to be submissive to franklin. Most of the time they sat on other ends of the pen.

I feel i might have to just let them fight it out a bit more? I am just scared they will hurt each other and don't know how sooon to jump in.

No fur was pulled and neither seemed injured at all.
Is anyone able to tell me how to tell when to step in ??

In hindsight i should have got a female to bond with franklin, but it is to late now.

Thanks in advance for any replies
Sorry for the essay!

Jason

 

[Azerane]

It's difficult, because some people discourage no fights at all, but I have seen techniques where the rabbits are allowed to scuffle it out (within reason) until they decide who is top dog. As for when to step in, it's hard to say. Is only one the instigator and the other just retaliates? Is one boy picking on the other and he runs away? Or are they equally aggressive towards each other?

 

[claor]

Thanks for the fast reply!

It seems franklin (the older boy) is the instigator and Murphy runs away and hides. However at the beginning Murphy would fight back, but after the first few scuffles he realized Franklin is bigger and more powerfull so now he runs away and is not aggressive in return.

Thanks again for the reply, hope to hear from you soon
jason