Could anybody help me with introducing rabbits to each other?

glacies · Nov 8, 2012

I've googled it but there's a lot of conflicting advice so I figured it would be safer to ask here

I have two dwarf lop rabbits (about 9 months) from the same litter and I've recently gotten two english spotted rabbits (about 8 weeks) from a different litter. The problem is that both of the lop rabbits are different sexes (we got them too young to know for sure) so we had to seperate them and I think the new rabbits are both different sexes.

I have housing sorted out for them all to live seperately but I'd rather have, if possible, both of the pairs of the same sex in with each other so that they'd have company.

I was just wondering how I could achieve this, if at all? How to introduce them to each other and stuff without the little ones getting hurt? I tried showing the two males to each other before and the big one was very nice to him for a while before he started trying to hump him. I don't really want that going on when I can't seperate them because I'm worried he'll hurt the little one.

Plus, the male lop is very nice with everybody but the female has gotten quite aggressive with humans after she'd gotten older with hormones and that. I don't want her to take it out on a younger bunny.

Is this possible or would I be better off getting them neuteured?

Thanks

Blue eyes · Nov 8, 2012

Wait until they are all spayed and neutered, then healed too. After that, you can see if you can bond them in separate pairs. male/female bonds are easiest. Male/male bonds are considered toughest.

It would be best to just keep them all separated until they can be fixed. "Bonding" a baby with an adult isn't really bonding since it will usually dissipate once baby's hormones kick in. Even though they may get along as babies, it's not a true bond.

Your lops are old enough to be spayed/neutered.

LakeCondo · Nov 8, 2012

Very good advise. Occasionally a pre-neutering bond will hold up, but it's rare.

Imbrium · Nov 9, 2012

as blue eyes said, M/F is definitely the easiest bond... and all bunns need to be spayed/neutered to be safely bonded.

*if* the younger ones were the same sex, they could be kept together and it would be possible for the baby-bond to transfer over after they're fixed (that's by far the best way to achieve a same-sex bond - I have two little girls who are now 5-6 mos old and spayed and grew up together from 7-8 weeks of age). if they're not the same sex, though, keeping them together could result in an "oops" litter that the female's body isn't mature enough to handle, putting both her life and the lives of the kits at risk.

Hyatt101 · Nov 9, 2012

Can 2 very young unspayed female rabbits be bonded??

Imbrium · Nov 9, 2012

it's a "baby bond" and only works if neither is sexually mature yet. if either one hits sexual maturity before they're spayed, they have to be kept separated from the first fight until about a month after the spays and then re-bonded... though if they're kept close enough to see/smell each other (but far enough apart to not fight through bars) during the separation, they should remember their baby bond, making it easier to re-bond them after they're spayed and the hormones are gone.

I lucked out and mine never got hormonal so they were able to stay together right up until they were 5 mos old and got spayed... though we did have some issues/tiffs right after the spays that I had to work out with them. in retrospect, I wouldn't want to get two babies again as it could've been a lot worse than it was.