Introducing a senior female and a young male

[sparklyyy]

Hey all --

I have a seven year-old female (unspayed) named Misty, who's a dwarf/English spot. Then there's my one year-old male (neutered) mini lop, Zeke. They both have entire rooms to themselves on separate floors of the house (yes, yes -- they are both spoiled!). They only time they were ever in each other's presence was about a week after Zeke was neutered. He was in a cage in my bedroom (relatively neutral territory) and I brought Misty up there from downstairs. She had free run of the room, and would run by his cage and stomp her feet. He just sat there!

I'm wondering if there's some way to introduce them and see if they could get along. Could they ever both live together in one room? I'm nervous about trying it. I'd want to do it absolutely perfect to shift the odds in favor of it working out all right!

Does anyone have suggestions, warnings, etc.? I don't even know if it can or should be attempted in the first place since there's a six year age difference.

Thanks!

Erin

 

[manda]

hmmmm....

i would go for it. but watch really careful and read all you can on bonding them

refer to the house rabbit society (www.rabbit.org) let them live right next to each other in there cages for a few days before trying to introduce them, if you decided you are going to try to bond them. id say it can be done, but will be one of the more difficult bonds.

dont listen to me tho! i just bonded my first pair, a two years old and a seven month old and its a pain in there rear just with those few years of an age diffrence. maybe someone else will reply and help you out more. i would give it a try

 

[sparklyyy]

Thanks!

I'm very nervous mostly because Misty is so old. Being seven years-old, I don't want to cause her too much stress. I would love to do it in a way that wouldn't traumatize her.

Erin

 

[naturestee]

Age usually doesn't make a difference, although if you're worried about stressing her then it's best to go very slow. Have you read through some of the articles on bonding in Bunny 101?

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12072&forum_id=17

One of my favorite sites on bonding:
http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htm

 

[sparklyyy]

naturestee,

I'd never seen the second Web site. Looks very helpful! Thank you. I don't know how Misty would take to being in a cage for a few days since she's used to having free run in a large space! Oh well, it looks like the best way to do it...

Erin