When should I stop pre bonding?

[hxkev]

Ive just begun to pre bond 2 buns because we couldnt get cages and put them next to eachother, instead we let one out into the room and kept the other one seperated with cage bars. The male bun always grunts and lunges both at me and the female bun when she gets close (there is a bit of space between them so he cant hurt her), he digs and chews the cage as well. I thought that this was some sort of territorial behaviour at first, but it could be something else? The female was spayed 2 weeks ago (I read that you should wait 2 weeks before you can put them together).

So I was wondering if I should start the bonding now (because its been 2 weeks already), or should I wait and do pre bonding until they tolerate eachother (the male not grunting or lunging through the cage)?

 

[Scarly]

Bunny hormones can stick around a lot longer than 2 weeks. While she might be healed enough after two weeks to interact with another bunny her hormones can still be in her system. Our vet said 6 weeks, but I swear our bunny took 10 weeks before her hormones were gone because it was a pretty obvious shift in behaviour for our male bunny at the 10 week mark. I'm not a professional and don't have tons of bonding experience, but I would wait 6 weeks. You don't want them to get in a big hormonal fight now and damage their relationship that could prevent them from bonding in a few weeks.

 

[hxkev]

Bunny hormones can stick around a lot longer than 2 weeks. While she might be healed enough after two weeks to interact with another bunny her hormones can still be in her system. Our vet said 6 weeks, but I swear our bunny took 10 weeks before her hormones were gone because it was a pretty obvious shift in behaviour for our male bunny at the 10 week mark. I'm not a professional and don't have tons of bonding experience, but I would wait 6 weeks. You don't want them to get in a big hormonal fight now and damage their relationship that could prevent them from bonding in a few weeks.

How do I know if her hormones are still in her? She doesnt even try to attack the other rabbit when they get close, she just stares. She doesnt grunt or anything. Are these signs of her hormones disappearing or are these normal rabbit things?

 

[Scarly]

Well scientifically speaking it's about 2 months so you know for sure that for 8 weeks after her surgery she could still have hormones. So definitely wait a full 8 weeks. After that, in my experience, it's more about how the male rabbit reacts to her than how she is acting herself.

What worked for me in the past is keeping them completely separate after the surgery and then reintroducing them after 8 weeks, so zero contact, they are in different rooms etc for those 8 weeks. My rabbits really didn't get along when my male was neutered and our female was intact. Our vet recommended to completely separate them and then reintroduce them as if they had never met. It worked well for us.

 

[zuppa]

It's not two weeks, it's two months you'd need to wait after spaying, you should wait 6 more weeks, otherwise they can start fighting and hating each other so it will be much more difficult to bond them later. It is best if you can keep them for those 6 weeks separately so they can't see and smell each other, ideally in separate rooms or if you have playpens put some cardboard between them and allow enough space between them so they can't smell each other.
Is your male neutered?

 

[hxkev]

It's not two weeks, it's two months you'd need to wait after spaying, you should wait 6 more weeks, otherwise they can start fighting and hating each other so it will be much more difficult to bond them later. It is best if you can keep them for those 6 weeks separately so they can't see and smell each other, ideally in separate rooms or if you have playpens put some cardboard between them and allow enough space between them so they can't smell each other.
Is your male neutered?

He was neutered at the end of september

 

[hxkev]

Well scientifically speaking it's about 2 months so you know for sure that for 8 weeks after her surgery she could still have hormones. So definitely wait a full 8 weeks. After that, in my experience, it's more about how the male rabbit reacts to her than how she is acting herself.

What worked for me in the past is keeping them completely separate after the surgery and then reintroducing them after 8 weeks, so zero contact, they are in different rooms etc for those 8 weeks. My rabbits really didn't get along when my male was neutered and our female was intact. Our vet recommended to completely separate them and then reintroduce them as if they had never met. It worked well for us.

So then, do I have to watch the male buns behaviour whenever the females around (do I let her out once a week to see him?).
And if he's calm and not aggressive, that means that her hormones are gone? Or should I wait 6 weeks first and let her out then and see how he reacts?

 

[hxkev]

So I've been swapping their litter boxes since I cant put them next to eachother because the male gets territorial and wants to fight her. I was just wondering how would I know if they got used to eachothers smell? Right now they are both sitting in eachothers litter boxes, is that a good sign or is that just normal?