I have had my male mini lop for about a year and he has been neutered. He is very friendly and tame but we wanted to get him a friend. So we got a female mini lop yesterday. She is in a separate hutch at the moment and a little nervous because she hasn't been outside before. How Long should we wait before we introduce them and I know to do it gradually but do you have any more tips please?
ThankyouHow should I get my rabbit settled and introduce her to my other rabbit?
Is she spayed, if not I would recommend doing that first, because even if he is neutered her hormones could make her nippy towards him and he might learn to dislike her. Always wait about two months after a spay before introducing the bunnies.
After the two months you will want to begin a process called bonding, this can take a while so be patient. Bunnies do not get along immediately like dogs or cats so you will have to introduce the bunnies slowly, it may take two months or more depending on the bunny.
As the first stage of bonding I would recommend putting both your bunnies in the bathtub together (with no water in it obviously) Bring a spray bottle and some heavy gloves, just in case some fighting breaks out.
Your bunnies may hump each other a bit and this most likely has nothing to do with hormones, it is a show of dominance. Both boys and girls hump. You can allow humping for about ten seconds but then if the one being humped seems annoyed push the top bunny off.
Once they are doing well in the bathtub bonding sessions, move them to maybe the bathroom, then when they are doing well in the bathroom move them to a larger area on neutral territory (area neither of them has seem). Then to semi neutral territory (area one or both has been in but is not in there regularly) Then finally you can move them to the area where they are going to live together!
For more info on bonding you can look here.
http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bo鈥?/a>
This is where I looked when bonding my two.
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