Bonding two young rabbits

[Hoppits]

Hello! I’m very new to rabbit ownership, and this forum so any form of help is very much appreciated . I’ll start with a bit of information on my two buns. The first one I got is a Netherland Dwarf named Pippin who is about 4.5 months. He’s got so much spunk and is such a little troublemaker . I got him fixed towards the end of April, and he seems to have mellowed a little since then and is almost always happy to greet me at the cage bars. About a week ago, once Pip had had a couple of weeks to recover from his surgery, my boyfriend and I got a baby Holland Lop and named her Merry (the Hoppits that live in Hoppiton ). I’d read a ton of stuff online about bonding rabbits, and how to go about getting them used to each other. So I put them in separate cages right next to each other and gave them time out of their cages separately in a little area fenced off around the cages. At first, Pip would look at Merry through the bars and sniff, grunt, and scratch, but Merry seemed barely phased by this. So I wasn’t sure if it was aggression or excitement, since I would think Merry would back off if this older male rabbit was trying to attack her. After a few days Pip’s interest in her in general seemed to lessen. I decided one day to move her to Pippin’s cage while he was out in order to get them used to each other’s scents and show Pippin he can’t be territorial of his cage. Since Pip had been doing so well up until that point, I let him sniff Merry while she was in my arms (so if anything happened I had ahold of her and could move her away at the drop of a hat). He did so well!!! He sniffed her, then moved away and went about his business. I then let them hop around together, supervised by both myself and my boyfriend, and the positive interactions kept going. There wasn’t any mounting, but Pip keeps shoving his head under her chin asking, I’m assuming, for grooming as a form of dominance. My concern I suppose lies in the fact that Merry doesn’t seem to groom Pippin when he asks for it (shoving his head under her chin, flopping over in front of her…). In fact, he seems to adore her because I’ve caught him giving her some licks and checking out her ears, etc. For the most part he doesn’t care if she’s in his cage eating his stuff, playing with his toys, sitting on his house, or drinking his food. She, on the other hand, is the sassy girl that seems she’d rather just be left alone. She doesn’t attack or anything, she just seems indifferent. Is this common in buns that are getting along, or does Merry not like him? He was my main concern, since he’s been away from other rabbits for a couple months whereas she just came from the store with other rabbits. There also seems to be some chasing sometimes, and I’m not sure if it’s playful or something more malicious. Pip seems to occassionally, but not very often, charge although there’s no biting or attacking, just sniffing. As far as I’ve seen there has been no fur pulling. I’ve read that rabbits getting along so early is rare, and bonding takes time, so I’m hesitant to assume they’re OK and might be able to live in a cage together. Sorry for the long post, I just like to make sure that the information I’m getting is as specific to my situation as possible and that I’ve given as much info as I can. 

[Mikey]

Charging, lunging, and chasing are rarely signs of play. Usually they are signs of aggression. Since hes lunging to sniff her, he could be doing it to try to cause fear as a way to show her that he is the dominant one. Until this dies down to null or almost null, i wouldnt leave them alone together because Merry might take it as a start of an attack one day and lunge back, escalating any issue they have with one another. I wouldnt worry about the grooming too much either, but to help, you could consider putting a bit of mashed banana or a few drops of apple juice onto the tops of their heads to encourage them to groom one another. Otherwise, the bond seems well so far! It is easier to bond a male and a female together in most cases so i wouldnt worry too much about how fast they do end up bonding together

I also love the names! My boyfriend and i have a little nethie named Bombur lol

[Author]

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