New to the Forums, and Bonding rabbits

[Stubakka]

Hello All, I am new to the forums and Am looking for some advice. 

I have had a single Female Mini Rex Rabbit Lilly for about a year now, she has a pretty dominant , cold personality and is very food driven. She’s about 5 lbs and super healthy. 

Recently, we have taken in a Rescue rabbit, from a home that was not taking very good care of him, he is a small 3 lb Lion head Male rabbit named Leo, 

Both the rabbits are fixed.  Leo has some healthy issues however, he’s blind in his left eye, due to a birth defect. and also had over grown cheek teeth that were growing back into his mouth that we had to have a vet file down, so recently with in a week, leo has:

Been moved to a new home with new people

Been given a much larger cage to move around in, and separate area for letterbox, Food and water, in his previous home it was one big mess of a litter box with food and hay mixed in…  Such as he’s not really litter box trained at the moment.

I have introduced the rabbits to one another, and at first curiosity, and such seemed that they were getting along but things changed quickly, my female rex is very aggressive towards him, he’s a very calm, mild tempered rabbit, and smaller then she is, however now she has massive aggression towards him. I am pretty sure its my fault by introducing them and giving him a cage in her “territory” aka our bedroom.

Last night I attempted a stress bonding method using the bathtub and about 2 inches of water, they did not fight in the tub and were trying to get out etc, i put a towel in the middle which they joined up on, things seemed to be going well, they spent about 15 mins on the towel in the tub together.  Then i put them in a smaller pen area together, with shared food, Litter box, and water… they seemed ok, cleaning themselves off of water etc.. But I think i left them in there to long and sure enough things turned into UFC 109 in there, and i had to break them up. 

When they fight its not pecking or mounting, its FIGHTING, fur being pulled out, hard biting and kicking. 

Im pretty sure i need to take 20 steps back because I’m moving to fast. Should i just focus on move their cages apart for now, not being so close to each other, and get him better litter box trained and healthy before attempting more bonding? 

[Bam]

Welcome to the forums! Thank you for giving a home to this little boy in need!

I really think several steps back would be good. First of all, a new bun has “invaded” your girl’s territory, and girl buns are territorial beings. New guy is new and doesn’t know what to expect, is this a nnice place? Am I safe here? etc etc. He has had a tough little life with his eye and dental problems, so giving him some time to settle would be probably be in his best interest. You could concentrate on litter-box training him for now. The buns will become aquainted with each other from a distance through smell and sounds and vision, if they can see each other. After a week or so you can start exchanging litterboxes between them.

Some buns do take to each other immediately, but many, many bunnies don’t, and those you have to work with and give time. It’s good if they haven’t managed to hurt each other badly yet – a bad bite can make them hold a grudge for a very long time.

We’d be very happy for updates on this!

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