It’s Lily and Charlie! Plus bonding problems :/

[Charlily]

Hey there! New to the forums here.
Just wanting to introduce myself my bunnies.
My name is Tiff and I’m a first time bunny owner, to a Lily and Charlie both female dwarf lops. I didn’t exactly research into bunnies before I decided to adopt one and had noooo idea how complex they actually are, although the reason I adopted Lily and Charlie was because I had a connection with Lily at the pet store and I was amazed at how lovely and friendly she was with me and cuddly too! My boyfriend fell in love with Charlie and that’s why we bought her.

Ok, so, they’re both from the same breeder but not the same littler? I think same Dad different Mum. Lily is allot smaller and younger and Charlie is allot bigger. We adopted Lily first and then decided to adopt Charlie as a friend for her and assumed because they were in the same sanctuary in the pet store and also seemed to be affectionate with one another there that they were friends and would love to live together!

We. Were. Wrong.

Lol. ‘:/

Although they groomed each other and cuddled with one another initially, my parents were woken up early in the morning to them fighting viciously and making crazy noises! Although my boyfriend were only told in the morning upon waking.
We own a pet poodle who is very chill but curious (can be jealous) but seems more than ok with the little guys.

Another thing to note is that we out them in a brand new two story hutch together so it was neutral.

We didn’t realise it was a really serious thing until the day after the early morning ‘rave’, when my boyfriend and I were cleaning out their cage, they fought again in the smaller cage we put them in.
Lily cut her foot really badly and we think it was from the fight.
Was heartbroken she had been hurt so bad in the first few days of having her.

They’re in separate cages now, because Lily has to heal and recover.

I’m just confused with their behaviour as they seemed to be getting along when we were present although we are not 100% familiar with bunny body language.
– have noticed that Charlie, being allot biger seems to be a bit more clumsy and dominant, not as self aware as Lily and allot more independent.
We believe Lily is the underdog in this scenario.

We’re not sure what to do as it would be too complicated to keep them both if they can’t get along and Lily’s vet bills along with the cost of buying their lovely hutch etc already comes to a whopping amount I hadn’t expected.
Am happy that Lily is ok now though but would just like some advice on what to do?
Should i return Charlie () or should we give bonding another chance?

The hutch is two story but I’d rather them both being able to run up and down freely and happily.

If you’d like to know any additional info to help with your opinion please fire away and I’ll answer to the best of my ability!

[Tay]

Are they both fixed? I’ve read that it’s notoriously harder to bond two females than it is to bond a male and a female – but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If they’ve not been spayed yet I would do that to even out the hormone levels and after a month or so of recovery (and settling of the hormones) try to bond them from the beginning.
Sounds like they’ll need to be kept separate for a little while, but that doesn’t mean you need to get rid of Charlie yet – give them some time

[Author]

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