should I be concerned?

[Ginaol]

I have an 8 month old minilop fred. Fred is an indoor rabbit that has freerange of the apt and has never once see a cage. He goes in every room and has litter boxes upstairs and downstairs. Fred is affectionate and extended docile. we had fred neutered 3 weeks ago. Knowing rabbits are social creatures we adoopted a baby minilop named wilma. She is 3 months and a minilop. Again. Friendly. Docile. Full of personality. We have her penned when we are at work for her safety. When we are home we let her run around. The problem is fred. He has comfined himself to the upstairs. He refuses to come down now. We had to bring food water up there to ensure he eats and drinks. Which he is doing fine. He is still craving attention, looks to be petted, follows us, etc, but has also shown some tantrum behavior. Although he does not chew wires he has been unplugging the alarm clock and bipping my husband when he plugs it back in. I am concerned fred is getting his exerciseand if I should be pushing this bonding along a little more or will it happen when given more time. He absolutely REFUSES to come down the stairs. He made it halfway down the other day but turned around and skipped a few getting back up.

Please help. Is this normal? What can be expected? I do not want a depressed fred. I want to do what is the best for Fred. Oh. Btw. Wilma completely unfazed with fred. Could care less. Goes about her business.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Welcome to Binky Bunny.

I’m a little confused. Are you letting Wilma out while Fred is also out so they could interact if they wanted to? If yes, this is not good and could result in very injured bunnies. Also, at 3 months, I’m assuming your little girl is not spayed. She will need to be spayed and given time for her hormones to settle (at least a month) before you attempt any bonding. As well, you need to have a 100% neutral area to do the bonding process (as in somewhere neither Fred nor Wilma have been).

I suggest you read the Bonding info here on BB. Check it out in the BUNNY INFO section at the top of the website.

[Ginaol]

Fred still has free range. She is penned when we are not home. When we are home we are letting her investigate. She does not know how to go up the stairs yet so that is not my concern. Fred cancome down the stairs but now refuses to. I guess my question is should we be introducing them or should we wait until he comes down the stairs. She is just shy of 3 months but we do plan on getting her spayed. I just feel bad for him. I feel like he feels left out and I do not want that. I will try the stuffed animal piece as well as the neutral territory piece. He just does not seem interested is all. He is not even thumping, yet I know that he knows there is another bunny in the house. At least I think he does.

[MeekoAndNibs]

Two bunnies should not be bonded unless both are fixed! So you should wait to introduce them in the same space

That being said, they can live near each other, just ensure there is enough seperation that they can’t bite each other through the bars! Little girls can’t get very territorial when they hit adolescence, which your sweet little one has not yet, and if she is rude through the bars it may make your older bunny more territorial about his house which is no good for bonding in the future!

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