Bonding female unneutered and male neutered

[Andrea__xo]

I have had my female rabbit for a year and have recently moved her outside, she has a very large hutch with built in run and a large run which I have built around her hutch at the top of the garden, she has been doing a lot of digging and escaping which is fine as the rest of the garden is enclosed. I was wondering if she was lonely as now she is outside she doesn't see me as much as she used to, she still licks me and runs round me in circles and is very loving and I do try to spend as much time as possible with her between work. I have just been and bought a neutered male who is very tame and I am trying to establish a bond between them at the moment, Theodora is in her hutch and I have placed Charlie's hutch in her pen and opposite her but 2 feet away so they can see each other and smell each other but that's it for now, I have just been to check on them and I can hear feet stomping, I am unsure of which bun is doing this as it is dark at the moment and I cannot see, i was wondering if this is normal behaviour at the very beginning of bonding them, also my plan is to keep them in separate hutches but near each other for the next 3 days then introducing them in the bathroom which is neutral and seeing how this progresses, I have read that you can swap them between the hutches so they get used to each other's scent but uneasy about doing this as this is their territory, theo has come out of her hutch when Charlie first arrived but she was rubbing her chin along his hutch and water bottle so I put her back into her hutch as she was marking, I will enclose a picture of their living accommodation at the moment for any advice or opinions, Theodora has the large hutch and Charlie the smaller one which he came with - I will be replacing this for a similar one to theo as soon as I can, sorry for the long post!
Andrea View attachment ImageUploadedByRabbit Forum1430085803.310542.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByRabbit Forum1430085816.975296.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByRabbit Forum1430085826.559155.jpg

 

[whiskylollipop]

No bueno. Both bunnies must be fixed before bonding can occur. Running in circles around you is hormonal behaviour, which she will also exhibit towards the other bunny, who, being fixed, will simply get more and more annoyed until a fight breaks out. Bunnies can and do fight to the death. Do consider getting her spayed, I'm sure she would love a buddy but I just wouldn't want to risk any fighting.

 

[Andrea__xo]

Hi thanks for your reply, I've just sat them both in the bath and theo wouldn't stop humping Charlie, I let her do it for 5 seconds then moved her and she did it again straight away. She was also pulling fur from him. Charlie just sat there really chilled out but I brought the date to a stop and they are both back in their separate hutches and I will wait until I have theo spayed to try bonding again