bonding two female bunnies, a bit of advice please

[usawan]

hello,

i recently brought home a new bunny with the hopes of bonding her to my current bunny, as i'm out of the house a lot with school and friends and life in general, and i was worried she would get lonely or bored. (even though she's a spoilt princess while i'm home)

i have their cages placed side by side, about half a foot apart, so they can get used to the sight and smell of each other. the new bunny has been with me for about two weeks, though the first week she was kept separate with a towel on her cage so she could adjust. at first when i put the cages together shushu (my first bunny) bit the bars and hopped around agitated while fuan-chan (the new bunny) did well...nothing haha. she is very calm ! but now they are both calm, laying in their cages and eating and going about business as usual. fuan-chan will turn her back to shushu (which i hear is a good thing ?) and in general seems eager to have a playmate, while shushu is content to stare at her from her 'throne'. (it used to be a potty...now she just sits on it)

shushu is 5months old and un-spayed (it costs 40,000yen to spay a bunny here, roughly 440$ USD !!! :shock: ) though i don't think she is old enough to spay just yet anyhow. since the price is so steep, i likely won't be able to spay her for some time. my goal was to put them in the same cage together since my apartment is small and i don't have space for another big cage, but the general consensus seems to be that it's dangerous if one or both of the bunnies are unspayed so i'm going to keep them apart as long as i can, though in the end i'd like them to be able to share a cage. (after spaying, naturally !)

i'd like to be able to get them comfortable with running around and being out together, as having to give them turns takes a lot of time ! i have friend's houses i can use as neutral space, and in place of a car ride, i can perhaps recruit a friend to take the two on a train ride (i do my laundry at a coin laundry and people would stare at me if i had a couple bunnies in there taking a ride on a washer !). i'm not sure how long i should wait, if i waited to spay shushu it might be ages and ages (maybe not for several more months, or longer) and even longer to wait and spay fuan-chan. since they've only been cohabitating in my apartment for a couple weeks, should i wait longer before attempting a face-to-face ? or just push the cages closer together for the time being ?

sorry for the essay, and thanks in advance for any advice or questions people have !

 

[Pipp]

Here's a Library link...

Bonding Bunnies

Its honestly up to the rabbits. If Shushu is bonded to you, she may be quite territorial, but once you get over that bump, they may be fine together. I wouldn't pet the other bunny in front of her.

Your goal should be having them run around together in a room, I wouldn't chance them in a cage together for quite awhile.

Good luck!

sas

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

i have a rabbit run area with 6 females,,1.mom,1-from 1st liter,,and 4 from a second liter,,they get along ok,mostly-not alot of tufting,,but your situation,,not being siblings,,requires supervision at best,,they might get along at some point if not rushed into it,,or if they don,t have to compete against each other./they can be territorial,.its good that the cages are-not too close for orientation,smelling,observation...sincerely james waller

 

[Bex&Bun]

I am extremely lucky, I just bonded 2 female buns perfectly. Neither are de-sexed but it took a few days to bond them well. Not sure why, but they just really seem to enjoy each others company with no issues! They snuggle, and play a little but like their own space too. Good luck with yours!