Introducing a pair of spayed and non-spayed Does

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HoOn

HoOn

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Hello everyone! :)

My wife and I just recently picked up a 9 week old Holland Lop (Pumpkin) and was wondering if it will be difficult introducing her to our 10 month old Dwarf Lop (Bonnie) that is already spayed.

I've search everywhere online but nothing speaks of at least 1 rabbit being fixed. It's mostly all or none when they talk about bonding rabbits. I know the best course of action is to have two fixed rabbits but that would take until November the earliest when the new rabbit reached 6 months.

Right now both rabbits are in their cages next to each other. As first sight Bonnie seemed to be a little annoyed because when we released her to walk around the house she started pooing around the new bunnies cage. It's like she's telling her that this is her territory. I think that's normal so I'm not worried about that.

We plan to leave the cages beside each other for a week and try to introduce them in a neutral location. I read someplace that a bathtub would work because if there was some sort of fight they couldn't get enough grip if they were on a rug.

Anyway, any thoughts and/or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you!

John
 
Hello John!
Welcome to RO!

I think you are on the right track here... Cages are close, Bonnie is staking out her territory (which is normal), they are getting to know eachother.

I found that bonding was OK between my male/female pair before she was spayed, but it was solidified post-spay.
Typically, many people have experienced success with a male-female pair, with female-female being next most successful.

You're on with the bathtub. Some people pop rabbits in laundry basket and go for a car ride, or on top of the washing machine.... Apparently, they bond through the trauma :biggrin2:;) . From my personal experience, a heavily supervised meeting in completely neutral territory that Bonnie has never experienced before would be a good way to start.

If your expectation is that they will co-habitate the same cage, you will likely have to scrub down your setup with vinegar, and re-arrange things significantly in order to make the territory feel neutral.

Write back after their first interaction... I hope it goes well... Watch for humping (dominance); don't let it go too long, or somebunny might snap at the other bunny. Will be saying my prayers for a peaceful meeting!:)

 
Thanks for your post. It's good to hear that I'm on the right track. I think that suggestion of giving them both a ride in the car is great!

Eventually my main goal is to have them use the same cage. So it's a good idea to clean the cage with vinegar before having them use one cage huh? That makes sense... ;)

I will post my experience when they finally meet. Thanks for the prayers! lol ;)

- JOhn
 
So after about a week we tried to introduce Bonnie and Pumpkin in our Master Bathroom which is the neutral location.
So here's what happened. It seems the Pumpkins does not like it when Bonnie comes close to her. The whole time we had them in the bathroom, Bonnie would come up to Pumpkin who would later get jittery and run away thus provoking Bonnie to chase and nip her. There was even a point when both rabbits were face to face then suddenly Pumpkin the new rabbit would bolt which causes Bonnie to chase her again.

After about 10 minutes of watching them and making sure noone gets hurt too much we separated them. It really feels like Bonnie gets mad when the young one runs away.

What do you guys think? Am I still on the right track? I guess I'll try again in a couple of week? I hope we don't have to wait until she reaches 6 months in November to get spayed before they even meet. :(
 
I personally think this sounds like it could be a tough bond and potentially, with the chasing and the nipping a young bun (who is still pretty new to the environment, so still pretty mentally unsettled, and much more fragile) I would be inclined to say that right now is not the time to try this.

If you are determined to try and do it before Pumpkin gets spayed then at the least I would say wait until she is four months old and then start again.

The chasing and nipping is all part of bunny bonding and whilst not pleasant to watch, it is just them sorting out their hierachy.

If it was more successful at this time I would still suggest not moving them fully in together until Pumpkin is spayed and recovered and the hormones have died down. Sometimes bonding unspayed animals is ok but it seems like Bonnie wants to be dominant and as Pumpkin goes through her adolescence she may not like Bonnie being dominant and this could lead to some really nasty fights. The best thing would be supervised play if you want them together.

There are lots of different things you can do to get them used to each other though. Maybe wait another week or so, and then do things like allowing them to play next to each other, car journeys are good too, swapping cages (so they get used to being in the others territory), swapping cage contents (so they get used to the other buns smell being in their territory).
 
So tonight my wife and I decided to try and see how Pumpkin and Bonnie would react to one another. We chose the garage this time because there's lots of things to distract them. We placed a box full of Hay and placed them on opposite sides.

We are happy to say that both bunnies ignored each other. Bonnie who's the spayed Doe ignored her in the beginning and started eating hay. The younger Pumpkin was jumping around and was very curious of her surroundings.

There was a point where both bunnies were sitting beside each other. My wife decided to pet both of them to simulate grooming one another. Everything went well until I guess Bonnie was getting annoyed at Pumpkin running around while she was enjoying her hay. lol She started chasing Pumpkin. It didn't seem as aggressive as she was last week when they were first introduced.

After a few chases I decided to end the date on a good note. We will try again soon and see what happens. :)
 
Tonight seemed to be a little better. Bonnie was minding her own business eating hay while the young bunny was hopping and jumping around. There was a point where they lay next to each other then out of the blue Bonnie just started aggressively nibbling on Pumpkin. We're confused because Bonnie is the spayed one and should be the calmer of the two. We broke it off and stopped the date because we are afraid that Pumpkin might take it as a negative thing. I'll post a video later if I can.

Thanks!

- JOhn
 
This is becoming a journal of some sorts... lol

The other day we caught Bonnie urinating on top of Pumpkin's cage. We really felt bad for Pumpkin because she's just being abused by Bonnie.

I always thought that the spayed bunny would be calmer and less territorial then a bunny that's not yet fixed.

- JOHn
 
Honestly I'm not surprised at all by Bonnie's behaviour towards Pumpkin... she can smell that she's intact and is making her opinion known... much like it happens in the dog world.

Pumpkin is still very young and has not yet really come into her own, it's not surprising that she's not being a problem.

I personally would do as Flash suggested, with the letting them play and view each other in play, swap toys, etc. And let them get familiar that way, and save the face to face bonding until a month after Pumpkin is spayed. That's just 'cause I like to avoid setbacks now, when you can't really bond them, which could really set back the whole bonding process later on.

But good luck, whichever way you chose... I'm sure your two are beautiful!!!
 
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