Rabbit bonding question

[SD-rabbit]

Hi there,
We have recently adopted another bunny to be a friend for ours and going through the bonding process, which has been very stressful. They are both neutered males and on the large side.
Our original bunny is a very active, happy little guy with a lot of personality and a big appetite for all things food. The new bunny is very shy and introverted and just keeps to himself.
We have been doing bonding sessions couple times a day and we have now gotten to a point where they tolerate each other for good 15 minutes or so. However, it always ends up with a fight. Our original bunny gets in other’s personal space, the new bunny attacks and neither of them would back off. I’m not sure if that because they are both males. Once the sparring starts, it never ends so we have to separate them. I’m just wondering if their personalities are too different for them to be compatible. And if this process is going to take months, I’m not sure we will have the patience for it as we are also dealing with other things pandemic related in the house. We did this period as a “trial run” as the new bunny’s owner have some other families willing to adopt him. So it won’t be too much of a deal calling it quits. Wondering if we should stick with it or let him find a more compatible situation. We want both bunnies be happy.

 

[poopandpee]

How long ago were they neutered? How long have you tried bonding them?
Did you spend a few weeks letting them live side by side etc??
Same sex bonds are usually more difficult in general.

 

[SD-rabbit]

They have both been neutered a while ago, over a year at least. One of them is 2, the other 3. They’ve been living side by side for a week, the new bunny is in a crate inside our rabbit’s enclosure. So they’re separated but see/sniff each other.

 

[Blue eyes]

If they are doing tornado fighting and you have an easy out for the new bunny, then I'd agree that it might be easier to let another family take that one. You can give it a rest for awhile and then can consider re-visiting the search for a bondmate at a later date. If 2 rabbits are having a clearly difficult time, I'm more inclined to stop stressing them (and stressing myself) and look for an easier bond.

 

[poopandpee]

I'd say that's not enough pre-bonding time but I agree with Blue eyes, to stop stressing everyone involved, if it's easy to rehome one of them, then I think it's for the best and do bunny dates for your boy with a girl when you're ready Goodluck.

 

[SD-rabbit]

Thank you for your help. We are going to rehome him as advised. After this post, things seemed to get a lot better but then they started fighting again and fairly aggressively.