Unbonded Rabbits Showing Affection?

[Kimberly09]

Okay so this is going to be a long one!

I have two rabbits. The first is Charlie, he is a mix breed, 7lb neutered male who is almost two years old. The second is Gracie, she is a dutch/mini rex mix (although we think the parents were also mixes as half the siblings came out as wild colored) she is 4 1/2 months old not spayed yet.

Just some background information. Gracie was to be spayed and then the plan was to bond them after she healed and hormones faded. But she ran into some health problems so the vet said we better wait 6 months to make sure she is good to go.

Since we got Gracie at the start of June, during their play times they have been on opposite sides of a baby gate. So they know each other fairly well. Since Gracie has been very sick she had to be confined to her cage for about a week and a half. During that time Charlie got free range of the kitchen and could go up to her cage. Gracie never seemed affected other then acting happy/excited when he came up to the bars. The other day I saw Charlie licking Gracie's head through the bars.

I was just wondering if this is a result of them starting the bonding processes themselves? Like I stated above I have not attempted to bond them yet.

 

[Kimberly09]

Opps just realized i have a typo, Charlie only weighs 5lbs

 

[NDrAbBiTs58041]

As you will hear its not good to bond
Until you spay/ neuture. Does can
Be very territoral and you wouldn't want
Anything to happen.

 

[JBun]

It sounds like it is looking promising. Grooming is always a good sign between rabbits. Because she is still young, it may even be possible to try and put them together before she is spayed since she may not yet be hormonal. But I guess you just have to see how she is around him to know if it will be possible. Maybe continue to observe their reactions to one another between the bars of the cage, and see if it continues to stay positive with grooming and maybe laying down by one another. Negative reactions would be trying to bite or nip through the bars, getting hyper and agitated, and the tail in the raised position.

 

[BunnyWabbit]

I would wait until they are both spayed/neutered before "official" bonding. There are few benefits to bonding before that while a big fight or issue could make bonding harder later, imo.

If you do end up putting them together before that I would do so in a neutral area with 100% supervision. Liking each other through cages is a good sign but I would still be vigilant and wear gloves and long sleeves just in case. Best of luck!