2 Male rabbits - will they ever be friends?

Question
Dear Dr Krempels,

My fiance and i started out with a male rabbit, Geoff, having the intention to get him a female friend for company. However, circumstance chose for us and we rescued another lovely little male rabbit called Chuck. Unfortunately Geoff is less than enamoured with his new friend and on attempted introductions tries his utmost to bite Chuck, one time resulting in us having to break them apart. Chuck is not in the least bit violent. Our living room now resembles Cold War Germany, with a partition fence to keep them apart, each patrolling their own side.

Geoff is the older rabbit by a year, both are neutered. There are times when, with the partition fence between them, they will sit nose to nose or alongside each other, sometimes even grooming one another (Chuck on Geoff more so). That said, there has been sparring matches through the bars at times, with Geoff growling aplenty.

My question is, will they ever get on? And if yes, how best to achieve this?

Many thanks,

Alex


Answer
Dear Alex,

It is much more challenging to bond two rabbits of the same sex than an opposite sex pair, but it's not impossible.  All depends on the personalities of the rabbits and how long you're willing to try.  In some cases it will just not work, and you have to give up and provide separate territories for each bunny. This can happen with opposite sex pairs, too.

To give yourselves the best chance of peace in the household, read the array of *very* helpful articles on bonding rabbits here:

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00062824-sp00000000&sp-q=bonding

Neutral territory "dates," car rides together...it's all there.  I hope this helps!

Dana