Introducing 2 female rabbits

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
My question is...I have an adult female (dutch) rabbit and have had her for 3
months.  Just today I went and adopted a minature lop ear bunny (8-10
weeks).  I need some advice on how to introduce them.  Before I knew...we put
both of them in a bedroom and observed...neither we nasty or
aggressive....but the older female keeps mouting the baby bunny...and bites
her on the back of the neck.  Is this norma behavior for females??  Is this all
natural in the process of them getting to know one another?

ANSWER: If all that happened was mounting and a bit of neck biting  this is actually a really good start to introducing rabbits, if there was no fighting, hissing, viscous biting, you can assume that at the very least you have started on the right foot.  

What you were seeing is dominance behavior, which is a normal and neccesary part of rabbit life.  The older female was laying it down in rabbit terms that she is the boss, and will stay the boss.  

However be aware that even with a good start the two rabbits may not bond quickly or ever. The best thing to do is keep introducing them as often as possible (everyday, couple times a day) and keep their cages next to eachother the rest of the time. This will allow a bond to form without stressing either rabbit to much.

Please also read
http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml

Good Luck
Amy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Peanut (out baby bunny) is always hiding from our older female....should I let
you hid until she is ready to come out??  I also know that she runs from me
alot....what are some ways that I can get her to trust me and come up to me
like the other rabbit does??

You are recommending not keeping them in the same cages??  I have a HUGE
cage that my older bunny stayed in...and we are wanting to put up a divider
to split the cage....do you recommend them having their own cage
permanantly??

Thank you again.

Answer
A very large cage with a divider would be fine, since I had no clue as to what your set up was like I just went with generic two cage set-up.  The biggest thing is making sure the divider is small enough that they can not reach teeth through it and bite each other.

Unfortunately you have to be prepared for the fact that the rabbits may not ever get along with each other.  Rabbits, especially females, are very territorial and will fight with each other sometimes if they think that their territory is being "invaded".  

If you take your time with intros and do them often and always have them ending on a good note rather than letting it escalate to fighting you will have an easier time with it.  It will also help if both rabbits have been spayed as this takes out alot of the territorial aggression females rabbits tend to have.

As for the new one hiding she is probably just over whelmed at the moment with all the new sights and smells and people and the new rabbit.  I would work on her one on one in a small area where she has no place to hide, but does have the option of not having to be right next to you.  This will allow her to come up to you on her terms rather than feel as if she is being "chased".  With rabbits even though they are very curious animals they are also prey animals which means just for survival they have to be cautious of everything.

I suggest getting some grass (chemical free) and using it as sort of a bribe to get her to come up to you. Also you need to handle her as much as you can as often as you can, if that means you plan on watching tv for an hour, hold her for at least 30 minutes of it with a 15 minute break in the middle.  This sounds like a lot of work, and it can be time consuming but this is the easiest less stressful way of getting a rabbit to be comfortable with you.

Rabbits are great pets as I assume you already know but some take longer than others to calm down and become a pal rather than just a pet. I think you have the right attitude and the desire to get these two girls to be friends, so just stay patient and enjoy your buns!

Good Luck
Amy