re-bonding rabbits

Question
Hello,

A few weeks ago i adopted two bonded rabbits, a neutered male and an unspayed female. After about a week at my house and getting to know the rabbits i noticed some problems with the female.  The male warmed up to us right away and let us hold him, pet him, etc.  The female seemed to really love him too, but not us! She often grunted at me in the cage and sprayed the walls.  When we let them out for excersize she would lunge at us tooth and nails when we went to put her back in.  I thought she just needed some extra attention... A few days later i noticed her mounting the male and biting him and pulling out hair on his back.  She did this in and out of the cage and it seemed to be happening more and more frequently each day. Finally i had to separate the two of them which i DID NOT want to do.  I put them side by side so they can still sniff each other. I did some research and talked to our vet and decided she needed to be spayed.  I felt terrible considering her and i hadn't made friends yet. Anyway, it has been a week since her surgery and she seems to be doing very well.  The rabbits have been apart for almost two weeks now.  What i need to know is when i can re introduce them or how i should do this.  I do NOT want to keep them seperate any longer then i have to. i have been able to find a lot of information about bonding rabbits, but not re=bonding them... will there even be conflict considering it has only been two weeks? thanks.  -Nicole

Answer
Hi Nicole,

there is really no difference between bonding rabbits and re-bonding rabbits.  You start from ground zero in either case, to take things slow and safe.

Her lunging at you and such was hormonal behavior of an unspayed female defending her home (cage).  It is not unusual for her to be okay with you outside the cage, but be like this when she is inside her house.  This behavior will greatly reduce over the next month from her spay (as well as marking the wall).  She will only mark the wall if she is upset at something specific you do that she really doesn't like (if that is one of her ways of expressing displeasure).

And an FYI, it is never good to have one fixed rabbit paired up with one that is intact and fully hormonal.  One is behaving based on personality (and in control of themselves), and the other is behaving primarily on hormonal instinct that overrides their personality and self-control.  Not good.

You need to wait at least 4-5 weeks after surgery before attempting to re-bond.  You need to wait this long because it takes that long for her hormones to reach their new, lower levels and for her behavior to stabilize to the point where rebonding is not affected by any fluctuations in hormone levels.  

You can keep them in the same room, just get some exercise pen gates and separate them with two gates (leave 3-4 inches of space between them so they can't bite or box each other through the gates).  They can see each other and get used to each other in the same room, but not interaction until 5 weeks after her operation.

The thing you will want to watch is her.  He likes her - you know that already.  If she does not like him and charges/attacks him, separate immediately and do not try to rebond.  What you will see is that for her natural personality (not overriden with hormones), she does not like him.  Face biting, actual tussling/kicking, charging with teeth, growling, these are signs of fighting.  The stuff she was doing to him in the cage was just trying to establish dominance.  This is not fighting, but something that each pair of rabbits needs to settle before the two can be friends.

The only time to break up dominance stuff is if the male mounts the female's front.  You need to either pick him up and move him away or put him down behind her, or just break it up.  You don't want him to get his "little guy" bit and be stuck with a vet bill for repair and pain meds.  

Read up on the House Rabbit Society articles on bonding:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/multiple.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-4/tough-bonding.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-4/marriage.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-8/rabbits-in-the-plural.html

Write back anytime.

Lee