Bonding My Rabbits

Question
Dana,

I have had my french lop rabbit, Dave, for about 6 months and he has been neutered and has a really good nature. I have recently gotten another rabbit, Ellie who is a 12 week old unspayed female. they get on relatively well, except that the young female tends to mount the older male! (i assume she is trying to asert her dominance here) and the male doesnt paricularly like this! apart from that they get on well. Is it wise for me to pair them both at the moment or should i wait till Ellie has been spayed?

Also the pair of them point blank refuse to sleep in their little bed areas, prefering to sleep on top or sweeping all the sawdust off the bottom of their cages and sleeping on the hard surface. I dont know if this is normal and am worried that they may get sore bits from comtinually sleeping 'rough.'  

Answer
Dear Gemma,

As long as you supervise the two and don't let them fight, they can be together.  But you're smart to not let them chance a terrible "unbonding" by fighting when you're not there to break it up.  Until she's spayed and calmed down, visits should be supervised and monitored so no one gets out of hand.

I wouldn't worry about their sleeping on smooth areas.  Most rabbits love that, and don't suffer from sore hocks unless they can't ever walk on traction surfaces.  French Lops are prone to skeletal problems and arthritis if they walk all the time on a slippery surface, so though it's fine for him to stretch out on a hard surface, be sure he has good carpet or other traction-providing surface for walking and running playtime.

Hope that helps.

Dana