rabbit meets new rabbit

Question
hi. i have got a 10 month old rabbit. hes a male and we have had him desexed when he was about 5 months old, i dont know what breed he is. we ended up getting another rabbit the other day. we noticed she has been in the pet shop for a while, shes 4 months. she is white with blue eyes and a red tinge over it. thing is im not sure she is ok. shes very timid and our other rabbit is very playful. first of all this new female will just sit down and she will sway . its really concerning, its only her head that sways, it doesnt look normal.secondly when my other rabbit isnt around in the house she hops around checks eeverything out and is happy. once hes near her he will go over to her and nudge her under her belly, i think he nips her as well. when she runs away she thumps all the time that just winds up my other rabbit. is there any way we can get him to be nice to her.stop him from nipping at her. at night we put him in his hutch and she stays in our house. shes very clean bunny.im really worried bout her swaying. when she runs shes not too steady on her legs, a lot of the times she runs into everything. please help. i want my two bunnys to get on well.  

Answer
Hi Kerry,

there's a number of things that you need to do.

First, if you ever want them to be friends, they both need to live in the house.  You can't ever hope to bond them or get them to be friends and have one in the house and one outside.

Second, you should NEVER bring another rabbit in to yours (that is healthy) without having a vet examine it to make sure it is okay.  This is a big mistake and you could end up with two sick rabbits.  You can't expect breeders or pet store people to be on top of every animal and know they are healthy.  Many are not.  So get your gal to a vet right away for her first annual exam - and ask them to check her fecal pellets (bring some along in a baggie to test the day of the exam).  I would also consider asking for a blood test as well.

Third, don't try to bond them until a month after you get her spayed.  It is not good to have one intact and one desexed rabbit together - one is very hormonal and more aggressive, the other is less so.  You need to wait a month after the operation so her current hormones are used up.

Fourth, never just throw two strange rabbits together.  Often it leads to fighting.  You need to gradually get them used to each other - smells, physical presence, etc.  This is why both need to be in the house together.  

You need to read up on bonding rabbits.  Instead of writing it out for you, there are great articles already written about this at the House Rabbit Society web site:

Here are a few URLs to look over, and print out:

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/bonding-tips.html

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

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/bonding.html

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/expect.html

As you will see, his behavior is normal for the bonding process.  They will nip and chase each other, and this needs to go in uninterrupted (this is not fighting).  This is them figuring out who is going to be the dominant rabbit, and it is something that occurs with every group of rabbits of 2 or more.  Now you need to be there to break up real fighting (face biting/lunging, ears back and growling, kicking, or if the male mounts the female from the front - this must be broken up before something bad happens).  But the chasing and light nipping and loose fur pulling is not fighting.  the goal is that the submissive one will start grooming the dominant one, and eventually the dominant one will groom back - although maybe not after a few days of this, and probably not as long or as often.

But the main problems you have right now are you threw them together way too quickly, and by separating them like you are doing you effectively destroy any bonding progress they made that day - and right now that isn't much because you're not bonding them right.  But it would destroy your efforts of the day if you were trying to bond them properly.

Read up on the House Rabbit Society info - I think you will get a better idea of what you'll need to do.  Go slowly.  And get her in to a good rabbit vet to make sure she isn't suffering from something.

Lee