Pet Information > ASK Experts > Exotic Pets > Rabbits > re-introducing 2 bunnies

re-introducing 2 bunnies

22 11:19:25

Question
We bought 2 rabbits from the same shop about 3 1/2 months ago, one male one female.  They lived together from day 1 neither was neutered or spayed as they were only 8 weeks old.  They bonded very well and what we thought was the female started mounting what we thought was the male.  When taken to the vets for their injections we discovered that we had the sexes the wrong way round which meant it was in fact the male mounting the female.  So we sepereted them until he was old enough to be neutered, this was done almost 3 weeks ago and they have been seperated now for about 2 months.  Today we attempted to re-introduce them and there was a lot of chasing and mounting by both parties and have now seperated them again.  Is this normal behaviuor for the rabbits?  Whats the best way to re-introduce them?  Thanks for any advice you can give!!

Answer
Yes, this is normal behavior for bunnies.  Mounting when one or both parties are neutered is a dominance behavior.  The rabbit on top is telling the rabbit on the bottom that he or she is the boss.

Since they have been separated for so long, you really need to start all over like they've never met.  There is some good information on how to do this at http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/introductions.html

Just take it slow, and make sure they aren't biting each other if they are pulling out each other's fur.

Kim