Questions about bonding two pairs

I currently have 6 lovely bunnies. In the backyard are Bugsy and Misty. Misty was originally paired with another female and they did very well together. When Bugsy's girl died he was a very sad boy, so I tried giving him diffferent female companion options and he was completely uninterested in all of them. Then I noticed he was cuddling up to Misty and Bonnie's cage like he used to with Red (his now passed girl) so Itried him with them. He liked them both, he would even snuggle and seemed to be getting back to normal, but now the girls were fighting. Both Bonnie and Misty were never fight instigators, they always got along with everybody who didn't want to hurt them so I was surprised and sad to see them fighting. I had to separate them and now Bonnie has moved on to a new home with her very own boy bun to love her.
Bugsy and Misty have a LOT of room - they have a 12 sq ft welded wire cage and 50 sq ft run during the day time. I'd really like to add another pair of bunnies to their area, but knowing their history with Bonnie, is it even possible to bond them to another pair?


I also have 4 more bunnies in the front yard. A pair of extremely lazy lovable mini lops, and a pair of crazy active exploring/jumping/digging crazy mutt bunnies. Both pairs are M/F. They have lived near eachother (double decker cage, mini lops on top) so they can smell eachother all the time, but they don't have actual contact or share a wall. All four bunnies bonded super quick to their pair with no hesitation. Currently only the mutt pair has free run access to the yard (during the day), but Iwould really like to bond the two pairs together so they can all have free roaming play time during the days. I introduced them once hoping ti would be as effortless as their first bonding, but of course, no luck. The two males instantly fought through the puppy pen that was separating, the female mini lop started mounting her male partner incessantly, and the female mutt was terrified of her mate and cowered in the corner. I separated their puppy pens about a foot so they coudln't reach each other through the bars and let them graze for a bit but every once in a while they would realize the other bunnies were still there and would get worked up.
Is it possible to bond these two pairs together? Would Ibe putting their current bonds in jeopardy?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I've been working on all my bunny set ups/runs for a very long time and I just want all my bunnies to be happy and have lots of room to run and play =)

I raise Colony rabbits and I may help you on this one. For bonding rabbits you always want to introduce them in a completely new environment where both have never been before; it's easy to bond a kit with an older doe, 2 bucklings that haven't reached maturity or are fixed, a buck and a doe, and 2 un-related does. 2 fully mature bucks are a no no, they WILL fight.

Once introduced you can't move them back to one of their pens that they one had. they know that space and they will fight to reclaim it. Some rabbits just can't get along with other rabbits - too aggressive or too dominant rabbits need to be left to themselves.

In my colony I've noticed that there is a dominant buck and doe pair. Body language is big in rabbits and you can easily tell if your rabbit is dominant or submissive; it's best to pair your rabbits with sub/sub or sub/dom and never dom/dom or they will fight.

A dominant rabbit has tail in the air and ears erect and sub has the tail tucked and ears to their back. When a rabbit approaches a newcomer, it's almost like a custom that the newcomer submits to the one that was already there. If not then that's when they usually fight. Even in morning greetings they will do this little custom with each other, kits are usually ignored.

watch your rabbits personality. It sounds like Misty is dom so you can try to find a sub for her to get along with. But make sure they met in a neutral zone.

Mistya was a sub with her very first buddy Lulu - Lulu was VERY dominant and was actually quite mean to all other rabbits except Misty. Lulu already had cancer when she came to me (I didn't know it at the time, I got her free off Craigslist and she was so sweet to people, all she wanted was love) so she only lived about 6 months with us before we had her put down for her own comfort. Misty and Bonnie were both submissive so they paired together easily. They only fought after Bugsy was introduced. He didn't fight anyone, only the two females fought. I chose to remove Bonnie because she's a VERY small rabbit and Misty is gigantic, but I do believe Misty became the dom in that pairing because Bonnie would run away and Misty would chase her. I'm just worried that if Bonnie was the submissive in the relationship, will introducing a different sub make any different or will Misty attack them too?
Their introduction was in the females cage - Bugsy was introduced to their space, the space the females already shared just fine.


The other two pairs of bunnies are a little different. Lola (female mini lop) is the dom of the lop pair, and Poppy (male mutt) is the dom of the mutt pair. Both males are neutered and were neutered long before reaching sexual maturity. However the two males were the ones fighting. Poppy was given to me because he was getting beat up by his dom house mate so Iwas surprised to see him become the dom in his pair with Darla. Is there any way to get the two males to behave with eachother? Poppy is dom, and Sugar (male mini lop) is sub but he was still fighting back when they met. This was all done on completely neutral territory that neither pair had ever been to before.

kukupecpec":11xhakmy said:

Their introduction was in the females cage - Bugsy was introduced to their space, the space the females already shared just fine.

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there's the problem.

It's a general rule that you never bring a buck into a does cage. Some rabbits don't care if they are in a neutral zone, they are too dominant and want to control this new space and the other ether fights back or runs away. A sub and easily become the dom once the previous one is gone, and the need to control that space can go to their heads because they are being given something they didn't have before. For males it's really tricky to get them to bond - they both have to not care enough to claim an area for them to get along - most of the time bucks that have been together as kits, neutered, and stayed together.

I did get 2 bucks to get along very well for a long time and they were not neutered. Their personality's just matched and they never fought.

In a colony one or two are always dom over the others and there is a strong pecking order to be fallowed religiously. If the dom doe was to be taken out then the next runner up would take her place and sometimes there would be a fight for the position.

now that it is getting warmer in my area the bucks are starting to chase each other and there is LOTS of posturing going around. breeding season for rabbits is around the corner and they want to be the one passing on their genes (means lots of culling on my part).

you can only see for your self if she will bond with another - if she did once I'm sure she can again. Most of the time if you put a buck in the mix it kinda balances them out. I have 2 territorial does that would never get along (they are just too head strong) but I put them both in the bucks pen and they got along just fine.

I do think trying to bond the group could compromise your pairs.

Poppy was dominant when you got him - he would not submit to his cage mate - so I'm not surprised he is still a dominant bunny

I would suggest you try swtching the current pairs into the others pair cage and see if fights break out with the bonded rabbits. If they seem to handle being in the others territory then try putting Poppy (Dom male) and Lola (Dom female) in a neutral area (can you set up a puppy play pen, or a room in the house?) and see if one will agree to be submissive, otherwise you will have constant fighting - it sounds like Poppy is a hard head so hopefully Lola will back down but she might take her frustrations out on Darla and that would be the next pair I would test out in a neutral area

I tried them again in a neutral space and there was a little squabbling but nothing bad. It seems once they got it figured out they Were mostly OK. They would all sit together and they would eat and relax, then there would be some chasing, then back to laying down and relaxing. Is chasing ok if no one is fighting? Of course i don't want anyone to get hurt so i won't hesitate to separate them if they are fighting, but it seems like it's mostly just chasing. Poppy really only chases Sugar, Darla will chase them both but she seems undecided - she'll snuggle, then suddenly lunge and chase, but then if they come back it seems 50/50 whether they are allowed to snuggle or be chased. Neither Lola or Sugar will start a chase, but if everyone is huddled together Lola sometimes crawls on top of everyone and will start mounting. The other bunnies mostly just move rather than fight.

Is this moving in the right direction?

If i wash the cages so they don't smell like bunny, with their cages become neutral space that they could coexist in?

You cannot wash them enough to remove the smell as a rabbits olfactory senses are too good.

It does sound like they will get along

Rabbits normally bite each other on the back just above the tail and the genital area so keep an eye on these spots for blood, lumps or scabs

make sure to give them activities to do together. like eating new food next to each other, let them both explore new areas, things like that. if they are just chasing each other and not biting then it sounds like an okay start.