One of the rabbits was black with a white nose and a white front paw. His ears didn’t know whether they would rather go up or stay down so most of the time one was up and the other was down! And it wasn’t always the same one that was up! I named him Floris. His brother was grey with white paws and a white belly. He had the most beautiful green eyes! I named him Joris.
For the first couple of weeks they were very timid and didn’t like to be handled much. To get them used to people I put them on the kitchen table with some toys for a couple of hours a day to play with them. While Floris got tamer and tamer, Joris became increasingly aggressive.
The vet told us to try and introduce them to each other 2 weeks after the castration as the hormones would have gone by then. While they were separate, their hutches and runs were next to each other so that they could smell and see each other. So after 2 weeks we decided to put them together on a neutral territory. Joris immediately started fighting, Floris didn’t even defend himself! We kept trying for two more months in which time Joris had escaped twice from the run!! The first time he managed to move the lid, the second time he worked his way through the wire gauze.
In April we rang the RSPCA for advice and to our surprise they said that males usually fight with each other....they also advised us to swap one of the boys for a girl.
Of course that was a difficult choice to make. , but I didn’t want to keep 2 rabbits separate and I didn’t have space, money or time for 4! So at the shelter we swapped Joris for a big brown doe.
Hilde - The Netherlands