Bonding a rabbit and a crab beast

[Islington]

So I am at my absolute wit’s end wth my new rabbit…I need help.

Okay, so a bit of backstory:
I’ve got an older, spayed female lionhead named Islington who I’ve had for over a decade. She’s my bunny soulmate, and the most amazing rabbit I’ve ever known.
Sadly a little over 6 months ago her mate suffered a pulmonary embolism and passed right in front of her. We tried the bunny Heimlich and CPR to save him, called both our vets and every emergency number we could…and needless to say it was pretty traumatic for everyone involved. Since that day, Islington’s normal neediness had been dialed up to 11. She follows me everywhere, she sleeps in bed with me, she even follows me when I shower, and just sits on the mat outside, waiting for me. If either I or my boyfriend leave her sight for more than a minute, she needs cuddling and comforting, and will be inconsolable until whoever is gone has returned. Consequently, she has started going *everywhere* with us (this will become important in a second).

We figured that having another bunny friend again would help her be less lonely, and hopefully a bit happier. We found a rescue that had a neutered male flemish who seemed like a good fit. The owner of the rescue told me he was a very submissive bunny who did well with everyone, was immaculately litter trained, and just an all-around sweetheart. We took him home, and put him in a second run downstairs, in territory that was as neutral as it gets in this house, and settled in for what we hoped would be an easy process, HAH!

So for the first week, we had him by himself so he could settle in and get comfortable, and bond with us first. Starting on the third day, we swapped their litter pans every day, and gave them each towels that smelled like the other. So far, so good, In the first week of bonding him to us, however, we find out he’s a biter. And boy, does he bite hard. When I yell “ouch!” he stops biting me, but it’s another story for my boyfriend, who he won’t leave alone. This isn’t scared or agressive biting, I’ve never met such a chill rabbit, he just…nibbles on people. When he is out of his cage, exploring around, he’ll run up to us, sniff, bite hard enough to draw blood…then binky away. This takes 0 provocation, and it’s baffling. He’s intensely sweet and snuggly, loves flopsing out against my legs, getting kissed and loved on…and occasionally removing dime sized chinks of flesh, which is a problem (no exaggeration here either, he will remove literal strips of flesh).

Two other minor issues we’re also noticing: first, he sprays piss *everywhere*. We’ve severely limited his space, given him extra poop dishes, clean up his area twice per day (while he’s off having playtime), use white vinegar to get poo smells out, etc. We’ve set up all his food on or around his poo dishes so he doesn’t have to leave them to eat. He will create this little sea of poop and pee and just wallow in it. We’ve been playing this game for weeks with no visible improvement. It’s gross, and the instant he is out of his rabbit run, he will piss on everything he can squat on. Did I mention he’s neutered already? For a couple months?
The second problem we’re having, and this one is minor: he’s part Rex. I explained to the rabbit rescue that for some reason, I am violently allergic to Rex rabbits, and cannot have any type of Rex in my home. I used to volunteer at a rabbit rescue myself, and have been around just about every breed, and there is something specific about Rex fur that turns me into a humain fountain. I was assured he is 100% Flemish, but my nose assures me that there is at least 50% Rex in there, and his exceptionally small size for a Flemish would seem to confirm that (at 5 months he weighed 6 pounds). I can deal with a rabbit I am allergic to, I just wish I didn’t have to, as allergy medication makes me very sick, and I’ve spent the last month feeling like I have the flu

Enough with the human problems, you say? On to bonding then!

We started by introducing them in the laundry room, which is literally the only room in the house Islington hasn’t laid claim to. We put them in a laundry basket while the washer ran through the spin cycle, a process that makes out washing machine sound like it’s trying to achieve flight. Islington growls up a storm when we first put her in there, and only calms down after we snuggle her for a while. While in the laundry basket, they sit butt to butt and completely ignore each other, which is golden in my book. We did laundry bonding for a week, with no change in behavior: she crabs, then they ignore each other.
The instant I try them anywhere else, however, is when everything starts to fall apart because he abjectly refuses to groom her. In any space larger than 1’x1′ she will demand grooms, he will either bite her or turn away, and she will immediately start going after him. Growling, boxing, biting, you name it. I’ve put banana on her face, but he just bit it really hard, which obvisouly upset her. I’ve gotten her to groom him with the same trick, but he just shoves her, demanding more and more grooms without reciprocating, and after a couple of minutes she gets pissed off, nips him, and then he goes after her. Him grooming her is imperative to their bonding. Every time we’ve bonded her in the past it’s been intensely easy, because the instant the other bunny starts grooming her, she’ll accept them. Well he just bites her instead of grooming, which is perplexing because the rabbit rescue assured us he was a very kissy bunny, but all he does is nip.

I’ve tried moving their X Pens next to each other, but she will just sit at the edge and growl and nip at him. Whenever she sees him lie down or flop, she just has to run up and bite him. At first when she did this, he adopted very submissive postures, lying flat on the gound and stretching his head out, but now he fights right back. I’ve tried lap bonding, but she keeps snaking her head out to bite him. I tried bathroom bonding, but she’s claimed that room as hers. I tried car bonding, but since she goes everywhere with us, apparently the car is hers now too. I’ve tried cages outside, but they just fight there also. I even brought the neighbor’s dog into the mix (he’s harmless, they were caged and he was leashed and in my lap, but still she’s terrified of him), which worked for her, but he felt no fear, and just kept biting.
Unfortunately, because she goes everywhere with us, and is constantly in one of our arms (she loves being held, and will let us walk around while holding her for hours), there’s really no way of separating them for a couple of weeks so they forget each other.

I’ve tried contacting the rabbit rescue for help for over two weeks, but they’ve completely dropped off the radar and are not responding to anything. I also had to sign paperwork when I adopted him promising that I would never leave him at a shelter or another rabbit rescue, so that’s off that table. At this point I don’t know what to do! I’m no stranger to bunny bonding, but I’ve never dealt with such a nippy rabbit.

PS Sorry if the formatting is wonky here, typing on cell phones and all that. I’ve split everything up into paragraphs, but the preview is just showing one giant block of text, so we’ll see how this actually shows up.

[Mikey]

It would have been better if you let her go to the rescue with her, speed date a little, and bring home the bunny she picked out. But you dont need a scolding here, as the situation is rough enough. Sadly, they sound like a pair that wont get along given that they only fight when they see one another. Have you tried any prebonding techniques? Such as keeping their pens/cages next to one another but far enough apart that they bite eachother, then swapping their items between eachothers cages/pens? Some rabbits really need prebonding before bonding in order for it to actually work

[Islington]

This is the same person, I just couldn’t log in to my account for some reason, so I had to create a new one…

Anyway, trust me, I wish I could have tried speed dating first. Unfortunately the rescue said that would not be an option; it was run out of someone’s house, and apparently they had small children there and weren’t comfortable with strangers showing up (understandable). We actually didn’t even get to pick him out ourselves, the rescue owner said he insists on selecting the rabbits himself, because he knows their personalities best. We live on an island out in the middle of nowhere, so our options were limited if we didn’t want to go with some backyard breeder off of craigslist (ugh).

As far as prebonding techniques go, for the first 5 days I swapped their litter trays every day, so they could get used to each other’s smells. On day 6 I also gave him a blanket she loves sleeping in, and I gave her a stuffed bunny he snuggles with. On the 8th day I put her in his area, and visa-versa (not together, they were each alone in their run) although I only tried that once, as it pissed her off to no end, and she peed all over everything and trashed his house! After that I waited for 3 more days, then moved their pens next to each other, and they’ve been like that for almost 2 weeks. Did I move too quickly putting their enclosures together?
He’s all about flopsing out near her, and they’ll both clean themselves while quite close to each other, but then she’ll ask for attention, one of them will nip the other, and the peace is shattered. I’ve been smoosh bonding them every time they fight, which has their scuffles down to about 2 per day (a great improvement). I’m just worried I won’t ever get them farther than this if he continues to refuse to groom her.

[DanaNM]

Ok, so I can totally relate to your story! My Bertha is such a sweetheart, and we lost our Bunston (who was her willing slave) in February. Their bond was tough, but once it happened, they were madly in love. Anyway, she was so lonely without him, so we took her speed dating. She “picked” out a shy little guy, who had been born in the shelter and had not been adopted for 2 years. He was very timid, but they didn’t fight on their dates, she even groomed him a bit, and she seemed very relaxed around him on their first dates, plus we felt so bad for the little guy. 

I won’t go into their full bonding story here, but they are now bonded, even though he never grooms her. I wouldn’t call it an easy bond. The marathon method was what finally worked for us, because we felt like we were starting over at each session. I would describe their relationship as more like siblings, rather than lovers, which is maybe what she needed after losing Bunston? 

Anyway, it sounds like you have a few issues: a biting new bunny, loss of liter box habits, and bonding frustration? 

It sounds like the laundry basket was working, I think you may have switched away from that too soon. Ignoring each other is good in bonding world. I would go back to that for longer sessions (up to a few hours if you can). You might also try a large cardboard box, which was what finally worked for me. Also, remember to try to stop fighting with a loud noise, so that they “decide” to stop fighting on their own.

In terms of the behavior issues with the new bunny, some folks believe that swapping litter boxes can actually make the bunnies more aggressive when they meet, rather than used to each other, especially early on in the process. This is also prob contributing to the new guy’s poor litter box habits. I know you said he is fixed, but are you 100% sure? Maybe he was neutered late in life? Litter box habits typically disappear during bonding, but should return (mostly) once they are bonded. 

In terms of the biting thing, have you tried making a squeal like a bunny in pain? Bunnies nip at each other a lot, but they have so much fur they don’t even feel it. My Bertha used to nip our feet, but after I made the bunny scream noise once, she never did it again. 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Author]

Messages