Hi,

First off I want to say thank you for cheering me up tonight! that narrative was hilarious!!! as is whoever was with you 🙂

That was actually a good bonding session, so rather than feeling disheartened you should be pleased. I think in a week or so your bunnies will be best friends if you continue sessions like this. Seeing as how there was no ‘real’ aggression you should maybe take in a plate of greens, litter tray with hay (neutral tray of course) and allow them to interact socially as they would if they were in a familiar environment. They will mount like they were for some time yet as they are establishing dominance. At the moment it seems like they are both in the run for ‘top dog’ but more than likely your doe will win.

It may be some time before things settle and grooming etc starts to happen, but from personal experience sessions like this will lead to a good friendship. It’s often those relationships that aren’t ‘love at first sight’ and require work that deem to be the strongest bonds. If they hated each other you would definitely have known about it! I have had two couples bond immediately, but even with those mounting was a common occurence for a while. It is safe to allow them to do so providing that circling doesn’t become too intense and lead to aggression, if this happens simply seperate, stroke them for a while then carry on. Never pull the bunny off if the other bun is submissive and allowing the mounting to happen without becoming stressed, it’s necessary for them to sort this issue out before they will be friends. With some rabbits a small space is good to begin with, but sometimes it helps further down the line to bring them into a bigger environment and provide things like boxes, tunnels etc for them to escape from each other if they feel the need. Some rabbits will panic when they become used to a space and realise that there is ‘no where to run’ if they want to get away from the other rabbit and that itself can result in aggression as they don’t see any other way. I’m confident your bunnies are well on the way to being the best of friends!

Beautiful bunnies by the way

Angela

LOL :~) I did love listening to you and your friend’s conversation.

In my opinion it went very well. Remember these are the first time that you’ve had them together – they are curious about each other. They both mounted each other and that’s exactly what you could expect – they didn’t fight and you ended it on a positive note so I think your first session while very very short was a good session.

I do believe that you are more stressed out about it then they are and I find this to be true with all rabbit owners, they are more stressed out about bonding than their rabbits.

On your next session I say keep on doing what you are doing – short sessions but not that short and let the 2 get to know each other. Put them side by side and pet them both together too.

Maybe put a neutral litterbox with hay in there too for one to get away from the other too if needed.

I honestly did not see anything at all that went horribly wrong.

After reading Angela’s post – I think we were writing our responses at the same time – I say ditto to what she says.

I also concur – the bonding session went very well. If you want to see a bad bonding session, check out my first attempt – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujE2chRuZoE and you’ll see that yours went swimmingly.

Wow what a little minx Maryann is!!! However, if it makes you feel better I have a bunny exactly like that and I did manage to bond her. For some reason she wouldn’t tolerate him in the house…even in rooms she had never been before. I put them in the garden together (a lot of room to keep away from each other) and within five days they were friends. Took about two weeks before she would accept him altogether in the house but we got there in the end. It was a very stressful affair I have to admit, and luckily my buck didn’t try to be aggressive back to her so I guess that kind of helped things! I know you are having bonding difficulties with your rabbit, and she may well be one of those bunnies who prefers human company (I have one of those myself) but have you considered taking Maryann to a rescue centre and leaving her there for the week?? bonding sometimes works that way but I find it’s more stressful for the owner rather than the bunny!

I asked the HRS if they’d take both buns and do some of their "Bonding Bootcamp" with them but they say they don’t offer it anymore and when they did, it was only for bunnies that were adopted out by them.  I can understand that as they have just volunteers there who are busy with their own buns.

I am heading over there today for another neutral setting bonding and then tonight I’m going to try a suspended cage bonding and see what happens.  Sunday will be another HRS and then maybe I’ll put them both out back in an x-pen – hopefully they won’t be too stressed over it as Maryann tends to turn into a black and white puddle with eyes outside.

Oh that is a shame Mark, I know that there are people (like me) who will gladly help with bonding, even if they are not bunnies that have come from myself. I live in England though 🙁

I think that if Maryann has an issue with being outside then that is where you should be bonding 🙂 I know it’s not nice to think you are putting your rabbit under stress, but it may have to be that way to allow her to have some sort of acceptance with the other bunny. I totally see your point in your other post about causing undue stress to your buck….especially seeing how she went for his face!! poor thing, but I also noticed that he can stand up for himself so hopefully he won’t feel to bullied! Good luck today!

Just have to add… the reason I had success with the yard is because my doe also felt very uncomfortable out there, and wouldn’t chose to go out voluntarily, I think the pressure of being out there was enough to seek comfort.

I no nothing about bonding, but gee I cracked up laughing on the narrative it was hilarious.

Keep them coming. LOL

Oh my goodness, I loved the video, I had to watch it twice because I was laughing so hard. I love your voices and the narrative. Then I watched the one further down with the fighters, that looked like me trying to bond my three (I gave up )

My Daisy and Lola who hooked up at speed dating 2 weeks ago didn’t do to well in the little confined area outings each night so I had them on the same floor in the condo, but with a divider. They sat butt to butt for almost a week ignoring each other and seemed cranky after we would do our floor time.

I finally read here where some prefer to get aquainted gradually and at  a distance and that’s worked wonders for them this past week. I started putting down a full size blanket, tunnels, toys and litter boxes every evening for a couple of hours and letting Lola out first for a while to blow off some steam. Then when I put Daisy down they would sniff and fuss a bit, but all I had to do was slap the floor and they stop and bolt. At first they ignored each other outside of scuffling but the last few days have been great. They run and binky, lay down and groom, independently of each other, but no more fighting.

They gradually closed the distance til theyve spent the entire day today only a foot or two apart, and Daisy is even starting to groom Lola without her biting him. I think I"ll leave them out tonight and sleep on the couch because I’m rebulding the condo without divider but putting in more floor room so they can still get away from each other. Yeah!!!

Don’t give up!

Oh my goodness, I loved the video, I had to watch it twice because I was laughing so hard. I love your voices and the narrative. Then I watched the one further down with the fighters, that looked like me trying to bond my three (I gave up )

My Daisy and Lola who hooked up at speed dating 2 weeks ago didn’t do to well in the little confined area outings each night so I had them on the same floor in the condo, but with a divider. They sat butt to butt for almost a week ignoring each other and seemed cranky after we would do our floor time.

I finally read here where some prefer to get aquainted gradually and at  a distance and that’s worked wonders for them this past week. I started putting down a full size blanket, tunnels, toys and litter boxes every evening for a couple of hours and letting Lola out first for a while to blow off some steam. Then when I put Daisy down they would sniff and fuss a bit, but all I had to do was slap the floor and they stop and bolt. At first they ignored each other outside of scuffling but the last few days have been great. They run and binky, lay down and groom, independently of each other, but no more fighting.

They gradually closed the distance til theyve spent the entire day today only a foot or two apart, and Daisy is even starting to groom Lola without her biting him. I think I"ll leave them out tonight and sleep on the couch because I’m rebulding the condo without divider but putting in more floor room so they can still get away from each other. Yeah!!!

Don’t give up!

Oh I forgot, one day when they were being particularly spiteful to each other while out in the living room I let my dog in the house to eat.. She’s totally friendly to all the animals and I didn’t even let her in the room they were in, but boy, they could tell there was a dog somewhere. They bolted behind the wood stove and cuddled together for the next hour and have seemed much more dependent on each other  since then. Now when they startle they run for each other!

I know it’s mean, but sometimes when the princess diva Pringles is mad about being in her condo (a large 4 floor 7 feet long sucker) and havng a hissy fit literally destroying the place I let Floppie walk through the room and boy does she quiet down. She’s too full of herself to be scared much , but she does go to the penthouse where she can watch quietly for several hours. and she’s much nicer to me too for a while….lol

Ummmm Excellent commentary.Thought i was watching David Rabittburrow(David Attenborough) for a min there.

Im still working out who is the boy in this film .

I waited for the credits but there wernt any:-)

  I know it’s not supposed to be funny but it was just hilarious with your commentary!!!  I know nothing about bonding but it looks like it went very well!  Thanks for a great start to Sunday!

so THAT’s what a "normal" session looks like!

Reinforces my idea that Pepper just doesn’t want a companion.  They never progressed to humping – just circling and boxing/biting.  Looks like it’s just her and me from here on out.

Actually, the HRS has told me that that is not really a normal bonding session. That they had a really good session. Usually there’s more aggression involved in the bonding process – with grunts and bites and boxing and so on. I would hazard a guess that your experience with the bonding process was more a normal session than theirs.

i have no experience with bonding so i’m glad you’ve gotten some advice & reassurance here!  very funny video btw… hope you can post more sessions & that it continues to go well

That’s great! Please keep us updated on their progress. Sometimes bonding can happen very quickly – it sure is great when it does!

That’s what happens when you let your bun choose the partner. Unfortunately for me, Maryann showed ‘interest’ but not any real desire. So it’s the use of a 2×4 for me.

FYI I added this to our FAQ’s under Bonding! : ) Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us!