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Forum BONDING Advice for Bonding 3 rabbits together (Aggression advice also welcome)

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    • WhiteWolfEm
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        Hey everybunny! First time posting so be gentle please 💛 I need advice to do with aggression and bonding! 💛

        So my mini Rex bunny Luna is 6 years old today! Yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of when her sister Leda passed. It was sudden and without an autopsy her cause of death was unknown 😞 due to the rent agreement I wasn’t allowed to get her a friend as I didn’t have the space to bond. Just before lockdown me and my partner moved in together which meant Luna finally was allowed indoors in our space free roam and she’s been a gem! She’s very antisocial, only wants attention on her watch but loves being nearby/watching us. We spent all lockdown looking after her and bonding 💛
        Now we’re both back at work, he’s a kitchen manager and works ALOT of hours, I’m a games master and work weekends. With Christmas coming up I know (even with the pandemic) we’re going to be even busier. So we decided to get her some new friends that we could hopefully bond her with before that happens so she has company 💛

        Here’s where I need help and I know I messed up initially. We’re getting/got 2 little boys, the first one we got from an accidental litter and the seller lied to us. He’s younger than 8 weeks and was on a diet of mostly veggies which I know is bad but we took him because he was so sweet and gentle but when he got home he had all many of toilet issues. He got put on medication and then went into stasis. His checkup yesterday said we’ve nursed him back to full health and to look after him, it was touch and go but little mans gonna be okay! So understandably we’ve spent a lot of time with him and Luna was jealous. So we’ve spent more time with her but now she’s biting me, and not nips like warning bites. She bit my hand and I scooped her up and told her off then she licked me and hopped off. I thought that was the end of it. But last night so bit my leg, I pushed her away quiet forcefully in panic, she came back and bite me again so I pushed her away and tapped her bum saying NO! Then she came back and bit me so hard that she drew blood so I tried pinning her head to the floor. She hopped away and I sat with her for a while hoping she was okay. Today she went for my hand and I tried pinning her head again. I’m thinking it’s because she can smell unneutered baby bun on me and is thinking she’s biting him? In which case I’m terrified about bonding them at all but I refuse to give them up if she needs to stay alone then maybe that’s better for her? So my questions are;

        1. How do I get her to stop biting me/why is she biting me?
        2. Is bonding them and baby bun we get in a week impossible? Or when they’re neutered will it be possible? If so all advice is welcome 💛 I want them all to be safe and happy 😞

        House Info;
        Our place is tiny, 1 floor, Luna has run of the living room and we’ve had to block off bedroom to have the buns in and keep them apart

        Breeding/Adoption Info;
        We went with a breeder and accidental litter sellers because only 1 place nearby had a male for adoption that was feasible for our living situation, and after 2 weeks of countless unanswered phone calls, fb messages and emails we gave up 🙁


      • Wick & Fable
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          1. She is probably biting you because you smell like the other rabbit. You can consider it as her smelling the presence of a foreign invader in her territory. Bringing a new rabbit into the territory of the existing rabbit can put both rabbits in a stressed/tense state because of territorial disputes. You may observe worse litter habits and more “pre-spay” behaviors. If she is not spayed (which I highly recommend), it does make sense even more that she’d get extremely territorial with a foreign rabbit in her place.
          2. It would be impossible to bond them in a week. Her aggressive behavior towards you could be a big indication that upon their first meeting, she can show some aggression, but even with that aside, since the male rabbit is un-neutered, any relationship created between the two is subject to change once he reaches puberty and he starts viewing the relationship through a “hormonal” lens. When he is neutered (under the assumption your girl is spayed?), you can begin the foundation of the bonding process. Both should be fixed for this. You may not have had to go through a full-blown bond if your original pair were sisters who matured amicably, but it is generally a different picture for two rabbits who have no past relationship. You can read more about bonding in the RABBIT INFO section of the websites, as well as the bonding stories in the BONDING section of the forum.

          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.


        • Wick & Fable
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            I just re-read after realizing your topic says 3 rabbits. I only seemed to get info on two.

            Is the 3rd rabbit another young male? If so, please note that it is very common to mis-sex rabbits and you may indeed have one female and one male young rabbit, which can lead to an unexpected pregnancy. Also note that rabbits pre-hormonal phase tend to get along, but the arrival of hormones can make relationships take a 180 overnight and become aggressive/tense, so my recommendation would be separating all three rabbits (though I know space may be tight).

            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.


          • WhiteWolfEm
            Participant
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              Hey there! Thank you for replying 😊

              So Luna and her sister was spayed as soon as they were old enough as they were originally from an breeder 💛 the third bunny we will be collecting in 1 weeks time. Both new bunnies are little boys who will definitely be neutered as soon as they are old enough 💛

              she has seen him (against my better judgement) through the baby gate we installed for precaution sake and she seemed very unbothered, we gave her treats and encouraged her for her lack of reaction but now it’s clear that she has got a problem 🙁

              Don’t worry I meant bunny 3 is collected in a week, we looked for buns now because I thought it could take months to bond so I wanted plenty of time before Christmas rush (unless there’s another lockdown) to bond them 💛

              The first little boy when I took him to the vets she didn’t say he was sexed incorrectly but I’m uncertain of his gender, the bun we’re getting next week is from a good breeder who loves her buns and takes great care of them so I’m inclined to believe her. When they have their vaccinations in 10 days I will ask the vet to resex them for me as that’s an excellent point!

               

              Luna Free roams roams the living room and the boys will be in our bedroom in their own crates with separate time out of it to excercise and bond with us. I’m worried we got them too early (were aiming to move by start of next year) but I was so worried about Luna being lonely I jumped headfirst in thinking she wouldn’t care, and now I’m pretty sure she will too much 🙁


            • Hazel
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                Agree with everything Wick said.

                Also, please stop trying to punish her for being aggressive. First of all, it’s not directed at you, but the other bunny that’s invading her territory. Second of all, rabbits don’t respond to physical punishment. While they do live in groups, they aren’t “pack” animals like dogs so they won’t bow down to the alpha if he whoops their butt enough. All that will do is make her more angry. Rabbits cement their pecking order mostly by humping, not by physically punishing each other. Even if they did, they don’t consider humans as part of their hierarchy so it still wouldn’t do you any good. That goes twice for the head pinning. A dominant rabbit will put their head down to demand grooming from the less dominant rabbit. By pinning her head to the ground, your actually putting her into a dominant position. But again, you shouldn’t physically engage with her like this to reprimand her. Either avoid the situation/walk away, or passively stand your ground and let her see that biting you won’t do anything (you’re going to want to have a glove on for that though).


              • WhiteWolfEm
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                  Yeah I know for a fact I messed up the way I told her off initially, I know aggression isn’t good it was a anger panic moment and I wasn’t thinking. After the initial leg biting I googled it and was advised to head pin to stop her attacking me so thank you for that information I feel terrible for the way I’ve treated her and it’s clearly not positively setting her up for a new bunny. I’m worried I’ve ruined all chances of them being friends with my own Stupidity 🙁

                  One thing I read was that walking away was basically giving them what they want an rewarding the biting behaviour. Is this a load of crap as well?

                  Cant bunnies bite through gloves? I know their teeth are strong as sin and I also don’t wanna hurt her teeth with anything too strong 💛


                • Hazel
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                    Yeah, retreating would technically give her what she was trying to achieve, so it’s not the ideal solution, I brought it up as an alternative to physical punishment. If you get bit you will jerk your hand away automatically anyway (giving her what she wanted), so at that point walking away won’t do any more “harm” in that regard, it will however deescalate the situation and give her a chance to calm down. That’s where the glove comes in which will allow you to stand your ground without getting confrontational. I would use a thick, heavy duty gardening glove. Don’t worry about it hurting her teeth, they chew wood for fun after all. 😉

                    Rabbits will give each other “the butt” to show they’re displeased, so you could try that (turn your back to her and ignore her for a while).


                  • Wick & Fable
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                      Your reaction and its ability to encourage or dissipate the behavior, I think, depends on the rabbit’s intent for nipping. For example, if a rabbit is nipping for attention and you walk away, this would discourage them from doing it in the future; however, if a rabbit’s intent is to nip you to go away, then walking away would then encourage it, since it’s being effective. How to differentiate “nip meaning” is up to the owner’s judgement of the rabbit’s personality within the context.

                      Depending on the rabbit and their chosen nip intensity, they could bite through some more heavy-duty gloves, but I couldn’t imagine a rabbit doing so from a “communication nip”. My Wick can’t bite through anything if he tries, while one of my Fable’s “test nips” will permanently damage my dry wall, so it’s up to the rabbit and their desires too.

                      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.


                    • DanaNM
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                        It’s very common for rabbits to experience “referred aggression” when a new rabbit arrives in the house. Rabbits are so smell-oriented, they get confused by the new rabbit’s smell on you.

                        Good news is that should calm down with time and neutering of the boys.

                        For now be sure to wash your hands and arms after handling the new bun and before interacting with your girl. It can also help to change socks in between areas, as she can prob smell them on your feet.

                        Some people have also had success with putting a stuff or a blanket with the new bun, then giving it to the original bun to sniff/checkout/attack to get their aggression out.

                        . . . 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.  


                      • WhiteWolfEm
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                          Thank you so much everyone! This morning I gave her a towel I’d rubbed on him and she sniffed it and chinned it. My partners gonna try again iab as I’m currently at work!

                          she was a little shy towards me today so I’ve definitely messed up who our relationship 🙁 so I sat with her after I showered and gave some treats and just moved slowly and gently around her and she seems to be more receptive to me now. I’m making sure she can’t see him anymore (drilled it into my partners head) and to keep all doors shut no exception. I let her sniff the places he had walked (out of site of him) and let her hop away of her own accord, going solely at her pace. She grunted twice this morning but didn’t go for me (when giving her breakfast) and hasn’t since. I’m hoping this will continue but I’ll make sure to wash hands and change my clothes between interactions, as that was what we did at first but with caring for little one we got very lax. I’ll focus on repairing my relationship with her and forget about early possible bonding at least until they’re neutered!

                          She definitely wasn’t nipping though, she’s nipped me before to move and it’s a little I comfortable but last night it was more warning type of bite. Enough to hurt but not enough to break the skin until I made her feel threatened with my stupid reactions 🙁

                          Going to invest in some thick foam for body parts and thick gloves for hands 😂


                        • DanaNM
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                            That sounds like good progress, I’m sure she’ll calm down again with time as she adjusts to the other buns in the house as well.

                            . . . 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.  

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                        Forum BONDING Advice for Bonding 3 rabbits together (Aggression advice also welcome)