Any tips on bonding two rabbits?

[BunBun260]

Hello, so back in April I bought a male rabbit name BunBun. He is a loving little bunny, and craves attention. He loves snuggling and playing with me. He has no agrresive behavior to him. Since I started school and work again, he seems to be bored when I’m not home. I bought him toys and it just doesn’t seem to do. I decided that I wanted to get him a bunny friend. I bought a bunny yesterday. She is a female. I was not able to speed dates, so I tried picking the best option for him. I went for a female who is one month younger then him, and she is very calm, sweet, and very very curious. She has only been spayed for three weeks now.

I did introduction yesterday, I let him sniff her through the box. I have watched tons of videos and read a bunch on bunny bonding. I decided to try introducing them face to face, but do it in a way where they couldn’t bite each other. I pet them both through the whole entire process. My male bunny seemed really happy, he tried snuggling with her, and she even tried snuggling him. They laid their heads on top of each other, and he even licked her. The bonding session was only 15 minutes long, as I didn’t want to keep her out for long. Today I did another bonding session and it went horrible. My male bunny tried snuggling again, and my female was not having it. She tried fighting with him, and even pulled some fur out. Even after this my male bunny tried snuggling with her again. I ended the session after this, but now I’m worried I ruined the bonding session.

I absolutly positive I shouldn’t introduce them that early. I also shouldn’t have introduced her until 4-6 weeks after being spayed. I got bad advice from the shelter I got her from. They said it would be fine, but I read online you should wait 4-6 weeks after the rabbit was spayed. I don’t know why it went well yesterday but not today. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. Please know this is my first time bonding. Thank you in advance for the advice.

[Nutmeg]

Hi!
I am working through bonding my own two right now – I am at over 3 weeks in and they still aren’t fully bonded – so just be prepared for it be a bit of a process.

So its a first time bonding for me too – but I’ve been learning a lot from this group, so I’ll go over what I’ve learned from them, as its helped me a lot…

~ Is he neutered? (sorry if I missed that) but you can’t bond them if he’s not fixed yet either. A lot of pet stores and breeders will try and tell people that you only need to get one fixed – which isn’t true. The other one being hormonal can cause the one who’s fixed to act out as well.

~ ok, so yes, you already know you should have gone longer before introducing them (and don’t beat yourself up, you thought you were getting good information – but you are wanting to fix this so thats good!) but its more than for it to be 4-6 weeks after her spay…. its also to allow her to get adjusted and comfortable in her new home.

~ You should give her at least 3 weeks to settle in to her new home. Otherwise she may act submissive out of fear (or lash out at him out of fear) and then things can get even worse once she’s comfortable.

~ You should also do a month of pre-bonding – this is where you swap them between cages and also their toys and items… this helps them get used to the scent of the other and stops them from seeing things as 100% theirs.

*** Have you done any pre-bonding yet? This is critical!!!

~ One putting its head down means they are asking to be groomed – this is them also trying to assert their dominance. So if one gives in and grooms the other they are saying they are the submissive one.
~ If they are both fixed then humping is purely for establishing dominance (my girls is trying to hump my boy more than he’s trying to hump her right now)

A bit of scuffling at the start is normal (again, don’t try this until you’ve done pre-bonding for at least a month) but you never want it to turn in to circiling – fur flying – unrelenting chasing – fighting, as bunnies can hold grudges. But some scuffling is needed to figure out their hierarchy.

~ it could have gone well yesterday because they were unsure of each other.

So can you tell me if he’s neutered?
And if you’ve done any pre-bonding?

[BunBun260]

Hi! I actually just read your journal before you posted! I love the idea of a journal, helps you see where you are at in the process.

My male rabbit is neutered. He has been neutered for about 3 and half months now. I sadly didn’t do any pre-bonding. The only prebonding I did, was letting her sniff her through the box, and letting her sniff him through a box. I also give her a blanket that was his to sniff out, and did the same thing for him.

When doing my research, none of the videos I watched ever spoke anything about pre-bonding, and the shelter never mentioned it. In fact they wanted to do the bonding for them, and was just planning on putting them in a room and doing face-to-face meeting. (That is mostly why I didn’t think anything of it) I now know, I need to do pre-bonding, and I’m aware of how to do it. My question is, can I have them in two cages next to each other in his bunny room? He doesn’t seem to be territorial, as of so far he hasn’t reacted badly to any of her stuff being in his room. Plus they wouldn’t be able to touch each other considering they would be in two different cages.

My main concerned is I ruined the experience on day one. I’m more concerned that I ruined it for her then him, as he was still trying to snuggle with her after she tried started a fight. I plan on letting her adjust before I do any bonding however.

[Nutmeg]

Thanks – It’s been a process as neither of mine want to give up dominance lol. It sounds like your guy may run on the more submissive side, which would make it easier lol

No real injury was had, so I dont think you’ve ruined anything. Since she’s been in your home for a little while now I think it would be ok for them to be side by side – leaving enough space so that they can’t fight or nip through the bars. This will start getting them used to each other and the others scents – so leave about 6″ between the cages.

Then start off swapping their items… swap litter boxes and toys inside their cages and see how they react… once they don’t seem fazed by that I would then start fully swapping their cages every night.

I found it easier to let one out for their alone run around time…. then pick the one up that is in their cage and plop them into the now empty cage that was the other ones… then when its time to swap them so that the other one can get out for a bit you just have to put the one that’s out into what was the other ones now empty cage.
Did I explain that well? lol

You can even try using stuffed animals… put them in with the bunnies – let them get their scent on to it and the swap the stuffed animals… they will start to relate the smell to an actual thing BUT with the added benefit that the other thing doesn’t attack or show any scary behaviors.

[Asriel and Bombur]

I agree with almost everything Nutmeg said. I think you should keep them in separate rooms. You’ve had her a day, and she’s stressed out from already starting sessions (I know you’re fixing this, which is good), but still she’s stressed from the move and then a new bunny being all up in her business on the side of her. It just isn’t a good start for her. So have her in a separate room for the next few weeks while she’s settling and healing from the spay. After that time, when you begin prebonding, then you can move their cages next to each other. Don’t do it until then though.

[Nutmeg]

Posted By Asriel and Bombur on 9/24/2018 1:32 PM

You’ve had her a day, and she’s stressed out from already starting sessions (I know you’re fixing this, which is good), but still she’s stressed from the move and then a new bunny being all up in her business…..

Oh, lets change my answer a bit. I miss read the original post at thought that you had her home for a few weeks after her spay. If she’s only been in your home a day then I agree with A&B. I would have her in another room that your other bunny hasn’t been for a few weeks to let her get settles and more comfortable. 
THEN do what I suggested. 
So sorry. I thought she has already been at your home for a little while now. 

Keep us posted when you start to pre-bond after she’s settled! 

[BunBun260]

Posted By Asriel and Bombur on 9/24/2018 1:32 PM

I agree with almost everything Nutmeg said. I think you should keep them in separate rooms. You’ve had her a day, and she’s stressed out from already starting sessions (I know you’re fixing this, which is good), but still she’s stressed from the move and then a new bunny being all up in her business on the side of her. It just isn’t a good start for her. So have her in a separate room for the next few weeks while she’s settling and healing from the spay. After that time, when you begin prebonding, then you can move their cages next to each other. Don’t do it until then though.

Thank you! I do have them in separate areas already, I also plan on bonding with her during the weeks she needs for the spayed. When I do set their cages next to each other, can it be in his bunny room? Or does it need to be in a neutral area? Like I said in my previous post, when I gave him a blanket with her scent on it, he didn’t seem to care that it was in his cage.

[BunBun260]

Nutmeg, thank you so much for these tips! I already have a stuff animal in his cage, just to get it prepared and all ready for when I do pre-bonding. I will keep all of you guys updated.

[Asriel and Bombur]

Because your boy isn’t new, you can start giving him stuff with her scent, but wait on her till it’s been a month that she’s been with you. When you do cages next to each other, having it be in his room is great because it’ll give you a semi-neutral territory for when you start bonding sessions. When you start, do short sessions in neutral territory.

[Bladesmith]

Epoxy. That super glue is terrible. Over time it gets brittle and cracks, especially if exposed to sunlight. Sorry, what were we talking about?

(Apologies. I felt some impishness)

[BunBun260]

So I started giving him things with her scent on it, and his reaction is to lay on it, or snuggle with it. My question is, does this mean that he is most likely going to end up liking her? He has not had any bad reaction to it, he sniffs it a lot, and will rather lay by the blanket, cuddle, or ignore it.

[Author]

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