bonding aggressive bunnies?

[Audrey]

Ponyo: 2 year old spayed dwarf

Wybie: 6 month old neutered lionhead mix

I rescued ponyo in June, where she had to be separated from her baby because they over-groomed each-other to the point of major hair loss on the both of them. when I met ponyo she was a sweet bunny who sat on my lap and let me pet her the whole time I talked to the lady about her adoption process. She was spayed a few days later and then I picked her up a few days after her spay. I brought her home and I can no longer pet her without her lunging or grunting at me. I figured that she maybe needed a friend, considering the fact that she has had a baby, which means she has been around another male bunny.

I rescued Wybie after 6 months of having Ponyo. He is a super sweet boy who loves attention. I know that he was living with his brother his whole life, until the rescue sent him to petsmart to be adopted. 

I figured that they could both use a friend. 

But after having Wybie for a month, I have come to see that they are jealous of each other. Ponyo being even more jealous of Wybie. I cannot pet wybie without ponyo watching and aggressively biting at the gates of her pen. I can not let Ponyo out of her pen without Wybie biting at his gates of his pen. When I introduced them they ignored each other for the most part but their fights got worse and worse. They do not care if they are sprayed with water while they are fighting and it is difficult to break them up. I am too afraid to continue the bonding process. 

Has anyone else had this much trouble bonding? Do some rabbits just not get along? 

[Wick & Fable]

Can you describe what sort of bonding techniques you have tried? I myself was very surprised by how systematic and thorough one must be in formally bonding rabbits, so I have come to find that shaky starts come from quick starts. I have no bonding experience myself, but I know pre-bonding is very important, where you swap their litterboxes and possessions while they’re separated in order to get them accustomed to each other’s scent.

Since they are fighting at introductions, I would stop the dates immediately and continue with prebonding, so no one gets hurt.

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.

[BunBun260]

Hi, I’m not bonding expert, in fact I’m currently bonding two rabbits right now. However, mine took a good 2 months of pre bonding before they stopped fighting when trying to attempt a session. I agree with Wick about swapping litter boxes. Another thing you can do is give them a doll. Give it a good day or two to fully get their scents on it, (I even petted them with the doll to get their smell on it) then swap the dolls. This lets them smell the other rabbit, and it also lets them get aggression out on the doll without the other getting hurt. I also found that once they nip the doll and it doesn’t fight back, they will stop nipping it, creating a little more trust. Switching cages is also another good thing to do. It’s forceing the rabbits to drink, eat, lay down in the other rabbits things.

I understand being scared of bonding them. Just take your time with pre bonding and bonding them.

[Audrey]

I swapped all of their belongings for the first few weeks before they were even introduced, I have researched bonding techniques and followed every single tip I have seen except for stress bonding, as I do not feel comfortable putting them in a box together in the car or on-top of my laundry machine

[BunBun260]

Keep switching their belongings and swapping cages, even while bonding. Make sure that you swap cages. Putting the rabbit in the other one area will help them get use to their scents. Make sure they have at least 24-48 hours in each other cages. And just keep switching. When you start bonding sessions, I suggest started with short session.

One trick I found worked for my female bunny, was to start sessions off by force cuddles. I actually did this for a week, and I only did this, to get her use to be right next to him but keeping it in my control where they couldn’t fight. I took both rabbits and bought them to neutral area. I sat on my knees, and put both rabbits in between my legs. I held on to their heads by petting. I even had someone else pet them for me while I made sure they couldn’t turn it into a fight. There is a video on YouTube, her name is called “speical bunny rescue”. She has a video on how to do it. I suggest watching that for more or a visual.

My female bunny just wanted to attack my male bunny at first. I didn’t want to do stress bonding either. I suggest doing this and seeing if it works for you like it did for me. I was able to get her to stop attacking and now she just nips. (Which is normal) hope this helps!

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