Bonding Bunnies 2.0

[Cinnamin]

Hello again.

I made a post I awhile back about bonding my two rabbits together when the one was not neutered. We had our Flemish Giant neutered one week ago. We are starting the bonding again and it is quite demoralizing. I will first go over their profiles:

Female, Lionhead, 11 Months 3 weeks

Male, Flemish Giant, 3 Months, 2.5 weeks

We are putting them in a clothes hamper with holes all along the the sides on a rolling office chair, a towel on top of it, and hay/treats in it. When they are in here they seem pretty stressed out,(trying to emulate a car ride etc.) they do not fight at all. They sit nose to nose most of the time, sometimes try to periscope and look for a way out of the top…hence the towel. After awhile they will start eating the hay. It seems our lionhead is more hesitant because we put her favorite treat in there and our giant is the only one eating the treats as she just sits there and he takes the treat out from under here. In all of this no fighting occurs though.

After that we move them into our spare bedroom on our spare bed where no bunnies live and we put chew toys and treats down for them to keep as a distraction. In the beginning they stay at opposite ends and ignore each other occasionally our giant runs up sniffs our lionhead for a second then runs off, he does this a couple times(she never initiates). Then after awhile it turns into bunny boxing and fighting(them jumping in the air and hitting each other and being aggressive). After this we put them back in their respective areas.

She is in our bedroom and part of the hallway and he has our hallway bathroom and part of the hallway. They are separated by a baby gate so they can see and sniff each other. The giant constantly tries to bite through and is starting to figure out how to jump over. We think he is really curious be shy also and our lion head is overly scared.

Conclusion is, we believe our giant is most likely the aggressor but also is the shy scared one from his behavior. We also think our lionhead is scared because we adopted her from a shelter and she came from a home where another bunny beat here up. This is hard to understand and wondering if this is a hopeless cycle if he will break out of it. 

Please, we need all the help we can get with this to break this cycle and get them living together happily. Thank you in advance.

[DanaNM]

One week is not long enough to heal, let alone to let hormones settle down. It can take up to 6 weeks for male hormones to settle down, and they can fluctuate in that time.

Let your boy heal for another week, then pre-bond for 4 weeks. This means cage swaps (or at least litter box and food bowl swaps) so they can get used to each other’s scents. Then you can start actual sessions.

I also cannot stress enough how important the bonding space is, and how important it is to prevent fights before they happen, especially in the early stages. For such large rabbits, I recommend a very large space. Either a large room neither has ever been in, or two x-pens linked together, also in a very neutral space. The bed is prob a bit small for them.

. . . 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.  

[Cinnamin]

I just went and switched their litter boxes with their hay, food and water in it. they are not caged up. So i hope this helps. We do not ever cage them up, they always have a decent enough space to stretch their legs. We feel that our wib wabs cant be in a cage. not fair to them

[DanaNM]

Ah, I see!

Switching who is on what side would be the equivalent of “cage swaps”. The idea is for them to lose track of their territory and what’s “theirs”.

. . . 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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