Bonding Help

[happyhappy]

I may have started the bonding process improperly… Day 1 was about 15 minutes, Day 2 was about 15 minutes, Day 3 about 1 hour, Day 4 about 4 hours, Day 5 ~8 hours, and Day 6 I left them all day. Now I know Day 6 was probably not the most responsible thing for me to do, because I was asleep for the night and was out for an hour during the day. I feel like my mini rex(~1 year old) has become more aggressive and my lop mix has started to become more shy and withdrawn. I need to bond them as soon as possible because the space I am keeping them in is only a temporary space until they can be bonded. I felt like the first few days of bonding went alright. They would lay out, share food, and the mini rex would groom the lop. Now the only thing my mini rex wants to do is hump the lop! My mini rex is spayed and my lop is neutered(he’s about ~5 months old). The mini rex was never aggressive when she was an only bunny. Now she is pulling at his fur, chasing him, humping the right and wrong side, but also grooming him. Does anyone have feedback for me? Day 7 I did for ~15 minutes because I saw the forums said this was the right thing, and today is Day 8. Day 8 was also about 15 minutes, but I feel like it is worse than ever with the fur pulling and humping. My mini rex also used to have 95% good pee litter habits, but I feel like she is marking so many places these days. I’m getting frustrated. Was getting a second bunny the right move? I wanted to get the second bunny because I am a full time student and only got to play with my girl in the mornings and evenings. Side note: I also tried to to the laundry basket and bathtub bonding, but it was not working because my lop will not tolerate being picked up and I don’t want him to get hurt. I feel like pulling my fur(hair) out

[Aleece]

Hello! I would just say try and give them some time apart for a few days. My rabbit was very unhappy when I brought my second home and became very aggressive towards her. It was a long process which had me breaking down crying out of frustration many times. After about two weeks of attempting short bonding dates that did not seem to have much progress I decided to start over from the beginning. For a week and a half I did not do any bunny play dates, I simply kept each in their enclosures next to one another and switched the buns back and forth each day. After the first few days of doing this they began laying up against each other through the wall of the enclosures. It almost seemed as though they were missing each other and realizing having one another was actually pretty nice. Once the week and a half was up I began bonding sessions again and the process was very quick after this. The first day I had a short 30 minute session in completely neutral territory, the next day an hour here. After this they were together for two hours in a semi neutral space and the day after they were together all day in there. The day after this they had their first sleepover and it went great and I moved them to the room which my first bun considers “his” (Actually my bedroom) and they were still fine and have been ever since. Overall it only took about a week to bond after they had their “break” from one another. They are now both free roam throughout my whole house and never leave one another’s side. I know how it feels to just want them to be bonded quickly but unfortunately this is not always the case and it is not something which can be forced. I would recommend giving them a couple days to relax and just switch enclosures to get them used to one another’s scent and then start fresh from there. Best of luck!!

[DanaNM]

Hi there,

There is no one formula for bonding, so it is important to read your buns behavior and only progress when they are ready. I think you might have gone a bit too fast in the beginning, and it was definitely premature to leave them all day.

I think first take a deep breath, and try calm down a bit about the situation. Things sounds fairly normal honestly, as it usually takes at least a few weeks on average to bond, so needing them to be bonded in just a week is putting a lot of pressure on yourself and the bunnies. I’ve bonded three pairs, and they’ve taken from 6 weeks to 4 months, so 1 week is very fast in my mind! From the forums, I would say about 3 weeks is the minimum for most people. (Imagine a stranger showed up in your house, and you were expected to marry them in a week? You might be a bit upset about the situation!)

I’ve found that whenever I urgently need the buns to be bonded, I have issues. So, I encourage you to reassess your expectations, and your set up, so you don’t feel rushed and put unrealistic pressure on them.

I totally understand that housing two buns can be very complicated (I have a studio apartment!), so I recommend improving their set-up somehow so you aren’t so rushed. I used NIC cubes to make temporary little condos for my two, and then a couple x-pens to divide the room in half with a buffer for when it was exercise time. Then once they were bonded I reconfigured the cubes to make one large condo for them.

When one bun is pretty shy, it can also be really important to let that bun settle in to your home for a week or more, and then to do pre-bonding (cage swaps, where they buns live side by side and swap who is on what side every day or two). This lets the buns get used to each other for a bit before you launch into bonding.

Since they started off pretty good, and are getting a bit worse, I would take a wee break and do some pre-bonding and get their set-ups arranged in a way that is less stressful for you. That way you won’t feel so stressed and pressured about the whole process.

. . . 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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