Bonding is scary

[Tails.of.Bunnicula]

Hello friends!

This is going to be long,  so I apologize in advance…

I have a 7 month old rabbit that I’ve had since 5 weeks.  We have a fairly tight bond as I don’t work regularly so I am home with him often.   I am a part time caregiver, so he is only alone for around 6 days out of the month,  otherwise he has constant company with either myself or my husband.

Recently we adopted a 5 month old rabbit from a shelter.  She was abandoned at a Veterinarian’s office,  spent most of her life between a foster and the shelter.

I moved her into his room after she had time to adjust to our apartment,  and we have been swapping their space every day.   They also both get to alternate “free roam time” every 3 hours,  where I will let one out for a bit and lock the other one up, then change.   They still have access to their room/staring at each other from afar during that time.   Everything was going great until today,  when Momo (original bun) escaped and attacked her.  He ending up ripping some hair from her face,  and there is a small cut (no blood happened though).  Then later that evening I think she plotted revenge,  jumped into the middle of the cage where i have a bit of space to separate them, and they were going at it through the bars.

My question is, is all hope lost? Do they hate each other? Should I wait a few weeks before I actually introduce them in person? (I was planning on letting them swap consistently for 2 weeks before I even tried) Or is it just a case of it only being 3 days of them being in the same room and it was just bad luck that they got free…

After the last tussle we moved them into separate rooms to calm down and they both started purring as they were being pet and Ruby (new bun) did a full flop.  They don’t seem to be overly stressed.

Any advice/experiences would be helpful! Thank you for reading my LONG story.

Spay/Neuter
Are your bunnies spayed/neutered? Yes
If so, for how long (for each)? 5.5 weeks

Housing
Please describe your bunnies’ current housing set-up (living together, as neighbors, etc.). Will attach pictures

 

[DanaNM]

Don’t fret, all hope is not lost! These things can happen, it’s amazing how high bunnies can jump when there is another bunny in their territory! And fighting in non-neutral space doesn’t mean they will fight in neutral.

I would prob do a couple more weeks of pre-bonding just to let things calm down.  Then when you introduce them in neutral space you can see how they do. If they immediately fight, you know to go back to prebonding and/ or try some stressing (such as a car ride together).

. . . 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.  

[Tails.of.Bunnicula]

Thank you for the reassurance.  I am trying to do everything “right” but it all still feels wrong lol

So I’m happy to hear it’s not game over!

[Author]

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