Bonding issues

[Binkster]

I originally only had one Lion head that I adopted and she was sassy to say the least very intelligent and loved being petted on her terms which was fine for me. I fell in love with rabbits the minute I got her. I know she is about 2 years old and spayed at the shelter I got her at.

I found a bonded pair that needed a home or they were going to go to a shelter so I adopted them to avoid them going to a random home or a kill shelter. The bonded pair loved each other I kept them separate from my lion head in different rooms which worked out great the minute they were comfortable with me they came out of their cage and started to run and play.

Everything started to change the minute I introduced them to my rabbit whose name is Binky. the bonded pair are Flopsie who is a black and white Lop and Rosie who is a brown lop. I introduced them both to my rabbit and Binky immediately started lunging at them so I separated them immediately.

So I tried a different approach I had read online about introducing them one at a time with close supervision, seemed easy enough. I introduced Flopsie as I thought she was more timid and not going to entertain the idea of fighting where Rosie had stood up to binky. They ignored each other at first which I thought was good and then binky came over sniffed flopsie then immediately mounted and peed on flopsie when flopsie ran binky kept chasing and mounting. I broke it up immediately and washed flopsie.

when I put flopsie back rosie everything was fine. so I gave it a few days for them to calm down and hopefully forget. so I tried to do it with rosie. I figured lets give it a shot. Same thing happened I seperated them washed rosie off really well and placed her with flopsie again. whats different this time is flopsie is chasing rosie around and nipping and pulling fur as well as mounting and humping.

It seems to be happening every time Rosie is near something that Flopsie wants at a particular time like the hay feeder the water bottle but not the food bowl which they eat at the same time which I find weird also they still groom each other and lay with each other during the day.

What do I do I want to keep trying to bond them but at the same time I don’t want any of them to hurt each other.

Also am I breaking the bond between the lops and if I am can I fix it if I stop trying to bond them with binky.

further info the lops are 4 years old and both spayed

 

[Binkster]

update I did a stress bonding session that seemed to go ok untill the other two rabbits started to box with binky when she came close. the whole session lasted about 10 minutes.

[Elrohwen]

I think you’re on the right track, but your girls certainly aren’t making it easy on you!

It’s common for a bonded pair to have issues when a new bun is introduced, so try to work around it. It may come to a point where you have to separate all three of them temporarily while you work on their bonds, but hopefully it won’t come to that.

Just keep going with it. Pick one pair to start with – Binky with one of the lops – and do sessions consistently with them every day or twice a day. Once you Binky can get along fairly well with one lop, try her with the other and do the same. Once Binky can get along with each of them for a hour or so, then maybe try all three together.

[Binkster]

thank you for the reply I felt like it was going no where and with the bonded pair having issues I was starting to wonder if I messed up.

[Wembley]

Hi there. I have had to bond a single with 3 a couple of times. When I bond, it takes 14 days. I use an xpen for the newbie. A couple of times a day, the newbie is picked up out of the pen and the others are put inside. The newbie then gets to run around the house and mark to its hearts content and the oldies get to sniff around and mark all items in the newbie’s space at the same time. The oldies and newbie WILL rush the fence of the xpen and tails will be up and ears down on both sides. Some tufts of fur will be evident as some bunny gets a lucky nip in through the bars. As the days go by and if you have been true to letting them switch places at least twice a day, the fence rushing and aggression at the fence will lessen and by the 14th day nothing is new anymore – every bunny’s scent is everywhere. I open the xpen for the last time. I have found that the group now works out who, next to me, is top bunny and this is decided by who climbs on top of whom. No biting, no fighting. My buns are not in cages so bonding is the only option. I wish you good luck with your little ones.

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