Bonding Issues

[Lilviola]

Group size: 2
Sexes: male (black) and female (white)
Age: 2 and 3
Neutered/spayed date: boy was over a year and a half ago, girl was January
Indoor/outdoor: Indoor
Started bonding: 4/2/24
Bonding area size: small
Length of daily sessions: 1 to 2 hours

Extra info (short): They were making great progress at the start and have even started grooming each other but in the last three sessions we started running into a lot more issues:
– he keeps trying to hump her. Early on she would let him, but now every time he tries to, she fights back and will literally flip to get him off of her, and then goes after him. Usually I separate them with a dustpan at this point until they can calm down a little, but at this point if I let them back together they will just try to fight, so I have to end the session
– the boy is frustrated with being caged into one space (he was free roaming the entire room before we got her) so he goes into every session already pissed off
– they will both groom each other at the start of a session, but she asks for him to groom her constantly and he gets super annoyed with it
-we can’t seem to go over 2 hours without a fight breaking out. Also the girl will eat hay and poop but the boy won’t do either until he gets put back in his pen
– and just to make things more complicated we recently discovered that she is deaf. But she doesn’t really seem to be the problem and has been around other rabbits before. Our boy is definitely the instigator

Feeling super defeated and like we took a massive step back this past week.

(Photo from one of their early bonding sessions when things were going well)

ALSO… last night when I swapped them between enclosures he broke out of his xpen and got into hers. There was fur everywhere and they wrecked the pace but luckily no injuries. They’ve since been separated back into their original enclosures, but when they were in there together it seems like she won’t let him come off of the little ikea bed. This was my first time swapping them so I guess we need to reinforce the walls.

[DanaNM]

Hi there, thanks for the background info!

So my impression is that doing a period of just side-swaps would help, since you mentioned you just swapped them for the first time recently. Usually I like to do side swaps for at least a week or two before doing full-on bonding sessions. I think maybe a brief pause with just side swaps could lower the temperature a bit, especially given the fight they got in. Sometimes I’ve found that mounting really calms down after this “pre-bonding” period because they get really used to each other’s smells. And yes definitely make sure those walls are tall, and with a buffer to prevent nose nipping. You can clip a sheet to the top of the pen as a roof as an added precaution.

My other suggestion is to try a larger space. I’ve always had better luck with larger spaces than smaller, so I usually try to use an area that’s at least 1 x-pen, ideally 2 x-pens linked up. The rational is that when sessions start getting longer, sometimes they want to move away from each other (which is part of communication). If the space is too small, they have no where to go and it can lead to things escalating to fights that otherwise wouldn’t.

Also make sure your space is really neutral, sometimes even being with smelling-range of their home turf can make things more challenging.

Overall though I don’t think it’s going too badly! I think with some side-swaps and a larger space you will see some progress.

When he goes to mount and it looks like she’s going to turn and fight him, prevent him from mounting and pet them both to calm them. Same when she requests grooms, pet them both and swap scents. You will eventually ease off this much intervention but for now (since things are escalating to fighting) you want to focus on getting them calm around each other again.

. . . 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.  

[MooMooBunny]

Group size: 2

Both Males, both nuetered. They are almost 2 and are 3 weeks apart. Our first attempt at bonding went horribly, we moved too fast and they ended up in a minor fight. There were no injuries, but we’ve been hesitant to start bonding again. Their enclosures have been next to each other (they can groom each other through the bars) for a year now and they’ve been fine. We tried to start small and they were not getting along super well, in the end, one was lying down but the other was still scooted into a corner. The dominant one was mounting the other one etc… We just aren’t sure where to begin!

 

[DanaNM]

Hi MooMooBunny! It would be best for you to start a new thread with your bonding questions to avoid confusion!

When you’re in the bonding section just click the “Create Topic” button. There’s also a “template” pinned in the bonding section that you can copy paste into your post to provide some additional info that helps people give better advice. 🙂

. . . 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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