Bonding male and female rabbit went bad.

[ProudBunnyOwner]

Hi everyone.

 

Over a month ago I had my recently adopted male mini lop Hershey fixed. I got him because I wanted another bunny and I also wanted my spayed female Jazmine to *hopefully* have a companion.

Jazmine is a 4 year old american sable, and Hershey is a 1 year old black/brown mini lop.

 

Now, Jazmine my american sable (the female) she isn’t a very laid back bunny compared to Hershey. I’ve done a bit of pre-bonding with the two of them by placing his cage near hers where there is enough space between the bars so they can’t nip at each other.

When I did that, they seemed completely oblivious to each other. Didn’t care about each other’s prescence at all.

 

For bonding them, I placed the two of them inside of my bathroom on the floor where it’s a bit crammed and they didn’t have much access to run around and chase each other if that was to happen. I was going to place them into the tub, but my tub is very deep and I thought it would be a bit harder for me to seperate them if a fight occured so I put them on the floor with a towel and a bunch of hay.

Once my male rabbit (Hershey) tried to mount my female bunny, she instantly started to bite him and they started to fight. I grabbed my spray bottle full of water and sprayed it on them and when that didn’t seperate them from the fighting, I placed a towel over my male rabbit and brought him away from the female.

I stroked the two of them as I tried to calm them down before trying again, and my male rabbit went over to her face and Jaz the female started to bite him and fight with him again.

So again, I seperated them, stroked them to calm down and relax a bit.

 

With these two, I don’t see it being the male rabbits fault. He is completely willing to be nice and friendly towards my female rabbit, but she is just not having it with him. Hershey the male is such a sweetheart and came over to me as I was trying to relax the two of them and cuddled up to me.

I’m not sure why my female rabbit is a bit of a meany towards him, but I only tried to do this twice and after the 2nd time of fighting, I called it off because I didn’t want my male rabbit to get seriously hurt by the female.

By the end of it, the two of them were across from each other and eating as I held up a towel and slowly lowered it over and over again so they could see each other eating, but my female rabbit was very tense and just was not liking the situation.

 

Should I try this again another day? What other steps can I do to calm down my female rabbit a little bit to let her try and accept him? I don’t want to force it obviously, and I’m totally prepared when it comes to the possibility of them not being bonded.

 

Should I wait a few days, and then try again? I can’t do stress bonding because I don’t understand how I’m supposed to get the two of them inside of a carrier and into a car without them ripping each other’s heads off in the process of being inside of the carrier itself. What about a different room? A smaller space?

Thank you in advance, I greatly appreciated all the replies and tips!

 

 

 

 

A very annoyed Jazmine after the session.

[Baxter n Boos Mom]

Some of the other bunny owners here have used the vacuum cleaner for stress bonding. Just the loud sound can cause stress – helping the buns cling to one another.

Also you don’t have to get them in a car – you can use a laundry basket, and jiggle it, or drag them around for stress bonding.

There are some amazing threads on bonding here that you may want to read up on.

[ProudBunnyOwner]

Well the car stress bonding was something that alot of people have told me to do and I was always thinking, “How am I supposed to get two bunnies into the same carrier that don’t like each other for a car ride?”

 

The vacuum cleaner method I haven’t tried yet, today was like “day 1” of them fully introducing since my male rabbit has been nuetured. Should I try again tomorrow with the vacuum cleaner? 

 

I have read the other guides and multiple guides online when it comes to bonding two rabbits, but I just wanted information mainly to see if anyone else is going through what I am and can relate. I like to talk with people that are in the bonding process and can relate to it.

[Baxter n Boos Mom]

Here are a couple good threads to read, where 2 experienced bun moms describe their bonding experience as they went through it. Very insightful….
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/125145/Default.aspx
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/125513/Default.aspx

Best of luck!

[Author]

Messages