Bonding male holland lops?

[Bunsen]

  I am so incredibly happy I found this forum… I hope you guys can help me, because I am mortified.

About one year ago, as I was unemployed, Bunny came to our home. My ex-boyfriend, his previous owner passed away when he was 12 weeks old and left him to me. In the beginning I couldn’t get him at all… he was a scared little male lop, but as time goes by he has turned into a fantastic little animal… He is playful, social to all the visitors in our home, curious, playful and so chilled! He never does his thing out of his toilet even if now he has access to the entire appartment at all times when we are home. He doesn’t chew cables, or furniture…. a complete delight except for those intense days in which he is better known as Bunzilla.

My husband and I always knew Bunny would need a friend at one point or another, but I always delayed it selfishly, afraid Bunny wouldn’t cuddle with me in bed in the mornings or lick me all over as I was sad… ever since our second bun was a thought, we decided to call him Clyde… well, I guess you can see why… we knew he would come because no matter how much we try to understand and love Bunny in the bun way, we know we just won’t do…

And the time is coming… I have a job in which I leave at 9 and rarely come back before 7… I moved to a different city and even if Bunny gives no indications to feel lonely, we know… it is time. Before we move Bunny to my new flat Clyde should be around… and thinking about it today I got in touch with a shelter and Clyde an orange lop is close by, ready to be picked up…

A little older than Bunny, Clyde is also a neutered male, who I already started loving by seeing his little face on a picture, and I am so worried about so many things…. what if I suck at helping them become friends? what if all those horror stories about bunnies killing eachother are true? what if they are never able to share a space and play? what if I have to live for many years with hopping free shifts? what if Bunny becomes more miserable than happy? what if he becomes less loving? what if the free space they have to run is the same space where their cages would be?

what if, what if what if… I am completely nervous about it and I guess it is better to find peace before Clyde arrives, I am horrified and panic with both buns….

 

HELP!!! 

[Beka27]

Thank you for reposting this! I deleted your post from the other thread.

Have you “bunny dated” them? How did the introductions go if you did?

[Bunsen]

I will take Bunny to the shelter to meet possible Clyde on the pick up date… I hope it will be good because it will break my heart to leave the orange lop there… he was left by a family that didn’t manage to cope with his teens…

[Bunsen]

I guess they just thought bunnies are cute but didn’t really think of how it is to have a bun for real and that they are not stuffed animals for children…

[Elrohwen]

Welcome! I would definitely suggest a bunny date with Clyde to see how things go. If possible, I would introduce Bunny to some other rabbits while you’re there, if you can. Even if you aren’t interested in the other buns as much, it can really help to see how he will react to a new friend. We introduced Otto to about 4 other rabbits at a shelter and found he was very easy going and got along with all of them. When we found Hannah on Craigslist and went to meet her we had a good idea of what to expect and what a good reaction would be. For example, your bun could be humpy with everyone, but if you only introduce him to one bunny you might think it’s a bad match when it’s just how he is.

I had a lot of issues when I first brought Hannah home – I was very nervous about her and unsure if I could love another bunny like Otto. I thought I had made a big mistake and almost took her back. It’s tough, but just trust yourself! You’ll have a lot of help here with the bonding and most buns can bond – it just takes longer with some than others. Good luck! I’d love to see pics.

[Bunsen]

Thanks for the comforting comments. Do you think I also have so positive chances even if they are both male and in the space situation I have?

[Elrohwen]

Definitely! I think females tend to be the most territorial, so bonding two males is easier than two females. Heck, if I’d had two males with my boy’s personality they would’ve been bonded right away – it was my bossy female that took some time (she had to learn manners).

I don’t think your space will be a problem. I live in an apartment – we do have a second floor, but both buns live on the first floor with an open floor plan. It’s great if they can live next to each other while you’re working on the bonding (even switching habitats every day). It was a little tricky to give both enough exercise time, but we worked it out. You could always put up baby gates and let one out in a bedroom and the other out in the living room or something.

Otto was a happy only bunny and he was stressed when we got Hannah because she was so bossy and humpy with him. She learned to be gentler and he learned to trust her and it only took me a month to bond them. Now they’re the best of friends and Otto is so much happier with her around. He’s not as friendly with us, but then he was never a cuddly bunny. Hannah loves attention and still seeks us out, even though she has Otto. I think all bunnies might become a little bit more aloof after bonding, but their basic personality won’t change.

[Bunsen]

Do you think it’s a good idea to put them in the carrier together for the car ride home after the date to pick up Clyde and arrive in the new apartment to my room where the news cages are together? That is… if they don’t take each others’ eyes out immediately…

[Bunsen]

 We are so happy to have found you guys!!!

Meet Bunny… broken black male holland lop… really born in Maastricht, The Netherlands

Here is a picture of prospective Clyde… orange male holland lop… we hope he will love living with us… born in Gronningen, The Netherlands…

And last but not least, Bunny and me, walking around town in Germany, going for coffee and geting some work done…

[Bunsen]

 

[Elrohwen]

So stinkin cute!!! I adore black and white hollands (as you can tell from my avatar) and the other little guy is super cute too. It looks like he’s harliquin colored, since I can see some black markings in with the orange. That’s another of my fav colors and I’d love to get a harli holland!

I would bring Clyde home and let him settle in first before bonding. I know some people might say to do your first car ride on the way home, but you don’t know how stressed out he’ll be by the car so it’s probably better to take it easy on him for a day or two. You don’t want him to get too settled and start thinking “mine mine mine” about your house though 😉

[Bunsen]

I a also a freak for those black and white fellows, I wanted originally also a second one like that, but then we thought it was better to get an older bun rather than a baby, and the shelter had no available male black white lops around a year old, so they sent us the picture of the orange one, which we thought… well how sweet is that too… I love those bell shaped ears, and now we will take him so he has a new home too Of course I hope they are the same race because I just love the muscles, body and head structure of the little hollies…

Actually the reason to get him now and not later is that I just moved for work and recently found an apartment. Bunny has never been here either so we thought, I bring him here on the day we pick the new one so they get in the house the first time together under the theory that maybe it is all then no man’s territory which maybe reduces the fight factor (of which I am super scared as you notice).

I bought two cages, they exactly look the same and placed them besides one another in my bedroom. I have kept the box (cage size, made a little higher with the flops kept up) in which one of the cages came to arrange encounters (I have a flatmate now, so that limits things a little more in terms of me running around with my rabbits… (I am already so happy she doesn’t mind!).

I was thinking I can hug them at the same time for some minutes as I get in my bed like I did with Bunny so they can sniff each other and feel safe, and maybe even arrange some “play dates” on the weekends with both of them on the leash in a near by park… besides the whole stunt bun strategy… I don’t know maybe they are all absurd ideas… I just so want them to be chilled and loving (he has grown so fond of napping with me) and happy together… just like Bunny but now twice the fun

Bunny usually runs around free in the bedroom at night (perfect bunny proofing), so I was thinking before they can be on their own free we can change the “free” nights… I find the idea of scheduling excercise so daunting because Bunny runs so free all the time…

Again… maybe I am totally insane…

[Bunsen]

BTW… I really wonder why is this double posting… I can’t delete the duplicate comments…

[Beka27]

Posted By Bunsen on 03/16/2011 04:56 PM
BTW… I really wonder why is this double posting… I can’t delete the duplicate comments…

Only mods can delete duplicate posts.  I took care of those for you.  There’s something going on with the site where it sometimes will double-post, so I usually just try to go thru and delete them when I see them.

 

Please let us know how everything goes meeting Clyde.  (One of my friends just adopted a basset hound name Clyde the other day!)  

House Rabbit Network has a very good bonding article that I like to post for new bonders.  Give this a read and save/bookmark the link.  It was invaluable to me when I was bonding.  

http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml

[Bunsen]

Everything has gone as planned… Yesterday I picked up Clyde…

I brought Bunny home in the morning and put him in his new cage.
I picked up Clyde in the afternoon from the breeder. He seems like a very relaxed rabbit. Not an extrovert like Bunny, but very lovey. He has been sneezing an awful lot, and I am not sure if I should worry.

The second cage arrived late and Clyde had to spend the night in the transporter… I cleaned it, and conditioned it with new litter, food and water.

Bunny showed immediate curiosity about Clyde… the moment he noticed him he tried to get out of the cage and smell in the transporter. I put the clothe that was inside the transporter in Bunny’s cage and he was not aggressive but incredibly inquisitive…

I opened Bunny’s door and he went around the transporter and sniffed around. He started acting extremely thirsty for my attention. I took Clyde for a walk in the kitchen, a little shy but normal. I brought him back after a while to the transporter and brought Bunny to the kitchen, who started leaving pellets all over the place, running free in the room, he went back to sniff the transporter and he made sure to leave pellets all around it.

This morning, Clyde’s cage arrived. Both of them left pellets all over the place. The cages are just besides one another with a small separation. The food trays are one in front of the other so they can see and smell each other as they eat.

In the afternoon as I took Bunny to the kitchen for exercise, I left the doors of both cages open. Clyde didn’t poo around the room but remained under my bed.

I changed them then, and took Bunny to the room and Clyde to run in the kitchen. As I came back for a minute, I found Bunny chilling inside Clyde’s cage with lots of his pellets laying around everywhere. I made sure to clean it up and put them back inside Bunny’s cage before I brought Clyde back into his cage, who them put pellets all around his cage.

For the rest of the afternoon they looked at each other from the corner of their eyes but continued to eat, clean themselves, etc.

In the evening, we had our first date, two minutes long inside the box. I prepared the box with a large hay stack in the middle and pieces of dessert (apple).

For some seconds they tried to ignore each other and get out of the box…

Then Bunny got to the hay stack and started eating… Clyde stayed on the opposite side.

Bunny came to sniff Clyde, he chinned Clyde and then mounted him. I separated them and told Bunny to play nice.

Bunny stayed now on one side of the box, Clyde came, sniffed him and tried to mount him. I separated them again.

After a few seconds on their corners a chase started, I stopped it before it became anything else and took both rabbits inside their cages, stroke them and gave them the apple.

Now each in their cages, they are sitting and staring at each other.

I am possibly more nervous and stressed than they are… What do you think?

[Bunsen]

A couple of minutes after our first date… 

[Elrohwen]

Congrats on getting Clyde! So far everything sounds very normal. I would try stressing them next time and then petting them side by side so they settle down. Having some calm moments like that together will help them trust. Overall though, humping is normal and it’s a good sign that they didn’t immediately try to fight or anything.

[Bunsen]

two hours later… second 2 minutes date…

Told Bunny to be nice… put him in the box with Clyde… petted them both for a little…Bunny started exploring the box… Clyde stayed on the side of the box… Buny sniffed Clyde a couple of times, no mounting.

Bunny started eating hay, then he tried to hump Clyde who jumped of the box.

Told Bunny again to be nice and brought Clyde back in… a small chase and then Clyde let Bunny mount him for a little then hopped off…

Put both of them on my bed, laid down between them, hugging them and letting them get in touch nose to nose… 5 minutes in peace… Bunny got restless and I put them back in their cages with few greens…

Clyde went directly in his house. Bunny paranoid is smelling me a lot, licks me and gets restless again so I take him to his cage, where he lays flat. After a couple of minutes Clyde came out again…

Our hearts are pumping…

[Bunsen]

Clyde is sick… i checked very close at his sneezing and now 3am there is a white discharge i never saw before…

looking for a vet crazily but it seems all are super far away…

bonding postponed… hopefully Bunny didnt get it yet…

[Jenna, Chubs & Comet]

((( Healing vibes!! )))) Your pair will look so similar to mine when they are healthy and bonded! Hang in there too, it takes a while but is so worth it!

[Beka27]

Any update on how Clyde is doing?

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