Bonding my Anxious rabbit and an Excitable Rabbit

[Rem]

 

The top rabbit is named Jayjay (Holland Lop, 2 yrs, Male, fixed) he is the Excitable one and newest rabbit to the household.

The bottom rabbit is named Touka (Netherland dwarf, 5 yrs, female, spayed) and she has been with us since a couple weeks old and is extremely attached to me, however as our personalities bleed into our pets a bit, I’m an extremely anxious person and I feel she is very jumpy because of that as well.

 

No fight has happened so far in bonding but the last time (~a week ago) jayjay’s excitement scared touka and she made a growl and about to lunge but I was able to get my hand between them and separate before she could bite him. Whenever jayjay runs around and binkies because he sees Touka, Touka always immediately runs away and from what I’ve learned if jayjay gets excited and touka can’t run away she will get scared and feel cornered then agressive. I’m likely exaggerating through my anxiety filter on how bad they are as before that they had many sessions where they had no troubles (in a very small area) were able to pet the both of them side by side. Another positive of the process so far is that touka follows me downstairs which she used to never before we got jayjay and seems to try and always come back to a spot where she can observe him after she runs away.

 

Outside of the physical bonding of the rabbits I’ve been swapping their food and water bowls daily for about a week now as well as daily swapping of their toys.

Some extra info on their living conditions is jayjay stays in the kitchen in a 2mx2m play area during the day then at night he has an xpen in my brothers room which touka never goes into to stay at night. Jayjay is the most passive rabbit I’ve encountered, no agression with food or territory that we can see and will try to play with anyone. Touka has been a free roam rabbit with the entirety of upstairs minus my brothers room for her entire life, to add on top she gets very territorial over food and her hidey spots unless it’s me, however I mostly attribute this to the lack of delicate footsteps from the other members of my household.

I would greatly appreciate anything I’m missing when introducing a new friend to a timid and anxious rabbit, touka and jayjay are both very sweet on their own and will groom most people who live in the household frequently, however touka is a little more picky with her grooming. Both have no severe or permanent health conditions and are perfectly healthy rabbits. I can provide further info on anything if need be.

 

I’d especially appreciate help with how to manage Touka’s anxiety to Jayjay’s excitement. Thank you for reading this much!

[DanaNM]

Hi there, welcome 🙂  I think you covered most of it, but there is a pinned “Bonding template” in this section that asks a few questions that will be helpful to know!

In your case, since it sounds like the buns are both a bit anxious, I would recommend doing full on pre-bonding and pause physical bonding sessions for now. So instead of just swapping food bowls and toy, swap which bun is on which side every day or two. Or if that isn’t possible, swap litter boxes (when they aren’t just cleaned).

It would also likely help to alter their set-ups so they are living side by side as neighbors. You could use x-pens or NIC cube grids to set this up (just make sure there’s a buffer between areas so they can’t nip noses through the fence). But if this isn’t practical it’s not a deal breaker. The side swaps will help them get really used to the other rabbits scent and will make them loss track of their territory a bit.

After a couple weeks of side swaps, you can work on actual bonding sessions. Be sure the space you working with them in is 100% neutral. With a free-roam rabbit, this can be kind of tricky, but bathrooms, kitchens, garages, and laundry rooms can work well if you can deodorize the area so it doesn’t smell too familiar.

If you found they were doing well in a small space with petting, keep up with that strategy, and slowly pet less and see what happens. Anything that promotes calm behavior between them is a good thing. 🙂

. . . 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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