Bonding new bun with territorial free roam girl

[Bunbuns]

I’m wondering if there’s anything I could be doing differently for bonding my two buns on a tight timeline. I have a 3 year old girl (Mooney) who has free roamed for a few years in my living room and I’m trying to bond her with a new 2 year old male (Albus) who we adopted 2 months ago. He has been living in our guest bedroom with a baby gate between the guest room and living room so they’ve been able to see/smell each other and we got him fixed a little over a month ago. We need them bonded and living together in the next 2 weeks because we’re going on a 2 week European vacation and having some friends come stay and watch them, and we’d really like for them to be in the same space so our friends don’t have to clean up two bunny areas.

We started doing dates in a neutral area (our kitchen) with some blankets, litter box, water bowl, cardboard box, and snacks, and Albus has been very humpy and energetic and it seems like he had established dominance over Mooney since she has been pretty docile and tolerating him. They weren’t fighting and they started grooming each other a bit, so we felt confident to leave them alone/overnight for 3 days in the kitchen. After that, we tried moving back in to the living room together (Mooney’s territory) and first deep cleaned the entire room (washed carpets, soaked/scrubbed all plastic/metal items, soaked wooden items with 50% vinegar) and put away any items that couldn’t be cleaned like natural toys. We also completely rearranged the room and linked a few x-pens together so they had a majority of the room but not all of it. When we introduced them both back to the area, they explored for ~20 min, but then Mooney started getting territorial of the tunnels and other play items, so we removed all the items. She was still acting aggressive which resulted in Albus humping more and then she started lunging/chasing/hair pulling/growling so we moved them back into the kitchen. Once back in the kitchen they were happy as clams and snuggling/sleeping next to one another!!!

The next day we tried again by putting up one small x-pen in the living room with a blanket on the ground from their kitchen area, and only a litter box/hay feeder/water bowl, and I transferred some litter from their kitchen box into this box. I was thinking that we could gradually make the space larger as they got comfortable to try to decrease her aggression. They acted totally happy here for a few hours and I slept on the couch next to them overnight and everything was going well. In the morning I added one panel to their x-pen (increasing the pen space by only 2-3 square feet) and didn’t change anything else, and then she started acting crazy aggressive again and lunging/chasing/hair pulling! We moved them back again to the kitchen and after a little tension they went back to being friends.

I’m concerned that we won’t be able to move them back into the living room since she is still claiming it as her territory, and I’m not totally sure what to try next. I think the living room litter box could be holding onto her scent (it’s wooden, but I did soak it with 50% vinegar) so I might try replacing that with a plastic box. The only other option would be to let them live in the kitchen for now, and them move them into our bedroom while we’re on vacation since it’s the only other area Mooney hasn’t been in so hopefully she wouldn’t act aggressive, but this isn’t optimal since the room is tucked away and the buns wouldn’t get much as attention from the pet sitters compared to living in the living room.

TBH I’m open to any advice/tips/tricks ya’ll have so please let me know if I’m messing anything up!!

 

 

[DanaNM]

So, the short answer is I don’t think I would feel comfortable having them in the living room (where you have had problems before) on this short timeline. However, I do think if you moved them into the kitchen now, and they had zero problems until you left, then you could just have them live in the kitchen together during your trip. Be sure your pet sitters know what trouble signs to look for (like fur tufts, any aggression, etc), and have back-up housing set up in case they need to be separated. I would really only do this if they were acting 100% bonded in the kitchen (lots of cuddling, litter box sharing, food sharing, grooming, etc.) with no aggression in that space.

The absolute safest option is to keep them in their current separate set-ups. This may be less stressful for everyone since you won’t constantly be worrying about how they are doing and there wont be the risk of fighting with unfamiliar people taking care of them.

Once you get back, I def agree with getting rid of the wood litter box, because even with vinegar cleaning I’m sure she still recognizes it. The other suggestion I was going to make is to set up his separate pen in the living room as well, and have them in side-by-side pens. Since he’s been in the guest room, she’s still be able to claim the living room as hers. Doing some additional pre-bonding where they live side by side in the living room, with side swaps every day or two should help her start to lose track of what her territory is so you have a smoother transition to their final living space.

From personal experience, I did something similar to option 1 before (I had them live in the neutral space while a pet sitter was there) and it was nerve wracking. That was actually the only bond I’ve ever had break on me. Whenever I’ve had a timeline for bonding things tend to go south because I try to go by arbitrary timelines instead of actually basing decisions off of the buns’ behavior. So if it were me, I would probably just keep them separated for now, and then focus on more pre-bonding in the living room once you return.

I totally understand wanting to make things easier for the pet sitters, but I’m sure they would rather clean two litter boxes than have to deal with bunny fights!

. . . 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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