Bonding, Territory, and a Long Wait

[Leese1015]

My husband and I have had Dexter for almost 2 years. He has been our only bun that entire time but we started to get the feeling he may be lonely for some other bunny company. We adopted Hannah about 10 days ago and we got her all set up in her temporary cage in our home and have started the bonding process with our Dexter. 

The first few days she seemed really submissive and didn’t seem to want anything to do with Dex during their supervised bonding times, and when we would try to give her some time to hop around by herself she wouldn’t come out of her cage and didn’t seem to want much to do with us. We chalked it up to being a bit home sick for the shelter she came from. Then by Wednesday and Thursday she started getting quite aggressive towards Dexter during their supervised bonding times and actually ending up taking out several big chunks of his fur (no blood drawn so far thank heavens) and frightening him quite a bit. She has also nipped at my husband a couple of times. When we would let her out of her cage for time to run around the house by herself she would hop around for a minute and then start peeing all over the place. We would put her in her litter box when this happened so she would know that this is where she needs to be when she pees but it hasn’t been helping. We think it is more of a marking her territory thing vs. a not knowing where her litter box is issue. Since her aggressive behavior/territory marking started Dex has now started marking his territory around her cage when it is his time to be out and run around the house. As of Saturday Hannah has now started peeing out of the front of her litter box and cage so that it runs all over our floor. We have tried adjusting the box in case it was not the right spot for her but the behavior continues no matter where her box is and as of Saturday afternoon she shows no interest in coming out of her cage at all.  So the last few days have been tough and a lot of bunny pee has been cleaned up. 

We have scheduled to have our Dex fixed but they can’t get him in until the end of the month. I am really, really tired of cleaning up bunny pee, is there anything bunny-safe I can use to discourage the territory marking? I have seen a Nature’s Miracle product to stop marking at PetSmart but it looks like it’s mainly for dogs and cats. I am tempted to try it but I just wonder if there is something out there that is A) Cheaper B) Better suited/safe for bunnies. The last thing I want right now is for one of our bunnies to get sick from something I used to try to stop this behavior. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Leese1015]

I should also mention, Dexter, a Mini Rex, is about half the size of Hannah, breed unknown, so if she was unsupervised with Dex she could easily do some real damage to him and he wouldn’t have much of a fighting chance against her.

[MoveDiagonally]

Hey there!

Rabbits are territorial animals, even when altered, and marking/litter box issues pre, during, and post bonding are very common. You have two unbonded territorial animals being housed near each other. :/ This is just something that is going to happen. The best thing to clean up bunny pee/remove smell is vinegar/water mix. I also use baking soda along with the 50/50 mix if it’s on carpet. I would keep trying to re-enforce good habits until you can get your male neutered and these two bonded.

Before bonding can take place all bunnies involved must be spayed/neutered + 4-6 weeks. Hormones add an unpredictable aspect to bonding that can make either rabbit more aggressive. It’s better to eliminate that as a possibility at all. Once your male rabbit is neutered his smell will change which can completely reset their progress. I would stop doing sessions until he’s neutered and his hormones have dissipated (4-6 weeks)

I should also mention, Dexter, a Mini Rex, is about half the size of Hannah, breed unknown, so if she was unsupervised with Dex she could easily do some real damage to him and he wouldn’t have much of a fighting chance against her.

They should not be left unsupervised until they are bonded.

If you haven’t checked out the BB article on bonding I highly suggest it:
https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/9/PID/940/Default.aspx

[Leese1015]

Thank you for the cleaning tip and other advice MoveDiagonally. Because of the size difference we never leave the two bunnies unsupervised outside of their separate cages.

I have to say it is a little disheartening to think that we may have almost two months of cleaning up territorial bunny pee ahead of us. We were told the bonding process may be more difficult with a un-neutered bunny but were told to go straight to the car-ride, scare-you-into-bonding technique and we didn’t want to do that. The BB article was very helpful and I wish we would have had it a month ago when we started this journey to adoption, it would have been much easier.

[Peony]

I think a key tip needs to be remembered and I am not sure if you know or not.

First you have to try bonding them in a place both normally do not have access to, this is called neutral territory. The reason for that is so one does not go on the defense on defending an area. This is why caution is stated on that link about keeping the cages next to each other, depending on the personality of the rabbits, it might be best to keep them out of sight of each other and just let the other know about them by sent only before actually them meeting by sight.

If they are the type that needs the sent only treatment for a bit, a bit is 1-2 weeks for rabbits.

I really like this story of getting a good idea of bonding hardships:

http://www.bunnymama.com/Bonding/bondinggeneral.aspx

 Is the girl fixed?

[Leese1015]

Peony, we have been doing their bonding sessions in a closed off neutral area of our home with wood flooring, to deter full on fighting and chasing, with a small rug to give a small area of relative “level” ground. They are put in their cages during the day while my husband and I are at work and their separate cages are about a foot apart from each other so that they can still smell one another but are not close enough to touch. We may have to try moving Hannah into a different room for a days to see if this will calm down their territorial-ness. Thanks!

Hannah is fixed. 

[Peony]

Oh okay but keep in mind what MoveDiagonally said. That hormone issue settling down time after being fixed is needed.

We have scheduled to have our Dex fixed but they can’t get him in until the end of the month

Before bonding can take place all bunnies involved must be spayed/neutered + 4-6 weeks.

So you are really looking at keeping them split till end of Feburary at the earliest to sometime mid/end march to start trying to bond them again.

[Leese1015]

Thank you Peony, I see what you are saying now, keep them separated until after the 4-6 weeks after Dexter is fixed.

So you are really looking at keeping them split till end of Feburary at the earliest to sometime mid/end march to start trying to bond them again.

I hate the thought of keeping one or another bunny alone in a different room but I guess that is the only pee-free option we have until we get through the next few weeks.

Thanks again!

[MoveDiagonally]

Please do keep us posted!

I would also recommend reading the bonding section. You’ll find a lot of great bonding stories/journals/tips ect… From members here.
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aff/11/Default.aspx

[Leese1015]

UPDATE: So after observing the bunnies in separate rooms from each other we noticed that the stress level in both buns went down dramatically. Dexter stopped territorially marking and resumed his normal everyday behavior as if Hannah had never even been in the house. Hannah on the other hand continued to withdraw and refused to come out of her cage unless forced when we needed to clean it. She also continued to pee and poop outside of her litter box which she had never done at the shelter. She also spent a large amount of time cuddling and grooming the stuffed animal we had brought with her from the shelter. After a few days of observation and communication with the shelter employees we decided that she was homesick for the shelter (a wonderful no-kill shelter with amazing bunny facilities) and she was becoming depressed. We agreed the best thing for her was to take her back. It broke our hearts but it would have been worse if she continued to be depressed even after fixing Dexter. We believe that this was not a bunny match made in heaven and never would be. As soon as we got her back to the shelter and her former room. She happily hopped around and made herself comfy. This solidified our belief that she was very homesick and would be happier there. We feel we did the right thing for her and hopefully she will find a permanent family where she will be happy.

Dexter will still be neutered soon, we want to make sure that he has the longest happiest life he can, and when we are ready we will try bonding him again, this time with a smaller, younger bun. Thanks all for your advice and support!

[RabbitPam]

Hi, If you don’t mind I’m just going to move this post to the Bonding Forum. You may find it helpful to browse other posts there as well, since many give tips for situations you haven’t even encountered yet.

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