Extended Bonding Session Aborted..what’s next?

[Breakie]

Hi!

I have two spayed girls, both about a year old. Lily is a lionhead mix who was born “wild” from escapee/abandoned domestic parents and found in my yard last spring as an 8-10 week old baby.  She was spayed in September.  SD is about the same age, a rex rescue, who was supposed to be a boy, but-after I got her in October and took her to the vet–turned out to be a girl.  She was spayed in December.  The two rabbits have been kept separately (except for two unsuccessful attempt to put their cages nearby each other, which made Lily terribly aggressive).  I have been really worried about bonding them (since I am completely inexperienced) and live in Asia in a country with no rabbit rescues or bonding experts, but finally, yesterday, I tried to do an extended bonding session with them in a new, neutral space in a 2×4 enclosure.  On the advice of a UK rabbit forum I belong to, I was aiming for a 48 hour session if possible; we made it through 7 ours before I called it off.  Now I wonder if I should try again for another long session–try the “dating” method instead–or give up and rehome one rabbit.  I am not even sure if we made progress or if it was a disaster.  Here is what happened:

 

1.  Initially, each rabbit stayed on one side of the enclosure. SD humped Lily who took it for awhile and then flipped.

2. Fighting ensued, jumping all over each other, either retreating to “her” side of the enclosure after I broke it up. Lots of these for the first hour, I guess.  Lots of thumping from Lily, who then started to make forays to SD’s side.  Fighting became more “jumping” at each other and then retreating, rather than jumping all over each other. I put a big pile of hay in there and they mostly ate that for a long time,

3. Meanwhile, SD pretty much stayed in her corner.  She started thumping at Lily, when she started to come over.  She became the main “thumper”

4.  Nonetheless, after while and a few more jumping at each other sorts of fights, Lily started coming over and getting nose to nose with SD, who pretty much remained huddled in the corner. Mostly, this did not lead to fights, and Lily sniffed and retreated, but sometimes it did.  After a few of these altercations, over on their own in a few seconds, SD tried to climb out of the enclosure.  Lily flopped down on “her” side, SD remained in “her” corner.

5.  Then, Lily moved from nose-sniffing to grooming SD’s face; SD huddled and hunkered down and looked very tense.  Lily moved to SD’s back and then rump, fighting ensued very time she did this  (and each time I stopped it after maybe 10 seconds or so), this happened a few times.  SD tried to climb out again. 

 7.  Lily settled about a foot from SD and groomed herself, even lay down for a bit on her side, while SD remained huddled and for the most part looking tense in the corner.  After a while, Lily did the grooming thing to SD again and the fighting sort of picked up again.  Back to the “jumping all over each other” kind of fighting.  Now, after every fight, SD tried to climb out and the last time, she made a sort of soft cry sound a few times, at which point, I stopped this and put each bun back in her own home–though no one was hurt in any of this, and even very little fur was pulled, it seemed cruel and too stressful to SD, even if it was, perhaps, making progress.  Thing was, I just wasn’t sure…

 Was this a good or bad start, and what should I do next?  Would really appreciate some advice as I am unsure of this whole thing, to be honest, and do not even know how to assess it.  How do you more experienced folk read this, and what do you recommend?  I could try another extended session, I could try a series of short sessions, or..?

 

 

 

[Deleted User]

I would not try to do an extended bonding session right away. That normally is the last step in the bonding process. I would do a series of short bonding sessions in a small controlled area. A bath rub is great for that.

[Deleted User]

Oh and slowly increase the time that they are together if they are doing well in the small bonding sessions. Make sure to also leave the bonding sessions on a good note or they may hold grudges. If your girls are territorial I would do scent swapping to get them used to each other. Also keeping their cages near each other with a baby gate separating them is another suggestion. You can cover the baby gate with a blanket and slowly raise the blanket over a couple weeks’ time span to get them used to each other.

[Breakie]

OK, well, I trying again. They ran at and jumped over each other a few times, then SD crouched in the corner again. Lily went over a few times and sniffed noses and then backed off. SD was just making herself as small in the corner as she can, not eating any of the nice hay I put in there or moving or interacting with Lily. Lily was quite comforfortable moving all over the enclosure (which is 2×4′) and was eating hay a few inches from SD. Who just stayed in the corner and did not make eye contact with Lily. When Lily came over to sniff noses, SD’s ears moved from pointing slightly forward to pointing slightly backwards. But no fighting after the initial chasing and jumping over each other when I first put Lily in there (I put SD in there first).

I just returned each bunny to her home, so they were only together about 10 minutes. Is this the way to do it? (Interestingly, the British forum folks were saying to do 48 hours if possible, rather than the dating method, I think the idea is to let them work out the hierachy, whereas most of the US sites advocate the dating method, which I am now trying.)

How do I end it on a positive note when one rabbit is so scared of the other? I have each a barley cookie when i returned her the respective homes. I tried giving a treat while both were in the enclosure, but while Lily ate it, SD wouldn’t.

[smileykyleigh]

I am having somewhat of the same issue, and I’m looking forward to following this thread to get some pointers.
Mine fight like crazy when put in a small enclosure(xpen), but my male completely shuts down in the basket. I’ve been putting them in a laundry basket for 10-30 minutes 2x a day. The female tries to get the male to interact, but he just sits there huddled up, breathing heavily. Unless she gets too pushy, and then he’ll try humping which results in her biting him and him getting more scared.
I’m not sure what to do and we are sort of at a stand still. I don’t know how to proceed if they won’t interact in the basket but fight like mad in the xpen!
I also have a similar issue-my male is too afraid to eat the treats at the end of the sessions usually. He just sits there while the female hoovers the treats up.

Looking forward to seeing some responses that will hopefully help the both of us!

[Deleted User]

Okay, it sounds like you’re having some of the same issues I am. I would pack your guys up in a carrier together and take them for a ride. It sounds like they need to learn to trust each other since they have been fighting and the best way to do that is to stress them out and have them find comfort in each other. If you are having them being put into a carrier together. I suggest having someone drive for you and you start your girls off in separate carriers and while the car is in motion then transfer them into one carrier.

[Deleted User]

If you notice they are doing well in the car rides I would then move them to bath tub meetings. Also, doing the banana on the head trick couldn’t hurt.

[Breakie]

Well, after a 5 day break, I put them in a box together and put them on top of the washing machine while it was in the spin cycle. There was still thumping going on from SD, however, but at least they did not fight this time. But, there was certainly no huddling for comfort while on the washer (though they were more or less on the same side of the box). I did this twice then put them in the (dry) bathtub, a new (my last) neutral space here in my house. Lily approached SD to sniff noses a few times, but backed off as SD was still totally tense. Then SD tried to get out of the tub and made this wimper sound again (does anyone know what that sound is all about–it is so unusual, it seems like she is really distressed??) , so I took her out and ended the session. She still would not eat the bunny cookie I tried to give her to end things on a good note while with Lily. She ate it after she was away from Lily though.

Is this hopeless? SD is just so unhappy being with LIly. She doesn’t want her near her… Lily seems to want to makes friends, but SD is too scared …or something…. How can I help SD relax and be positive around Lily? The stress thing did not work (at least, it has not worked yet). And I still cannot end on a positive note as SD too stressed to enjoy a treat…

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