Grumpy Boy Bun – Anyway to Bond Better?

[gingerg]

I have two three-month-old holland lop buns, a brother and sister, who have been with me for a month.They were both shy at first, but I sat on the floor and waited for them to come to me and eventually my little girl did. She “grooms” me frequently (licks clothes and skin) and will accept some “grooming” (petting) in return. She’s sweet and lovely! My boy bun, however, is still deeply uninterested in me. He’ll eat a few pellets out of my hand if I lean over and offer them, but doesn’t come looking for treats (understandable, as I give them plenty of pellets in their bowls) and doesn’t even come near me if he can help it. I try to leave him alone as much as I can (not entirely possible as I need to supervise his playtime with his sister–he hit bunny puberty almost the moment he came home and neither are old enough to be altered yet). He even nips occasionally.

I know this is small potatoes compared with what some other bunny parents are dealing with, but is there anything else I can try to get him to bond with me a bit? Or do I simply need to sit tight and wait to see what he’s like once he’s been neutered?

[MoveDiagonally]

Hello and welcome to BB!

Even supervised playtime is not recommended at their age. I would suggest keeping them 100% separated until they are both spayed/neutered. It takes literally 1 second for a male to impregnate a female and she could hit puberty as early as 4 months (but 3 is not totally unheard of).

One of the best ways to bond with a new bunny is to get down on their level. Sit or lay on the floor and ignore them. Usually this helps them get more comfortable around you. When I brought my first bunnies home I would lay on the floor and read. The first interaction my Penny chose to have with me was hopping all over me like a jungle gym. Lol.

Hormones might also be playing a role and personality accounts for a lot. Some rabbits are more into human affection than others.

[stella'smom]

although i agree that they should be fixed as soon as possible, i don’t like the thought of separating them either. once separated, they will have to be reintroduced, and hopefully they will bond again. but that’s not always the case. i was just reading on another website where there was 2 girls and a boy bonded. the boy had to go to the vet for 3 days. when they brought him back home, the girls rejected him. i would take him to the vet and see if he is old enough to be neutered. mine was neutered around 3mo.

[MoveDiagonally]

Even if he’s neutered at 3 months he’s still fertile for 30 days after the surgery and would still be be able to impregnate her. IMO, separation is really the only option when it comes to baby male/female pairs entering puberty.

[JackRabbit]

You can still separate them but keep their cages next to each other so they can still smell each other.

I have two Holland lops, born 3 days apart (same father). They were together at the breeder’s, lived together when we first got them at 8 weeks. We separated them shortly after but kept their cages next to each other so they could smell each other and sleep “next” to each other but couldn’t touch. They were spayed/neutered the same day (she was a little young but the vet was good with it) and they both did very well. Once the hormones were out of their systems, we let them play together. They never lost their bond. They lived like that for five months until we finished their bunny area (could have been together much sooner). So, it can be done! I was afraid of losing that bind too but ours are gladly still attached to each other.

[JackRabbit]

That’s the other thing, wherever one goes the other goes, even if in separate carriers and even if only one really needs to go. If Moshi needs his ears checked, Marlee goes too. That way both pick up any new smells and no bun gets upset or rejected. With two carriers, you can set them so the door face each other and each can see and smell the other bun.

[gingerg]

Thanks for the responses, guys!

Unfortunately, I can’t place their cages opposite each other, as I have a double-level bunny condo (ramp blocked off while they need to be separated). My vet (an exotics expert who has performed many rabbit alterations) feels comfortable performing the spay as young as four months, provided my girl gets up to a pound of body weight, so we’ve just got a month left to get through. I have an xpen clipped to the front of the condo, and when she’s out in the pen by herself she makes a point of going up to the lower cage where her brother lives and sniffing with him. I do let them have a little time together when I can sit in the pen with them and keep my eyes totally on them (the vet feels this is safe, provided I’m always watching), but it’s not a lot of time. Still, they seem to continue to be OK with each other; in fact, just a day or so ago they flopped down side-by-side and chilled for a quarter of an hour.

When my boy is having his solo pen time, I’ve been introducing him to veggies, which he loves. I’m trying to bond better by making him take the romaine from my hand. He will sit up close to me for that, and let me stroke his head/back, but it’s very clear that he’s enduring it rather than reveling in the pets. *sigh*

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