Hope for bonding bunnies

[2buns2luv]

Hiyas!!!

From what I’ve been reading on the forums alot of you have either bonded single buns with another single bun or are in the process of bonding mulitple buns with single buns etc etc. Some of you have had good times, bad times and some down right violent times with your fur-babies.

Some of you might know that my partner Jonathan and I adopted 2 adult holland lops (1 male, 1 female- bonded pair) to join our family that already consisted of a pair of “teenage” girls (both holland lops) At first the adults hated the younger ones guts to put it mildly, and Shadow, one of the teenagers became very aggressive towards the older female. She would try to nip her every chance she got.

BUT………………

After 4 months, many bathroom “dates” some with all 4 buns, some with only 2 at a time. I’m very happy to say that all are now living quite happily in the same pen. They snuggle together, groom each other and are very affectionate towards one another. Shadow (the aggressive one) has taken a particular shine to Clyde and she follows him around like a erm… Shadow (ha ha)

So please don’t give up on bonding your buns, it truly is worth the effort and seeing them snuggle together is the ultimate reward (as I type this Luna is licking Clyde’s ears, I swear she has a fixation about their ears coz she’s ALWAYS licking them)

~*~  Clyde,Luna,Bunny, Shadow, Jonathan and myself would like to say an extra special thank you to everyone who gave us advice during the bonding process. Each of you have helped make our home peaceful and loving for our bun-babes ~*~

 

( left to right : Clyde, Luna, Bunny – Shadow in the back)

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[Sarita]

Congratulations! Sounds like you persevered and made it happen.

What a cute quartet.

[Beka27]

awesome! a house full of bonded bunnies, i think that’s the ultimate dream of everyone! great job!

[MooBunnay]

Good job! I hope you’ll check in on the bonding forum from time to time and give us some advice, it sounds like you are quite the expert Bonding 4 bunnies all together is quite a feat! I’m still working on two….

[kribble]

Wow, I have finally found something from someone who has bonded 4 bunnies. I have been searching and searching for help on exactly this topic.

I have a male and female bonded pair (the male had another partner, but she passed away and he then took on the other younger female who was already in their trio before she passed).

I am living in France and I visited a shelter hoping to help, but that wasn’t wanted. Because of their bad situation, I felt obligated to save 2 bunnies. They are both young teenage girls. I have successfully bonded the two girls.

My situation is so much like yours, except reversed. I am really hoping that I can get some tips.

I was also planning to try to sometimes do dates 2 by 2 because since I am alone, it is too much for me to control all four at a time. I have tried and it was not successful. The two pairs seem to hate the both of the other pair, and there is one of the new teenage girls who gets a bit aggressive sometimes because of fear. The girl bonded with my boy is also somewhat with the new girls.

For now they are separated in my house, but they can communicate through the barrier, but they are not yet friendly with each other through the barrier. 

All the girls were spayed together 3 1/2 weeks ago. They are still spraying pee and sometimes digging in their blankets, so maybe I still have to wait another week or two.

Anyway, I am so grateful to have read your post and I am hoping you will read this and be able to give me some tips on how to go about this. I don’t have much choice because where I live it would be very hard for me to find another good home for the rescued buns and I would NEVER give them back to that shelter.

Thank you from me, PomPom, Nuzzle, Sparkle and Lili

…I will also welcome anyone else on this forum with tips for my case.

[BinkyBunny]

This link might be helpful too.

http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htm

She done alot of mulitple bondings – I think up to six!

 

[MooBunnay]

Hi Kribble

Welcome to Binkybunny! I lived in France for a year when I was in college, I lived in Reims and then in Paris after that.

I’m glad to hear you were able to rescue the two bunnies – it sounds like they were in a very bad situation.

For bonding multiple bunnies, I would recommend a lot of the same techniques that are recommended on this site for bonding two bunnies, and implement those with two bunnies at a time. I’m sure that bonding 4 will take more commitment and persistence than bonding two, but it definitely sounds like you have the motivation so I think you can do it!

[kribble]

 Thank you BinkyBunny.

I do know this page and it is fantastic, only her basic technique of using the table and her family around it doesn’t work for me because I am alone. My husband is always working, and I cannot control all 4 bunnies at a time by myself. 

She does have a lot of other tips that are really good though and I must say that this page was the first thing I found that talked about the possibility to bond multiple bunnies and it gave me hope and made me feel so much better after hearing from a couple rabbit rescue centers that it probably would never work for me.

I do believe I can make it work, but it is obviously going to take time.

Thank you for responding and giving the link !

[kribble]

Thank you for your welcome MooBunnay!

Excuse me for taking so long to respond. I have had too much work lately.

Yes, the bunnies were in a bad situation in the shelter. They are really happy and healthy here now. I’m glad. 

I did try to do a bonding session with all four shortly after I had written my first post.. Since my male bun, Nuzzle, knows my whole small house, I had to take them outside on the grass in a small enclosed area. Unfortunately each time one of the pairs got near one of the other paris they wanted to start a fight or a bite, so I had to stop it all and separate them. After that I tried the car. They were all calm in the car and I was able to put them next to each other. I did the car for about 15 minutes 3 days in a row and on the third day, Sparkle, the new bun got scared and that made her a bit aggressive I think. She started moving too much and then PomPom tried to bite her (and got my finger instead – which is good), but after that I decided that they all needed more time to calm down in the new home or new arrangement. It was only 3 weeks after all the girls were spayed, so I think it was also too soon after that. It is now 5 weeks and they are much more calm and knowing their home and each other through the barriers. I am going to wait a bit more and then try again as you say 2 by 2.

The thing I find most difficult is to stop anything bad from happening and trying to end on a good point. Once they get annoyed or angry, it is hard to go back to a good point.

It is also difficult because the new buns are in an area of our house which of course was known by my other buns. I am hoping that is not making them angry, but I have no other choice. (I do not have the possibility to take the bunnies to any other neutral area outside of my home area, so I have to make it work here.) I also made a couple mistakes in the beginning. On the first day my PomPom got into the area of Sparkle, one of the new buns because she pushed the barrier really hard and I wasn’t prepared for that. She then attacked – and I suppose they both still remember that well. On the second day, my husband let Sparkle out in the shared area and she pushed the barrier of my older buns open and Nuzzle got in and attacked. Since then everything is strongly closed, but they also nipped each other through the barriers until I got that handled. So, there were a lot of bad beginnings and mistakes. Now it is good though. They are all calm and happy in their home and with their partners – but not together as a group.

I am motivated and I will persist, but it is time consuming and tough on my spirits when they don’t get along. 

I will use the techniques you recommend and also work at it in pairs. I am still going to wait a bit longer though so I have the time and am well-prepared. 

Thank you very much for your help, and feel free to give more if you get any other ideas that would help my specific situation.

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