How to go about bonding in a new house?

[DianeK]

Hi all – I was wondering if I could get some feedback on bonding our girls, Lilly and Jeffrey. They are both under 1 year old.

A little background; both are spayed (back in December) We started to bond them last month (March), it was going along pretty well until we gave them too much area too soon. Established territories overlapped, and there was a border war. That was it. Bond broken. Two weeks of good work down the toilet.

They’ve been separated for 3 weeks, at opposite ends of the house. In a month, we are going to be driving with them from Alaska to Vermont (about 6-7 days of driving)

We would like to get started on the bonding process as soon as we arrive in Vermont in our new home. We’ll have lots of space to work with them in, but I’m not totally sure of the logistics. This is an opportunity to have totally neutral territory for both of them and I don’t want to mess it up. I plan on some stress bonding, as they’ve both proven to be stubborn little sh*its. Also, Lilly was a dumpster bunny, she lived outside for a while (I adopted her from the pound) so she has an aggressive/wild streak. I think stress bonding is the only way to do it.

What would you do, bunny experts? House them in the same room, caged, but exercise them in a part of the house they’ll never go in, and bond them in another unfamiliar area? 

I am baffled by the logistics… any ideas/info anyone could provide would be so much appreciated. 

[Sarita]

Actually, I think if you can, try some stress bonding in the car on the way to Vermont – is that something you would be able to do?

[DianeK]

I’ve thought of that too… it seems like it would be a perfect time to bond them, doesn’t it? I’m a little nervous, as we’re going to be hauling a huge trailer… in the event of a fight, or one of them getting loose, it could be a little dangerous. We’re going to play that one by ear!

[Slowebot]

I think bonding them in the car could work! As long as they’re stressed out enough. One of my rabbits didn’t get stressed from the car but he didn’t like sitting around the in the parking lot so to bond my bunnies I put them in a pen parking lot for an hour and then put them in a carrier and I never separated them again, I marathon bonded them for ~120 hours. I think the car is a really cool opportunity to force your bunnies to trust each other. And then whenever you stop for the night you’ll be in a new place that they will still be stressed in and hopefully won’t fight in. If that works then moving them into the house will be a cinch!

However if you decide against doing that while traveling, I’d still encourage stressing them out (whether that be parking lot, car, or bathtub) and then putting them in a shared space. Bunnies get aggressive when they think they are in their own territory. So if you completely take that away from them, which you will be doing by moving, then they have to rely on each other for comfort rather than their “home”.

So maybe when you get to your new home, don’t give either bunny a permanent home, introducing one bunny to another’s territory sucks. I avoided it by deconstructing both cages and creating a brand new one with flooring (the cages you have will probably loose their scent over the move so that will help!). If you have cages and you decide to bond slowly rather than doing it in the car, some people have had success switching the bunnies between cages every day. I think placing the cages close to each other might work better too since they’ll be in a new territory. Then I would just let them run around in different room and try bonding them in the bathtub or an unfamiliar room to begin with. You seem to have the right idea about it!

How are you moving your bunnies? Are they staying in carriers or dog pens in the car? Also I doubt they’d fight badly in a car, the flooring won’t be very stable and they’ll be nervous, any fights that break out (if any happen at all) would probably easily be ended with a spray of water or clapping/shouting.

I’ll be moving cross country in a little under a year and was considering adopting a bunny right before the move so I could try the travel bonding the new bunny to my other two as well because I think it is such a convenient time to bond bunnies. Keep us updated!

[DianeK]

Thank you, Slowebot! I think you’re right about the car, it’s such a fantastic opportunity. I’ll see it they’re stressed enough. Car rides don’t really phase them. Lilly was eating hay on her way to her spay. And Jeffrey was cleaning her toes in the car. Even the vacuum cleaner – well, Jeffrey has a very strange attraction to it. She like to hang out next to it when it’s not running… and when I am running it, she chases me around. Stressing them out enough is going to be the biggest challenge!

As far as the the ride, they’re both going to be in their cages, next to each other. Stops at hotel rooms are really going to depend on their needs. If they’re just hunkered down, eating, peeing and pooping regularly, we’re just going to keep trading off at the wheel to get there ASAP. If there’s any sign of stress, we’ll stop regularly. I’m actually getting more comfortable with the idea, I was terrified of the prospect at first but from what I understand, rabbits a really quite good little travelers!

[Slowebot]

No problem! You’ll definitely have to make your own judgements about their stress levels. Once I got my bunnies to stop attacking each other by taking them out to the parking lot, smashing them into a carrier together was a cinch because I think they felt like buddies to misfortune. Sherlock doesn’t care about the vacuum either, I could probably vacuum him while he’s shedding and he wouldn’t care, but then he’s scared of the smell of butter I think, so bunnies are weird.

The stops based on their needs sounds great, I think you’ve got a solid plan! I’ve also heard of people taking picnic stops a couple times a day at a quiet stop to let the bunnies enjoy some stillness and quiet if they aren’t eating or pooping as much which might be a nice alternative as well if you’d rather skip paying for hotel rooms.

[Author]

Messages