Male & Female Bonding

[Mathew]

So I’m going to be honest, when I first got Boo (my older rabbit, the male), I knew absolutely nothing about rabbits. He was abandoned near my mom’s previous work place and she just called me down to the car, handed me a box and said “this is yours”. We then went to get a free cage, bedding and food from one of her coworkers who didn’t need it anymore. He seemed to be rather young, and after about a month, went into puberty (which is how we found out he was male). From that, and him nearly doubling in size, I concluded he was about 4 months.

A year later, we moved to another town. When we visited the pet store for the first time, there was a bird being bullied by another bird and we left with her. Second time we went? We left with a rabbit. She was so pretty, and Boo needed a friend, and we had no self control. We were told Dahlia was 4 months… and male. After about 30 minutes of having her near Boo, it was pretty clear she was not a male rabbit.

We separated them completely for a year, until we were able to find a rabbit savvy vet and spay Dahlia. She was my priority, because of the uterine cancer stats in unspayed females. After she healed, I waited a few extra weeks and tried again. I’ll admit, I was being a little stupid, but I was making sure it was a neutral and safe space. I wanted to bond them and hoped they’d get along. After an attempted 20 bonding session, I did some more research and learned that the male does not, in fact, care if the female is spayed or not. I had felt so guilty that it was taking so long because Dahlia was stuck in such a small cage. I moved them to a space neither rabbits had been in and built an attached cage that would give them both a decent amount of space. They now live next to each other and I have had them out a couple times together, they seem to get along really well. The only problem is that Boo isn’t fixed and will try to mate for a little while if they are out together. Dahlia is also quite submissive, if that makes a difference. There has never been any biting, and they’ve groomed each other several times.

I’d like to think that now, after all the research, observations and accidents (none of which have ever been dangerous or violent in any way), I know quite a bit about rabbits, but I’m never sure.

I’m hoping to have the money and time to neuter Boo this month, I’ll be putting him in a separate room to heal for 5-6 weeks. As I understand, 4 weeks are needed after surgery and I’d like to add an extra week or two just to be safe and let his hormones calm down.

How long do you think it’ll take to have them bonded and in the same cage? I’m confident it’ll be successful, based on how well they already get along when Boo’s hormones aren’t raging. I’ll be moving for college by September and, ideally, I’d like to have them in the same cage by then. I’ll be building a new one specifically for the apartment (as the current one is unsuitable for a small space). What bonding strategy should I use? They’re already completely used to each others scent. How will I know they’re bonded and ready to share a permanent space?

[Sirius&Luna]

It sounds like you have the right idea! I would leave Boo to heal for a week, then I would recommend starting to swap them between cages. I know they’re used to living next to each other, but it’s good for them to lose a sense of what is ‘their’ territory, and it also helps them get used to each others scents, as Boo’s scent will change after his neuter. So leave Boo to heal for a week (neuters are generally much easier than spays), then spend the 4-5 weeks you were planning on swapping them between cages. Since you were planning on keeping them separate for this time anyway, there’s no harm in it even if you think they already know each other’s scents.

Then, you can introduce them in a neutral space. Are there any areas in your house that they haven’t been? The bathtub or a table top is often a good option. Your best bet is to start off with very short sessions, and if they go well, increase the time. It sounds like your two are pretty used to each other already, so hopefully you’ll be able to increase the time pretty quickly. When I say short, I mean 5 minutes 3 times on the first day – if that all goes well then do 10 minutes 3 times the second day, then stretch it to to two twenty minute sessions, until you can do an hour at a go. Just keep gradually increasing the time. You want to get to a point where they can happily spend 6-8 hours together a few days in a row, then you can test them overnight.

As for how long this takes – I just bonded a trio and it took 6 weeks from first session to bonded. It can take anywhere from 3 weeks to a few months, but I think around a month is usual.

As for when they’re bonded – you kind of see something click between them. Hopefully you’ll see mutual grooming, snuggling together, and moving round as a pack. If you see no negative interactions between them, and lots of positive interactions during 48 hours in their permanent home, you can call them bonded.

And a quick overview:

Positive interactions – grooming, mirroring actions, flopping, snuggling, eating together

Neutral – nipping, humping, ignoring each other, face to face stand offs,

Negative – chasing, biting, boxing, humping that goes on too long or is distressing the other rabbit, face humping.

Negative actions should be stopped immediately, the others should be allowed to continue  

I would also recommend reading through a few people’s journals on here, so you can see how bonding progresses, what to do if something isn’t working, etc. It’s really useful and helps to be prepared! Bonding can be really stressful and demoralising at times, so reading journals of people who have successfully bonded helps you to get an idea of what works, and see that it’s not all terrible when something goes wrong! I think it was about 10 days ago I posted about a bonding session that turned into a nightmare after one bun started spraying pee and humping anothers face  but now they’re all happy!

[Mathew]

Ahh thank you so much! Both rabbits have been pretty much everywhere now, but neither have been in the tub or upstairs bathroom, so I think I’ll use that space. For bonding sessions, how far apart should they be? Would 30-60 minutes in between be good or should it be longer?

It’s good to know which interactions are neutral, I had thought nipping was a no-no. It’s a relief to know it should only take a few weeks to a few months, they should hopefully be bonded and sharing a home by the time I move. Though, I can continue the bonding afterwards, if need be.

Would taking them outside together be a good bonding experience? I know my female absolutely adores it, and was thinking about taking them out together eventually, once they’re getting along nicely. Maybe when they can’t be together happily for an hour?

I’ll definitely start reading some of the bonding journals on here, that sounds like a really good idea thank you!

[Sirius&Luna]

How far apart the bonding sessions are doesn’t really matter – the goal is to just get them used to the idea that they can spend time with the other rabbit, and it’s not terrible! So whenever suits you really. Once you’ve started bonding, it’s good to try and do sessions every day though, so that they dont lose progress. Of course occasionally you’ll have to miss a day, but it would be difficult to make progress if you only put them together once a week.

Nipping is how rabbits communicate, so it’s fine It’s different to biting – biting breaks the skin, or pulls fur. My female would sometimes nip the boys on the bum to tell them to move out of her way during bonding, but as long as they don’t escalate beyond a quick nip, that’s fine. You may have noticed your bunnies occasionally nip you to say feed or pet me, or move out of my way!

Outside space is generally quite neutral, as it doesn’t hold smells so well. It’s worth trying a variety of places – what works for some bunnies won’t work for others, so there’s certainly no harm in trying once you’ve got past the first hurdle of just getting them to be nice for a reasonable amount of time! My bunnies HATE the bathtub, and also immediately descended into lunging on the bathroom floor, but the less neutral living room worked really well for them, so it is worth experimenting if the bathtub seems to be putting them on edge!

[Mathew]

Thamk you, you’re a big help! The nipping makes a lot more sense when you say it like that, I think I just didn’t consciously know that it was fine despite never worrying about it before (Boo would nip me or the cat to get us to move).

If the bathroom doesn’t work, I’ll try the living room. It doesn’t smell like either rabbit, however, I tend to think of it as a space where the rabbits can’t run around (it’s the dog’s space, and she’s young and excitable and will chase them if they run, though they can be together if the bunnies are being held or on the couch, Dahlia likes the dog well enough and Boo will tolerate her)

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