My boxing bunnies

[dearbunny]

Hi all,

I asked a question about my bunnies’ bonding before and received very helpful answers. Thank you for that. Now I have another question and I’ve created another topic. I hope that’s okay.

My male (16 months old) and female (8 months old)  bunnies are both fixed and have been living side by side for more than a month. I’ve been trying to bond them for 3 weeks with short bunny dates and table bonding a few times a day. They are all good during the bunny dates as long as they stay away from each other. (The dating are is 70cm by 70 cm C&C cube). But, whenever one gets closer to the other, the other pushes him/her back and they start boxing. Usually, the male one wants to go near the female out of curiosity and the female one pushes him back, which makes him too scared to go near her next time.

To stop fighting, I spray water on them when they look like they are going to attack each other. This helps to prevent a fight, but I am worried that if I keep doing that, they won’t go near each other anymore.

It seems to me that there won’t be any progress if they continue to attack each other whenever they come closer to each other. They even didn’t have a chance to smell or touch each other properly since coming closer to each other always ends up fighting. This way, they learn to stay away from each other. Do you have any suggestions?

And one more quick question: Is it true that they get jealous of each other when they see each other free-roaming? I let them take turns to free-roam, and the one that is closed in the pen watches the other one running around. Is that bad?

Thanks again for your help.[gallery ids="1950544"]

[Cinnimon&Ollie]

Maybe you could try car ride bonding, some people say it is not a true bond so maybe do car ride bonding so they get used to each other close and then try the cube bonding you are doing. I am also bonding bunnies right now and mine get very jealous too, it’s not bad.

[DanaNM]

I like to do a lot of petting when they approach each other in these early phases, so they think the other rabbit is grooming them. You can pet them both and swap scents. Then when they seem calm you can start to ease off the petting.

Another thing to try is a larger space. Rabbits ignoring each other is not necessarily a bad thing, because it also means they are deciding NOT to fight and are still learning about each other. Sometimes giving them more space to move helps them interact without as much fear, so there is less fighting.

Final tip is to make sure your space is truly neutral. If the table is in the same room as their main areas, they can smell their home turf and they may not see it as neutral as you do because rabbits are very smell-oriented.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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