Need help/support bonding a pair of buns

[MichelleDO]

We are having trouble bonding our two buns and would love any and all help. We adopted Max (our very first bunny) last year. He is a 1 1/2 y/o Neutered mini Rex. We got him for our daughter but he quickly enamored us all and has had run of the house. At the beginning of this year I learned that he would be happier and healthier bonded to another bun. On Max’s first date at a local rescue show, he chose Jass, a spayed one year old mini Rex, as his friend. We were told that they behaved exceptionally and seemed well suited for one another. That was in March. After months of, at first daily and now twice daily supervised visits, they are yet to become bonded. We have had many successes and many set backs. Currently their visits are about 15-45 minutes long, where they eat hay, act indifferent to each other (which I now know is good!), occasionally go nose to nose/cheek to cheek, some brief grooming on Max’s part (very rare from Jass) and every day or so Jass nips Max roughly (an improvement to several nips each visit). We have stressed them to get passed the nips yet Max has trouble trusting Jass. Any suggestions?

[Twinklie]

Currently I am in the process of bonding my dutch mix, Charlie to a 9 week old baby girl Twinkle. We are fostering Twinkle at the mean time to see the bonding will work or not. Charlie was quite hostile to Twinkle when we were back to our home. We tried many sessions of neutral area for the both, Charlie did not harm Twinkle, so it was good for us. After 5 days in placing them in neutral place, they are now caged together!

From what I understand from your case, Jass is more dominant than Max, may be because you are at Jass’s territory? It might be different when you bring Jass home. Does the rescue center allow fostering? Max is so sweet, would that be possible for you to try out with another rabbit?

If I were you, I would consider to go on to another rabbit. I just couldn’t bear the thought of my rabbit getting hurt. My son wouldn’t too, because our rabbit is his best friend.

Please keep us update. Thanks and good luck!

[Monkeybun]

Don’t give up yet! Do you have Jess at home, or is she still at the rescue? If at the rescue, bring her home! The scent of her at Max’s house may get him more used to it. Set them up in pens side by side, so they see each other all the time too. I suggest making a bonding cube, made of NIC grids or something similar. It makes it so they have to stay in close proximity, without allowing room for chasing or biting. It’s been working for my pair, even though I have had to stop bonding a couple of times due to unrelated bunny health issues. Change up locations for the sessions, try car rides, on top of the washing machine, anywhere they have not yet been. It sounds like it is going good, they just have to sort out for themselves who the boss is going to be.

Are the nips hurting Max, or is it just fur tugging? If there’s no actual wounds, it may not be all that scary. Let them be, and see what happens.

Twinklie, just a warning here.. with your baby girl being so young, the bond may not last through her puberty. Alot of bonds don’t if they aren’t spayed or neutered first. And personalities can change too.

[Beka27]

That sounds like it going very well. The fact that they’ve gotten better, speaks volumes! Have you tried moving them into a semi-neutral space?

[Twinklie]

Monkey Bun, thanks! The baby girl will be spayed once she is old enough to. Right now they are doing their own things in the same cage, will share food but not yet grooming  each other. I like the idea of on top of washer, it probably will work like a car ride.

[MichelleDO]

I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear. Max and Jass have been living side by side in our home since March. The nips are just hair tugging and an occassional pinch. I probably need to stress them more often but my heart isn’t in it. Max is so sweet to Jass and she is either irritated or bored and then nips. The suggestion to change bonding area sounds like tonight’s project! I did try a semi neutral area a few times. The last time we had a mini brawl. Scared the poop out of me and I haven’t been brave enough to go back. But I need to. I think that’s the next step in our process.
One question: what’s are NIC grids and how are they used?
Thanks you all for all the help and suggestions.

[Elrohwen]

I have a question: is there a reason you haven’t tried longer sessions? It doesn’t sound like the behavior is that bad – my two have been bonded for months and my female still nips my male in the bum and pull some fur out every other day or so. The rest of the time they are perfectly bonded. In order to progress their bonding, I think you need to have much longer sessions – at least an hour, but as many hours as you and they can handle.

It sounds like they did have a little tiff, but again, that can be normal, as long as nobody got hurt. It’s scary though! I would concentrate on longer and longer sessions in a totally neutral zone. I was up to daily sessions of 3 hours each before I tried moving them into a semi-neutral territory. The more time they can spend together the more they will understand that they have to live together.

I also liked doing some stressing mid-bonding. If my girl got a little excited and too humpy, I would throw them both in a laundry basket and shake it around for 30 seconds. When I put them back down, she was calmer and had forgotten about chasing and humping for a bit.

[MichelleDO]

Great suggestions! Thank you. The reason for the short sessions is mostly they get bored and nipping starts to increase and it’s hard to end on a positive note. I really like your suggestion of shaking them up in the middle of their date. Jass’s moods very from day to day and I often feel she needs to be stressed more, nippity less. A quick question: how do you find time to date them for three hours. Do you leave them alone? Our sessions are supervised with the three of us in the bonding area.

[Elrohwen]

Honestly, i was able to find time because I was unemployed. Not exactly an easy solution for you, but I wanted to get a second bunny during that time for just that reason.

Do you have multiple people in your household who could watch them? Is there an area you can bond that is central in your home? Maybe you could watch them for 30 min, then step away to do something and have someone else watch, etc. If you can get them to where they can have sessions in your living room or something, you can watch them while doing other daily things. I definitely wouldn’t leave them alone for more than a few seconds though (like to use the bathroom or get a glass of water).

I did find that a benefit in the longer sessions is that both bunnies would get bored of exploring the space and chasing each other, and would settle down to nap together. The main obnoxious behavior was from 15-45min, but then my girl got bored and calmed down a bit and they would snuggle most of the rest of the time. Having longer sessions might help your girl to get tired of chasing your boy around.

[MichelleDO]

I see your point. Unfortunately I do not have people to help. I thought about moving the sessions into a more common area of the home so I could maybe cook dinner, etc while they date but I felt that was still down the road a bit. The problem is that they are both dominant (or so I’ve been told). There’s no chasing. One nips the other, that bun nips back, and then we are in a frinzy, if you will. How do I step outside the bonding area to do anything if they escalate so quickly with me right there?

[Elrohwen]

Some members have had success with putting their pair in a cube made of NIC grids (NICs are Neat Idea Cubes – they’re a modular shelving you can buy at Bed Bath and Beyond, Walmart, Target, etc). You can make a cube, then carry it around the house with you. Most bunnies won’t fight in a small space, and carrying the cube around will keep them stressed. This would allow you to do your normal daily tasks and taking the bonding with you around the house so you could keep an eye on them.

[KimWho?]

What about waiting to give them some hay or veggies when they start to get bored and irritated? If they’re getting restless and stressed, a tasty snack may help them focus on something else for a few minutes while being near each other. You could also just pet them at that time. When my two got cranky, petting helped a LOT(they’re two dominant buns as well, so as long as they were both getting my attention, they were both happy). By all means, discourage their bickering, but sometimes they just need to wear themselves out. As long as nobody is getting seriously hurt, it’ll be okay. My pair share a NIC grid condo since becoming bonded and have never had a serious fight in it, but I still often wake up in the morning to the male chasing the female and occasionally pulling out tufts of hair.

[MichelleDO]

it sounds like o will need to get use to a bit of hair pulling. I mean the buns.
We tried both veggies and then hay but Jass has bored of the hay routine and spends several minutes trying to get out. I do pet them throughout the session to calm them. Jass in particular. When we adopted Jass she was not accustomed to being pet and it’s taken months to get her comfortable with human contact. Unlike Max, the love sponge
Quick question: if I put them in a NIC cube won’t they still nip and/or fight? And if so how can I get them to stop while in the cube?

[KimWho?]

Probably not. Not having enough room to really move around will make most rabbits just kind of sit there. Mine would occasionally turn their heads to nip at each other, but just shaking the cube for a minute, whether it was sitting somewhere or i was holding it, was always enough to settle them after a second because they quickly got distracted by the instability.

[MichelleDO]

I’ll give it a try. I’m just now setting up a new bonding session area. I’m hoping the new, more common area will help reinterest Jass in the dates. Wish me luck!

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