New To Bonding! Help?

[OllieLoki]

Hey everyone! I’m new here and really could use some help on bonding my two bunnies for my first time.

So I’ve had my first bunny for 10 months and she stays free roamed in my whole room. Her names Ollie and shes spayed and just turned 10 months. I wanted to get her a friend which I did when I went on a bunny date with her. They didn’t attack eachother, she groomed him in the adoption place so we all thought it was a good fit.

Hes 2 years old, neutered and a very calm and submissive bunny. His names Loki.

My problem is for the ” pre bonding ” stages I don’t have an area I can setup 2 decent sized enclosures. So what I did was made an enclosure in my room so the room is split in half. 1 bunny in the enclosure and 1 bunny out. Ive been swapping bunnies on either side so neither of them get territorial. I DON’T HAVE THE SPACE TO MAKE 2 ENCLOSURES IN A NEUTRAL SPOT. I have spaces to do some stress bonding which are neutral but not big enough for 2 enclosures.

My problem is Ollie the female is very aggressive and trying to nip him through the cages while Loki is just trying to smell and submit to her.

How can I prebond them in my current situation? and for how long should I do this?

Do you guys have any steps? or tips for me. My ears are open!

Thank You!

 

 

 

[DanaNM]

The set up you have is actually fine, you don’t need to do pre-bonding in neutral space, just the actual bonding sessions. So it’s good you’ve reserved the neutral area for later.

As far as nipping etc, you should set up the fence so they can’t nip each other through it. You can either use a second wall of fence of make a buffer of 4-6 inches between walls, or use something else to block the nipping (cardboard or a towel will do in a pinch). Storage cube grids make great temporary fencing as well.

It’s very normal for bunnies to behave this way when they are in their home turf, even if they get a long in neutral space, so don’t worry too much. Just modify the fencing so they cannot nip each other (as those nose nips can cause hurt feelings and make things harder down the road).

I usually aim for a couple weeks of pre-bonding and then see how they are doing. Some pairs benefit from longer pre-bonding. The hope is that they get more and more calm towards each other. You might see them start to lay near each other on opposite sides of the fence, or their behaviors might start syncing up (like they will groom themselves at the same time, eat at the same time, etc.). It helps to feed them near each other at the same time on opposite sides of the fence. I like to to wait until they don’t seem phased by the side-swap and just go about their normal business as though nothing happened (as opposed to running around thumping and chinning lol).

. . . 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.  

[OllieLoki]

Thank You! I added another see through wall between them and put their food bowls on either side like you said.

 

I’ll do a couple weeks of pre bonding since shes so stubborn and aggressive at the moment. Hes so sweet and even goes to bow his head near her cage but shes always trying to attack.

 

So Another question is do I wait until prebonding is complete and then do I move on to stress tests? Or can I do stress tests while pre bonding is in the works.

[pinkiemarie]

I have something similar too and it’s fine! You just need a 2nd barrier between them so she can’t nip him. We have an ex pen and then some of those storage cubes set 6 inches in front of it all connected in a row with zip ties. So they can see and interact but they’re too far apart to touch each other.

[DanaNM]

Sounds like a good set up!

FYI in bunny body language, bowing the head is a dominant move! Unlike in dogs, the bun the goes low is the one trying to be dominant. New bonders often interpret that as the bunny being submissive, but actually it’s a grooming request. The bunny that asks to be groomed is trying to be dominant. He is probably remembering that she groomed him during the first date and wants more. 🙂

Females are more territorial than males so it is normal for females to behave this way when a newbie comes into their territory.

Assuming you mean bonding sessions by “stress tests”? Don’t do any bonding sessions just yet. But once you decide to start, continue the cage swaps throughout the process.

A bonding sessions does not have to be a stress session necessarily, the space just has to be neutral.  If you haven’t already, I recommend reading the Bonding section in the Bunny Info section on this site for a good run-down on bonding. It can also be helpful to read through bonding journals on this forum (use the search bar to search “bonding journal”) to see the various ways things can go and different methods.

. . . 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.  

[OllieLoki]

Well I put them in a stress test early ( i didnt know was a mistake ) and she mounted him and he just took it the whole time so doesnt that mean shes the dominant one?

Okay ill wait until they get more comfortable with eachother in the prebonding to do stress tests but I will keep swapping the bunnies on different sides daily until the stress test stages if thats okay?

[DanaNM]

If he didn’t fight when she mounted, that’s a good sign. And yes mounting is a dominance behavior. It can be hard to tell in the early stages who will end up being dominant, and often it’s best to just not worry about it. As long as there is no fighting, that’s a good thing.

Things can change though-out the bonding process and as one bun settles in, which is why the settling in and pre-bonding period is important.

And yes, just keep up with swapping sides every day or two until they calm down towards each other.

. . . 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.  

[OllieLoki]

Awesome thank you all for the help! Means a lot. I’ll just let the prebonding continue for a week or more and see where they are at before I do some stress tests. Hopefully after some stress tests I can try our first face to face in a neutral spot in a playpen I set up.

 

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