ollie and leo -two males

[graysonbun]

here’s a little background – ollie is my almost 3 year old neutered netherland dwarf, leo is about 9 months old, neutered, mini lop.

after we got leo, and gave him time after his neuter, we tried a go at bonding, started off in the bathroom/bathtub for completely neutral territory. things went well in there, we did lots of sessions, from 15 minutes to two hours. we had flopping, grooming, etc.  then we moved into a small section of our hallway near the bathroom – leo humped ollie, which is sort of what I think I wanted to see as I thought it may be Leo acknowledging that he was going to be the top bun. When I was pretty happy with neutral and semi neutral, I thought maybe it would be time to give a newly arranged semi neutral ex pen a try. fighting. lots of it. it’s been months since they’ve been housed in an ex pen together at all. their ex pens have always been a couple inches away on a tiled section of our floor, and they’ve never had a problem with that. and – I let them out for playtime together on another area of the tiled floor, there may be a few nips and scuffles, but nothing that worries me too much. basically what I’m wondering is, do you think a bond with them is ever possible? ollie, ever since we adopted him has been more aggressive, we think it was due to his previous owners. leo, is very calm, and only really fights back if ollie initiates a fight. any suggestions? I would really appreciate a where to go from here. I still see a chance of them being bonded – as they mostly enjoy their playtime together. has anyone been in a similar in between bonding situation? I would really appreciate all thoughts and input. Thanks!! 

also – I’ve considered trying bach’s rescue remedy for pets, thinking it will help with calming ollie down, has anyone tried this?

[Dface]

Honestly what you are describing doesnt actually sound all that negative. Rabbits will fight during this process. It’s horrible and worryng for us, but this is how it goes. You’ve already described positive behaviours(the groomin and flopping) so your rabbits certainly sound like they will be able to be bonded.

to be honest I think that confinement is the wrong way to bond (when I was bonding my pair-who were stubborn as hell! -I tried them in the bathroom and they just kept bickering.) Once I gave them a big room with lots of things to explore and interact with, they just kept out of each others ways for a bit. They were able to get used to the other rabbit in the same space, without being forced to interact with them unless they wanted to. I think this is an important part of bonding. If you try to take a step forward and there’s a lot of negatives, take a step back to the last thing that was working, and re-asses what you did and either give them more time or try something different.

The days where I felt there was a lot of tension with my rabbits, I stuffed them into their carrier and went for a walk with them, then let them out in field near my house (in a pen), my rabbits were in a total neutral environment and would be too curious to start a fight. this meant that when we got back to the house, they’d already spent an hour together playing nice before they entered a ‘new’ semi neutral area.

[graysonbun]

thank you for all the advice!! i am tying my semi neutral living room right now, and things so far are going well. i think i may invest in some linoleum flooring to put down on the carpet on one side of our living room & eventually see how they do in an ex pen over there. i’ve never tried that as it’s more of a hassle & expense for us, but if it’s what it might take to move bonding forward, i’m going to say it’s worth it!!! thank you again for the tips and response.

just a side note – i’ve never seen so much binkying & scooting around from leo!! i think he is happy to be a space where ollie isn’t tying to start fights!!! it makes me happy to see and gives me some encouragement that this bond may work out after all.

[graysonbun]

just thought I would give a bit of an update!! I’m very happy to say that Ollie and Leo have been sharing an ex pen since yesterday at 11 am!!! no fights to report, only a bit of humping from Leo. but Ollie is being a smartie and just hopping away. after months of bonding attempts & almost giving up hope on them ever being together, things are looking very up. I guess it was just me who had the wrong ideas the whole time. bonding rabbits is such a learning process!!!

[Author]

Messages