One of my rabbits is seemingly “indifferent” towards bonding.

[a llama]

Hello, I am the owner of two male rabbits named Oreo and Ben. They are both fixed, although Oreo’s surgery was done about 4 weeks ago and Ben was already neutered before adoption. At first, I tried bonding them about a week after Oreo was neutered; of course this went badly and I found out shortly after that I was supposed to wait a minimum of 4 weeks for his hormones to fully go away. I have definitely noticed a huge decrease in Oreo’s hormonal behaviors prior to 4 weeks of waiting, but I have also noticed some of those old behaviors coming back during recent bonding sessions I’ve let them have. These behaviors can be anything from spraying, making territorial poops in neutral areas or even excessive mounting. Is this normal or should I wait more for his hormones to die off?

On top of that problem, my other rabbit, Ben, seems to be either really shy or just completely uninterested in bonding at all as he will usually sit angrily for the entire session doing whatever he can to stay away from Oreo’s territorial behaviors. During the beginning of these bonding sessions, Ben’s reaction is usually running away leading to chasing between them or starting a fight, both of which I try to stop before they happen. However, one thing that I thought was strange in their relationship is that I’m almost certain that Oreo is the only one interested in dominance, as I have not seen Ben mount even once throughout all the bonding sessions so far. That being said, I’m not sure why Oreo is the only one doing all the grooming. Sometimes Oreo will bow his head to ask Ben to return the favor right after hes done with his grooming, but when Ben fails to comply Oreo will just nip him and start a chase. And I’ve been frustrated with the fact that their bonding progress is not really going forward and that the only thing Ben will do is nip, fight or run away from Oreo at all times during my bonding experience with them so far. The only exception to this is when I put them both together and start petting them, which doesn’t seem to help the cause as they will return to their normal behaviors shortly after the petting. However, Oreo seems to be at least comfortable around Ben when he can have dominance as I have seen Oreo lay down next to Ben for several minutes when he is in an especially submissive mood.

I am aware that it is highly likely that with patience they will be friends, eventually. But, the main purpose of this post is that I want to know if these behaviors are normal or not. And if they are not, what can I do? For those of you wondering, there has been some sort of a 2 week pre-bonding period in which I switched their cages every other day along with other things like petting one and petting the other to transfer scents. I have also been switching up neutral bonding spaces to reduce territorial tendencies. Another thing to note is that I have no good way to pick Ben up for bonding without stressing him out and I’m not sure if that will affect bonding or not. If I have missed any details about them, just let me know and I should respond sometime during the day. Do you guys have any suggestions? If not, that’s OK. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[Sirius&Luna]

Indifference or ignoring is actually a good sign when bonding! If Ben really didn’t want to bond, he would be displaying angry or negative behaviours.

Spraying and territorial pooping could mean that Oreo’s still hormonal though. My Atlas took 6 weeks post neuter to stop spraying, but since then he hasn’t done it at all.

It sounds like Oreo is more confident, and like he understands how to behave with other bunnies more, which might be why hes doing the grooming AND the dominance behaviour. You could try some banana on his head to get Ben to groom him.

it takes bunnies a while to be comfortable with each other, so petting them together is good, even if they go back to the same behaviour after. If what you’re doing isn’t working, try some different things – try more space, less space, a loud noise like a vacuum that stresses them, scattering food, sitting with them, being further away, banana on heads for grooming… etc. What works for each pair of bunnies is different, so its worth trying different things if what you’re doing doesn’t seem to be making progress.

To not stress Ben pre-bonding, can you lift him up in his whole litter tray to carry him to the neutral space? (don’t leave the litter tray in the bonding area)

[a llama]

I’ve been thinking of different ways to carry Ben, and at this point I think the easiest way would be to just taking his whole cage if I need to carry him, as I have tried things like bunny burritos which inevitably all have been unsuccessful in relieving his stress.

[a llama]

Also, one thing I’ve seen with Ben is that he only accepts treats when he is very comfortable with his environment. Otherwise, he won’t even acknowledge the treats’ existance until the stressors are gone, this likely means he’ll probably ignore the banana as well, but there is no point to not trying. I’ve also seen other people bonding their rabbits in huge sessions lasting for several hours; do you think if I tried to keep the rabbits bonding until Ben has no choice other than to eat, would that be good for their relationship or would it be testing their patience too far? Another potential problem is that Ben is always getting anxious about the bonding space, as he will grunt and thump at it during play time and during bonding he will try to escape when Oreo is ignoring him (he will chew the cage bars and look for places to jump over it).

[Sirius&Luna]

Its definitely worth trying longer sessions, but if Ben is getting distressed, then you’ll have to use your judgement and step in. A longer session might be the only way he gets used to the space.

This is unconventional, but if Ben isn’t super territorial, it might be worth taking him to the bonding area first, and giving him 10 minutes to settle down and relax before bringing Oreo in.

its difficult when one bunny is much more stressed than the other as it’s not a ‘fair’ bonding environment, and Ben might behave totally differently in his home space, leading to fights. Is there anything that would stress Oreo but not Ben to even the field a bit?

You can also spend more time reassuring him, and petting them both. It might not feel like its working, but it will teach Ben that Oreo isn’t a threat, and he may start to relax eventually.

You can also try covering the sides of the bars with blankets, to stop Ben trying to look for a way out.

I’m afraid it really is a case of trying out as many different things as possible and seeing what works for them. It definitely sounds like a bond with potential, so don’t feel like its hopeless, its just probably going to take some time.

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