Please help trying to bond my 5 rabbits, all siblings, but one is not helping

[animallover]

Hello,

I’ve had these 5 for a about a year and a half now, and I am trying to bond them, mainly so it will be much easier and convenient once they’re all together.  I was hoping to find a home for them, but couldn’t find any people who knew about rabbits which I wanted.  So I decided to keep them and care for them as much as I can.

The interesting thing is that they are all brothers and sisters, so you would think it would be easier.  So far i’ve been following the bonding guidlines i’ve read everywhere, and they seem to be doing good until one of them, “Trixie” (one of the females), becomes irrate it seems.  She instantly becomes aggressive with the bunnies closer to her and growls with her ears down and snips their backs and noses and jumps over them violently.  I don’t know what her problem is exactly, but she seems to separate herself from the others and wants nothing to do with them.

I had them all fixed when they were about 6 months and had them separated before and after the surgery. I successfully bonded a group of two and then 3 after they healed.  The two pair is Trixie (female) and Charlie(male).  The triplets are Star(female), Big Boy(male), and Sophie(female).   

Right now i’m taking them from their indoor pens, which are almost side by side in a room, and putting them onto my bed.  It seemed to have worked the past few days, but then today Trixie acted up for some reason.  I don’t want to keep changing the location because i’ve used so many already and am running out, and they say to not change locations too much, just to improve the current location instead…

Please, can really use some advice or suggestions if anybody can help!

Thank You!

-Jeff

[jerseygirl]

Welcome to the forums Jeff!

Firstly, I was so relieved and pleased to read you had gotten all the rabbits fixed at 6 months. This is so critical for bonding and for their individual health. Kudos to you.

Could you tell us a bit more about Trixie? Apologies in advance for my million questions. I just think it will give a better picture of what’s happening.

-Is she a dominant or submissive in her relation with Charlie ?
-In the past has she shown dominant or submissive traits? ie, before they were in their current groups
-Are there particular things that bring out aggression in her – even outside of bonding sessions?
-Do you think she is territorial?
-Or fearful?
-Who is she most aggressive towards in bonding sessions?
-Has she had any health issues?

-Have you tried stress techniques with bonding them? ie. like care rides
-How have you gone about bonding the pair with the trio? Do you just put them all together or have you tried form new bonds just between 2 rabbits at a time?

Ok, so I hope I haven’t scared you off.   There’s some active members here with groups of bunnies and I’m sure they’ll be along with great advice. I just thought I’d get the ball rolling with garnering some extra info.

[Deleted User]

Groups seem to always have that one trouble bun. If this was my group, I’d try bonding Trixie to one of the females in your trio (Star or Sophie) as a pair-bond. I would start with the car rides method for the two girls.
Trixie may always demand a little more space in the group but she should be able to get past the attacking intents. Female-Female bonds can be charged so this is why pair-bonding her with another female may ease her aggression.
Keep us posted, and if you can at all, please post a video of what goes on.

[animallover]

Posted By jerseygirl on 11/07/2010 03:25 AM

Welcome to the forums Jeff!

Firstly, I was so relieved and pleased to read you had gotten all the rabbits fixed at 6 months. This is so critical for bonding and for their individual health. Kudos to you.

Could you tell us a bit more about Trixie? Apologies in advance for my million questions. I just think it will give a better picture of what’s happening.

-Is she a dominant or submissive in her relation with Charlie ?
-In the past has she shown dominant or submissive traits? ie, before they were in their current groups
-Are there particular things that bring out aggression in her – even outside of bonding sessions?
-Do you think she is territorial?
-Or fearful?
-Who is she most aggressive towards in bonding sessions?
-Has she had any health issues?

-Have you tried stress techniques with bonding them? ie. like care rides
-How have you gone about bonding the pair with the trio? Do you just put them all together or have you tried form new bonds just between 2 rabbits at a time?

Ok, so I hope I haven’t scared you off.   There’s some active members here with groups of bunnies and I’m sure they’ll be along with great advice. I just thought I’d get the ball rolling with garnering some extra info.

Wow I appreciate all the help! no worries, I like all the questions and will be glad to answer them:

– I think she is dominant. Charlie seems more laid back, and she seems to carry herself differently

– Dominant. I dont know if its anything, but she is a very curious rabbit and is the first one to go out and explore and approach you, and seems more friendly to people compared to the others. She tends to separate herself from the others.

– Not too sure. Although, in the past she had some squabbles with them. But I would take long breaks from bonding. And I have both pens side-by-side with a little space in between. I used to have the pens touching eachother but she would become irritated and snip and claw from cage whenever they got close to her.

– I do think she’s territorial, but I thought that doesn’t happen once they’re fixed.

– I don’t think she’s fearful. She hardly hides, but maybe. She seems to eventually become irritated of them being around her during the bonding.

– She’s mainly aggressive towards Sophie and Big Boy I belive. As a mtter of fact, when I bonded her with Charlie in the past, she seemed to behave the same way: scratching, nipping, jumping, grunting, ears back. But eventually she would slowly stop and they bacame bonded, after I let them establish the dominant.

– I dont think so, but I hope not. She’s had white diarhea in the past, but nothing else ever since I believe, and I was told it was from the Alfalfa hay.

– Yes all the time. I start with the car ride and then put them in neutral territories like; my bed, couches, and front lawn.

– Yes all together at the same time, not really the other method.

I don’t easily get scared off 

Thank you!

 

 

 

[animallover]

Posted By Petzy on 11/07/2010 09:15 AM
Groups seem to always have that one trouble bun. If this was my group, I’d try bonding Trixie to one of the females in your trio (Star or Sophie) as a pair-bond. I would start with the car rides method for the two girls.
Trixie may always demand a little more space in the group but she should be able to get past the attacking intents. Female-Female bonds can be charged so this is why pair-bonding her with another female may ease her aggression.
Keep us posted, and if you can at all, please post a video of what goes on.

 

Interesting . Maybe I will try this

And yes she may want space and time, because she was similarly like that when bonding with Charlie and eventually calmed down until they established the dominace..

But you wouldn’t think that if I tried bonding, say, Sophie with Trixie, that when they go back to their original homes that they will smell an unfamiliar scent and fight? I’ve heard that happens.

And you would consider bonding just two females together, ie Trixie and Sophie, or would it be okay to put all three, ie Sophie, Trixie, and Star together?

-Thanks!

[Deleted User]

When bonding groups, you can be successful with bonding as a group from the start, but when you are dealing with a challenging rabbit who keeps on aggressing you want to pair-bond the most difficult ones and build up: so you would bond Trixie with one other female and then you’d build up from that pair by making a trio with another rabbit other than Charlie; then you’d build up to from that to make a quartet and lastly you’d bond your group of five. At any point in this building-up you may try to bond the whole group together but if it does not work, because of problematic dynamics, go the tedious route and add one rabbit at a time.
About the upset it might cause to bond Trixie with another female, it is possible, but if your rabbit bonds are strong (well-cemented) the upset will be only minor.

[Author]

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