possible bonding dilemma

[oihane]

Hi, I’m new here, btw 😉

Sorry in advance for the long post here.  So I’m doing some research on bonding because of a possible dilemma I might be running into.  So here’s a little backstory:

First off, I live at home (hopefully for not much longer, but I got laid off, so that’s put on hold till I find a decent job), and after my rabbit, Stu, died, I wasn’t planning on getting any more rabbits or other animals (we have 2 cats and a bird otherwise) till I moved out, so I had more time and space for them. 

Well, now I have a bunny…a mini rex that kind of got thrusted upon me…my cousin’s gf got him at a pet store because she felt bad for him, and her mom was NOT happy about it, so I was called upon to give him a home, as it’s sort of difficult to find many people who are willing to just take a rabbit.  at least people she knows, anyway. 

Sooo, he’s 6 months old as far as we know, I’ve had him for about a couple weeks now, and I just got him neutered last week, as he was showing some aggressive/territorial/hormonal signs…ie circling me, trying to hump my feet, he was starting to spray a little (is it normal for them to spray if they get startled, or is that a purely hormonal thing?), and things like that…so I wanted to get it done quickly and get it over with.  He’s pretty nervous yet…he’s relaxed a lot since I got him, but he’s still pretty jumpy.  He likes to be pet, but he’s pretty jumpy about it till he figures out that my hands aren’t going to hurt him.  I’m hoping that the neutering will chill him out a little bit though, so we’ll see.

Now, the possible dilemma.  An acquaintance of mine (used to be a good friend…long story) has a neutered mini rex herself, one she got from the shelter.  We don’t know how old he is exactly, but I think he’s fairly young, it certainly seems like it from his behavior.  Well, she’s going to school in North Carolina in january, and she doesn’t think she can take the rabbit, so I’m hearing rumors from her roommate that she might ask me to take him, as I had just lost my rabbit.  And I would’ve been fine with that, as I hadn’t expected to get one of my own. 

So I’m researching bonding because I know that IF she has to give this little guy to someone, it’s probably going to have to be me, or the humane society again, which I don’t want to have happen.  But I’m concerned about my new little guy, and how he might react to her rabbit (his name is Baxter, btw.  I haven’t come up with a name yet for mine).  I know it’s possible to introduce 2 neutered male rabbits together, but I’m just worried that they might hate each other, and that might cause a lot of problems, cause my dad pretty much won’t let me keep them anywhere else but my room, and my room’s not exactly large. 

So I’m wondering if there’s any tips you guys might have for this…I know every rabbit’s an individual, and I know there’s a possibility that they just might hate each other and that’s it.  I’m just REALLY hoping they’ll get along, cause otherwise that could be very difficult in the space I’ve got to work with right now.  I know that I should introduce them in a neutral area, I read about taking them on a car ride, something uncomfortable…if I do that, should I have them in seperate kennels still?  I would also be keeping them in seperate cages, but both in my room probably, so they’d see each other and all that right off the bat.  My concern is also that I don’t know their personalities very well yet…I’ve seen Baxter and interacted with him a bit, but he doesn’t get a lot of attention where he lives now.  I’m honestly hoping she gives him to me, cause he’s not being very well taken care of at all.  Like…she buys cigarettes before food for him, and his nails are seriously like an inch and a half long.  it’s terrible. 

So yeah…any awesome advice you guys have to give here?  lol…

oh, and I attached a couple pictures…the brown and white guy is my new bunny (any name suggestions??) and the dark brown one is Baxter…best pic I could get of him at the time.

 

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[Beka27]

welcome here! first off, they’re gorgeous! i have a mini rex and i adore her, she’s my sweet little (pain in the butt) princess… lmao.

your boy looks more reddish in color (at least in the pics) and for some reason i thought of Rusty from the Chevy Chase National Lampoon Vacation movies… mostly Anthony Michael Hall in the original one… i know, weird, right?

anyways.

it sounds like you’re a really great bunny mama. i am sorry to hear about you losing your Stu. was he your first and only bunny or have you had others before him? what is your timeline for moving? you said you lost your job (that sucks) do you have any possiblilities in the near future? taking in a second bun is a big commitment (double food, hay, veggies, litter, vet care adds up FAST!)

what you’re suggesting sounds good. you will want them in two separate cages with a bit of space in betw/ so they cannot fight betw/ the bars. what i did was switch the buns between each cage every night. this prevented them from becoming overly territorial of the cage they were in. for bonding sessions you will need a neutral location (a bathtub works well for this).

this is my fav bonding article: http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml

[oihane]

Sorry for the delay in replying…

Thanks! Yeah, Stu was my first bun. This new guy (I named him Rupert, btw) is definitely a very different experience. He’s far more nervous by nature, and a bit more aggressive…kind of randomly too. He discovered he loves to be pet, but he gets pretty moody with me at times, growling and boxing sometimes, seems like he’s growling at me cause I’m not petting him or something, lol. I’ve been dealing with that by putting my hand on his head and pressing a little, and telling him to be nice in a stern voice. I think it’s working to some extent, anyway. He’s also a bit cage territorial.

But yeah…very different experience from Stu…I could move stuff around his cage while he was in it and the most he would do is nudge my hand, wanting me to pet him. Basically a “so…while you’re here…eh??” Super docile little guy.

I just got the new bun, Baxter (the chocolate brown one) today. He’s definitely a bit more mellow, and a lot braver than Rupert ever has been. I think he’s at least a year older than Rupert, but it’s hard to tell, cause he was given to the Humane Society after he was found outside in a park. But yeah…they’ve had their first meeting, through cage bars…Rupert was in his cage and Baxter was exploring while I got him all set up. Not much action, just their sniffers going like mad, they were nose-to-nose too. Rupert REALLY wanted to get out of his cage though. But no growling or anything. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or if it means nothing. I’ll start switching cages with them though…that could be a little interesting, Rupert’s not great about being held, and his cage doesn’t make it easy for me to pick him up out of it…I really don’t like his cage, but I didn’t pick it out…so not much I can do about that, lol.

As for my situation…I’m still job hunting, but I’ve got a prospect or two in the works here, so we’ll see. I have no idea when I’ll be able to move out…I gotta see what my job situation will be like. So many unknowns…gotta love the economy. I can afford the two of them for now, I do have some money saved up, so I should be okay.

[MarkBun]

So far it seems you’re doing fine. You’ll want to make sure that Rupert has had at least a month after his neuter so that the hormones are out of his system. But, if the poo hasn’t been lining the walls either inside or outside of the cage, it is a good step.

[oihane]

Yeah, Rupert’s been neutered since about mid-december…so he’s had a bit of time, but don’t some rabbits take more than a month to get the hormones out of their systems?

I had them out again (one at a time) tonight…and it was a little more tense. Baxter seems curious at times, and at other times completely indifferent to Rupert’s presence. Rupert on the other hand is EXTREMELY interested in Baxter.

Earlier he looked like he just wanted to sniff him and check him out…I even got a picture of him laying next to his cage all stretched out and everything, which looked like a pretty good sign. Tonight though, he was a bit more aggressive. He keeps going to the cage bars and grabbing them and shaking them over by Baxter, and he was doing a little bit of growling…I stop him when he does this though. He was also pooping a little bit around the cage too. Then he was running around the room doing his “binkies” as bun people like to call them, lol. So I don’t even know. I know it’s their first day…I’m not switching their cages tonight, I was going to start that tomorrow night…let Baxter settle in a least a little bit.

Any thoughts? I suppose it’s wayyy too early to tell yet.

Oh, and a couple pics…first one’s a little bit better pic of Baxter, second is the two of them together on their first “meeting” of sorts.

 

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[MarkBun]

Hormones do not last longer than 6 weeks no matter what the breed, at least that’s what I’ve been told. As for the poops, that is normal. The growling and cage rattling is also normal as a new rabbit has invaded his space. That’s why neutral space is so important. The second picture you have is the infamous, “I care about you LESS!” contest. Each rabbit tries to out ignore the other to prove that they don’t consider the other a threat. It is rabbit intimidation tactics. Leave it to bunnies to come up with a cute, lounging way to intimidate.

[oihane]

haha…yeah, they really don’t look all that threatening when they’re trying to intimidate, but man, when they mean business…you better watch out.

Sooo…another update…there’s been more aggression. Before, there wasn’t much aggression from Baxter, mostly from Rupert. Baxter was curious about Rupert, but pretty much did his own thing most of the time. I had to watch them really carefully because whenever Baxter would come over to the cage to sniff nose-to-nose with Rupert, Rupert would sniff, and then growl and try to nip Baxter’s lips and nose or feet (when Baxter was standing up and leaning against the cage). So I had to keep pushing him away when he did this, telling him to “be nice”, and when he was, I gave him lots of pets.

Well, so…since then, Baxter has been a little more aggressive…I haven’t seen him try to nip much, but he growls a little, which eggs Rupert on, of course. It’s an ordeal trying to keep them in check when one of them is running around, let me tell ya. Last night Rupert was being better, he’d sniff and then turn away as soon as I told him to “be nice”, and then he’d get rewarded. Baxter certainly isn’t helping though, he keeps shoving himself under his hay manger, which then exposes his ears and stuff through the bars, and I’m trying very hard to keep them from getting nipped.

Tonight, Rupert was a bit more aggressive, towards me. If he knew I was going to come forward and push him away a bit when he was starting to get aggressive towards Baxter, he’d growl and lunge and try to nip me. He got better a little later, after I established a little more that I was “alpha bunny” and pet him for awhile. The confrontations got a little better, and then there was a scuffle and Rupert got pretty p*ssy towards me, so I put him back in his cage. I might be a little too quick to keep them away from each other, I’m just trying to keep little bunny lips and ears from getting bitten.

Ay…I know it hasn’t been that long…but they’re a handful to keep from hurting each other. I thought about taking a spray bottle and maybe that would break up the scuffles a little faster, but I’ve heard conflicting views on spraying them with water.

Sooo…any thoughts again? lol…thanks in advance everyone…this is definitely not the ideal situation I would’ve liked to be in, but this is what I’ve got to deal with, so I’m trying to make the best of it.

[BunnyMuffin]

I’m sorta thinking that if you could take the bunnies out of their cages in a neutral spot, like a bathtub (I put towels down so they don’t freak out slipping around on the tub floor), and start doing regular bunny dates in there together with them, then they can have better interactions getting to know each other. Then when your goal is to just give them individual run time since they aren’t bonded yet, maybe move whichever bunny isn’t getting run time out to the hallway or into your closet or something in his cage so that the other bunny can run around freely and you won’t have to constantly monitor for fighting. Or if you don’t have a feasible place to move the cages to temporarily, hang a towel or create some sort of other barricade around the caged bunny’s cage, again so that they can’t fight during out time.

I guess I’m just afraid that they’ll get into a pattern of nipping and fighting through cage bars every night and then when you try to start the bonding process in neutral territory it might not go as smoothly. Especially since during normal bonding sessions, the goal is always to end on a positive note (even if it is forced cuddling followed by a treat), and you can’t really achieve a positive note when there’s just fighting between the bars.

Especially since Rupert obviously thinks Baxter is invading his territory when he’s out running around your room, so he’s naturally inclined to be territorial and they really need to interact more in a neutral location to become bonded. Hopefully that all makes sense. I guess I’m saying to pick your battles and deal with the aggression during the actual bonding sessions, and just prevent any opportunities for aggression when they’re just having individual exercise time.

[xParadise]

I completely agree with BunnyMuffin. You don’t want them to get into this habit of agressive behaviour towards each other. They should only have contact with one another on neutral territory and only for short periods of time in the beginning. The idea is you want to get them used to each other, with the least amount of agression possible. Right now, Baxter is on Rupert’s territory and Rupert quite obviously is not happy with that. The last thing you want is for Rupert to resent Baxter as it will likely result in Baxter either becoming agressive back or becoming fearful of Rupert, and that will making bonding that much more difficult.
There is TONS of great information on this site about bonding (try searching the forums for bonding threads). Good luck!

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