prebonding with four rabbits ideas

[kendall]

I have four rabbits that I was going to start prebonding so they can be used to each other when I go to start bonding (hopefully a group but pairs are great too!!)

Here is how I have them set up…

They are all in one room in their own x-pens. They are divided down the middle with about 18 in of walkway, two being about 3 inches apart on both sides. They can see, hear, and smell everybody. I have a schedule to start swapping everything so everybun can be in everybuns territory a descent amount. 3 times a week I was going to swap litter boxes, and dishes (so each rabbit can get each rabbits things) every other day putting them back with the original bun . Then once a week, I was going to swap x-pens. They also all share a free roam area. I am also going to take 9 ish months for prebonding and wait until next summer (because school) so anything is welcome because I have time to try it all!!! 🙂

 

for visual people… here’s what I got for the setup

1111 – 2222

1111 – 2222

walk way

3333 – 4444

3333 – 4444

 

Is that too much swapping? Should I only swap x-pens? Are there any other things that I should swap or do? Also any tips for bonding more than two rabbits would be greatly appreciated!!

[HipHopBunny]

Hi @Kendall

Swapping cages or litter boxes work great with bonding. I honestly have not had experience with pre-bonding (hopefully others with more knowledge on that will respond) but I am currently bonding a trio of girls. One thing that I hear works great when bonding is taking your buns for a car drive. Playing soft music such as soft piano, or meditation also works to calm rabbits down, I do it with my girls all the time, and they LOVE it.

The website I gave you in one of your previous topics recommends a trick called the ‘stunt double’ it could potentially help with them, worth a try?

Sending you strength, and patience as you embark on this long difficult journey! Best of luck!

[kendall]

I did hear that rabbits like music, but they get kinda scared when I play the music I regularly listen to. I was going to do some research on it, but now I don’t have to! I will definitely play them some good classical music tomorrow 🙂 I did read the article and I had already given my rabbits stuffed animals, but I never thought to put actual fur into the stuffed animal. I will totally give it a try for my more difficult rabbits! I hope that your bond is going well also. What have you found to be the most difficult part of bonding them?!

[Louiethebunny]

I am a huge music lover and a musician, my Louie doesn’t seem to mind my loud music playing from my Alexa, and he just chills out. When I take out my viola to practice, he comes and sits by my feet while I play. It really depends on the rabbit, but calm music shouldn’t really freak them out.

[HipHopBunny]

Sometimes it is a good bonding day, with few tiffs, and less pee, other days it can be a not-so-good bonding day, with more tiffs and pee. At one point they were doing great in neutral territory, so I moved them into semi-neutral, and, well instead of cuddling and grooming, they were tense and territorial, chinning objects they came across. So I went back to neutral, it’s a work in progress.

Whenever I play my rabbits’ soft music, they get mesmerized and will sit there, listening. 🙂 It is also really meditative to ly down next to your bun while playing the music. Hours can pass by when I do that.

The most difficult part of bonding? This is my first time actually doing the bonding, but I have been reading other forums in here about how to. I don’t really know if there is a general difficult part. Depends on the buns.

Wishing you luck!

[kendall]

I am so excited to try music with my buns now!!! Thanks for all of the help!

[DanaNM]

Sounds like a good plan to me, but just to clarify, you aren’t going to allow them to free-roam together, right? I’m guessing you just meant they will get alternate time in the same space, but just want to double check!

My only comment is that 9 months is a long time to do all that swapping, so it might be very exhausting for you and the bunnies. Personally I would probably wait to start full on cage/pen swapping until a few months before you intend to start sessions. Otherwise it might be very stressful for everyone. You could swap boxes and toys though, and they would still get accustomed to each other because they will be sharing the free-roam space and would be able to see and smell 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.  

[kendall]

They do not go into the free roam area together, they alternate throughout the day. I agree that it would be quite stressful, how long would you do full pen swaps?

[DanaNM]

Gotcha, just checking!

There isn’t really a set amount of time to do full-on side swaps, but most people do somewhere between 2-6 weeks. I kind of gauge it on how the bunnies are behaving. You typically want to do swaps until the buns don’t seem phased by the swapping (they don’t run around thumping and marking after). I think since they will have already gotten to smell each other by sharing the free-roam area, plus potentially swapping litter boxes and other items, they might not need a ton of additional swapping, but I think 6-8 weeks would be a very safe amount of time.

You will probably have a better sense of what you will need to do when you get closer to the bonding time. If they are still acting somewhat aggressive towards each other through the fencing, then you’ll know to do more pre-bonding. If they seem very relaxed around each other, then you can get away with less. One of the other forum moderators (I think it was @jerseygirl?) even reported their buns just seem to insta-bond after a year of living as neighbors. So maybe you will get lucky!

 

. . . 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.  

[kendall]

I read an article/post about another person who had the insta-bond happen (maybe the same one) and I hope I get half that lucky! They aren’t too aggressive now (I’ve only seen occasional chasing) so hopefully it won’t take too long with prebonding to get them comfortable with each other. They are already much more comfortable with each other since they all moved into the same room a few weeks ago. I look forward to seeing how the dynamics change over these next few months! I will probably ask many more questions when I actually start bonding, but I have already learned so much and I feel much more confident moving forward! Thank you for the help!

[DanaNM]

That’s great, good luck!

. . . 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.  

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