Re-bonding bunnies… Any success stories?

[belleandferdinand]

Belle and Ferdinand (usually the most loved up bunnies on the plant) have fallen out after a year together.  Belle attacked Ferd twice this morning .. flying fur, much mess and noise, but luckily I was home to intervene and aside from a scratch to him they are physically ok. I separated them and have been recommended (by the lovely Marcy at SaveABunny) to take them for a car ride and use x-pens to bond them again .. so my question is, has anyone done this with success? Any tips welcome! Belle is currently in the spare bedroom and refusing to come out from under the bed… she is eating but only when I push it towards her. It’s very sad to see them apart.

ps. the cause of the fight was most likely the addition of a foster bunny – Cornelius – who I have fallen in love with and am adopting, but he was always kept well away from the two of them (no physical contact at all  as he’s in the other side of the house and no sharing of bowls, toys etc). He’s been with me for two weeks now.

[Gravehearted]

I’m sorry to hear about the falling out of Belle and Ferdinand. 🙁 I know sometimes adding a third bun can help with the bonding process, but not sure how it effects a broken bond like that. If you’re handling Cornelius, you likely are also smell like him to your buns. I haven’t rebonded bunnies and the only article i found on it, i didn’t think was terribly helpful. Hopefully some other members will have some ideas for you…

hope you’ll keep us posted

[belleandferdinand]

Belle and Ferdinand have been on a couple of car rides together but are still distant when I leave them alone inside the house so I put them away separately when I am not home. I don’t want to risk another bunny fight and it is easy enough to have them separated via a baby gate! As Cornelius is in my bedroom, I’m thinking it is unlikely they will go back to their old ways whilst he is still here, it just seems inevitable that they will smell him regardless of my washing hands.. sniffing my sweatpants is a common occurance. So I now have three buns in three rooms… but all seem more settled – Ferd is back to binkying in the morning, Belle isn’t permanently under the bed and Cornelius is the puppy bunny, super friendly and excitable. It isn’t ideal – especially when a  family member wants to stay over and has to share with Belle, but it is working out for now.

[BinkyBunny]

For bunnies that were once bonded, the car rides can really help. It can take a few weeks though, so you have to be persistent. And I know this can really be a pain. I think one of the best things you can do though is when you get home from the car ride is still spend some time with them in a neutral territory – like a bathroom or even a bathtub. (just no water of course!)

During the time in the neutral space, pet them both, feed them healthy treats – unless they fight over them) and then make their neutral time together pleasant.

This way they can continue to see the other as something positive. 1. Comfort during stress (like card rides) and 2. Yummy treats and affection while they are in a neutral territory.

Make sure to keep things short if they start getting aggressive.

It also may be helpful to start switching their litterboxes, every few days, or even the bunnies themselves.
Another thing you can try is using what the "stunt double" technique – at the bottom of the bonding section. Basically get two toy bunnies, and make sure each smells like one of the bunnies. So Belle would have one, and Ferdinand would have one. (you can leave them in their cages for couple days, rub the toys over the bunnies, even take some of the fur (from a brush) and put it on the bunny. Then once each bunny’s toy bunny has their scent on it, then put Ferdinand’s stunt double in Belle’s cage and vice versa. I know with Jack, he would first hump it, charge it etc, but then he realized it was zero threat and then when he met the "real" bunny Rucy, he was so calm with her. Now this is no scientific thing. Just guesswork that seems to work sometimes. 

None of this is in replacement of the car ride, it’s just to help assist the whole process.

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