Seeking Advice: Prepping Marathon Session

[Beeble]

Hey Guys,

I am going to attempt 4 days of long long bun bonding dates this weekend.

First, we have a spayed female of year and half in age, named Luna, a mini-rex. We have had her for over a year. Second, We have Molasses, aka MoMo, a rescued, neutered, Rex we have had for about 8 months. His age is unknown, but believed to be around 2 years old.

We rescued MoMo last year on a whim. We knew we needed a parner for Luna, but he kind fell in our laps when we weren’t looking. We had an oportunity and took it. We went on 4 speed dates and all 4 boys were decent matches. We just loved MoMo from the start. He has the weirdest personality and had been recently widowed after being bonded to a very aggressive female. They had a long car ride home and were doing well in the bunny room upon arrival. The rescue cordinator thought they may be a rare love at fisrt sight couple. Then we had a skirmish in a tunnel.

I have never bonded. They are my first bunnies. It scared me. In hind sight I think it was probably nothing major, just some scamping and hair pulling. But I was so nervous, we went ahead with a slow bond plan. They were put in seperate pens near each other. I had planned to bond in the fall and our life just didn’t allow.

So now, we have been side bu side pens for months. They have a lot of contact. They visit each other when each is our for alternate play times. They groom through the pen openings. They seem mostly friendly. I do still think there is uneven return in grooming, but it is hard to tell. Luna is more active at play time. Mo visits her a lot during his free time. They snack together, even sharing lettuce through the cage.

We have done a few bathtub sessions. They have been fine. They both hate being held or carried. Catching them and carrying to the bathroom is stressful for them and me. The rest of our home is prowled by dogs and cats, keeping them in the safe bun room is preferable to all.

I am thinking of trying a small xpen in their room with blankets blocking the view to start the marathon. In lieu of starting with stressful travel, just create a neutralish space in their room. I have almost 4 whole days with nothing planned. I even have a new enclosure ready for them. Would it be ok to use the new enclosure as the bonding space?

My questions are: what all should be in the pen? I don’t want to deprive them of litter and water for long haul. I bought a new large litter box big enough for noth to fit in together for the new enclosure. I have read conflicting opinions on litter box, hidey holes etc. Input on this would be helpful.

I am extremely anxious. I think I may have interrupted a bond previously. They deserve to have a partner. How do I know I am not screwing up?

Has anyone had success with marathons? Is this a trainwreck idea?

Thanks so much in advance!

[sarahthegemini]

I marathon bonded my bunnies but my situation was very different to yours – two litter mates, seperate at 16 weeks, they had half the living room each and could see and smell each other at all times. I did pre bonding during the 7 weeks they were split and obviously they were neutered and spayed during that time. There was a few nips from Peanut through the partition we had in place but then he groomed my girl. Neither were aggressive ever or territorial so I had a good foundation to begin with.

 I put them together for 4 hours the first night and then split them simply because I couldn’t stay up with them all night. When they first came face to face they sniffed and nose touched, within half an hour both groomed themselves, Buttercup flopped, Peanut groomed her and then bunny loafed. I put a litter tray in their pen and they had their dinner veggies together and shared hay.

We then put them together the next morning and they’ve been together ever since! It took about 2 weeks before we were confident that they were bonded and could be left unsupervised. During this two weeks, me and my partner took turns sleeping and watching the buns so there was always one set of eyes on them. It was exhausting. They had one little scuffle during the bonding fortnight, I think it was on day 5 and it was partly my fault. I put a cardboard castle in with them, Peanut tried to hump Buttercup in it and Buttercup felt trapped. Circling ensued. We had to lift the castle up to get to the buns and Buttercup chased Peanut a little before my partner grabbed her. He held her for a couple minutes and then put her down and they were fine. Buttercup has never humped Peanut but she does not tolerate being humped. She is top bun. There was still a little humping going on after the two weeks but Buttercup would just hop out of the way so we were still confident with leaving them together. 

Anyway, so that’s my story lol. Marathon bonding can be great BUT you have to be prepared physically to watch them 24/7, and emotionally because you may just want to burst into tears from exhaustion lol. You’ve also got to make sure the buns aren’t stressed out. If either of mine were visibly stressed or scared, weren’t eating or pooping etc I wouldn’t have marathon bonded. So if those become issues,  you’ll have to rethink. For me it was worth every stressful minute but I couldn’t have done it on my own. 

In my experience I would avoid hideaways that are too enclosed, because one bun might feel trapped and lash out (I. E.the cardboard castle incident) but things they can jump on would be good. Give lots of treats when the two of them are together because then they can associate their mate with tasty things. Pet both of them simultaneously too. 

Most important thing is to move at the rabbit’s pace – don’t rush, and if you’re unsure of anything, you won’t lose anything by taking it a little slower. Look for positive signs before progressing, not just a lack of negative signs (so just because they aren’t fighting doesn’t mean you can progress,  look for grooming and flopping and whatnot)

Hope this is of some help! Good luck!

[DanaNM]

If you don’t mind me asking, is there a reason why you are doing marathon bonding? It sounds like the bathtub sessions went ok? 

Why not just try to continue those… but make them longer? 

The basic progression is usually: short in neutral space, then long in neutral space, then short/long in less neutral space, the long in less neutral, until they are showing good behaviors (grooming, snuggling, sharing food and litter box with no aggression) and no bad ones (nipping, mounting, lunging, fur pulling, etc).  

I think marathon bonding could work, but keep in mind they may not be completely bonded after that time, and then there will be the cementing period after that…. I guess just make sure the reasons for marathoning are for the right reasons. Marathoning can be good if the buns are being “stubborn” and not making progress with shorter sessions. 

Either way, for longer sessions, you can add in a pile of hay and water. Don’t worry about litter, as they will probably be pooping and peeing everywhere anyway. You can add a litter box once the sessions are hours long, but be prepared to remove it if they get territorial over it. 

. . . 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.  

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By DanaNM on 5/08/2017 12:09 AM

If you don’t mind me asking, is there a reason why you are doing marathon bonding? It sounds like the bathtub sessions went ok? 

Why not just try to continue those… but make them longer? 

The basic progression is usually: short in neutral space, then long in neutral space, then short/long in less neutral space, the long in less neutral, until they are showing good behaviors (grooming, snuggling, sharing food and litter box with no aggression) and no bad ones (nipping, mounting, lunging, fur pulling, etc).  

I think marathon bonding could work, but keep in mind they may not be completely bonded after that time, and then there will be the cementing period after that…. I guess just make sure the reasons for marathoning are for the right reasons. Marathoning can be good if the buns are being “stubborn” and not making progress with shorter sessions. 

Either way, for longer sessions, you can add in a pile of hay and water. Don’t worry about litter, as they will probably be pooping and peeing everywhere anyway. You can add a litter box once the sessions are hours long, but be prepared to remove it if they get territorial over it. 

If they’re bonded, they’re bonded. Doesn’t make a difference how they got there. And even with short sessions, you’ll need to do a marathon 24-48 hour cement anyway. 

[DanaNM]

That’s very true, it’s just that marathoning is very stressful for everyone, so I was curious about the reason.

. . . 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.  

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By DanaNM on 5/09/2017 12:23 PM

That’s very true, it’s just that marathoning is very stressful for everyone, so I was curious about the reason.

Oh gosh yeah it is very stressful. There were many tears on my end lol but as long as both buns are not stressed out and aren’t aggressive, marathon bonding can be a real winning technique.

[vanessa]

The bunny room is not neutral. Unfortunately you’ll have to take them out of the bunny room to do bunny dates.

Sarah – Wow. Just wow.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By vanessa on 5/09/2017 2:50 PM

The bunny room is not neutral. Unfortunately you’ll have to take them out of the bunny room to do bunny dates.

Sarah – Wow. Just wow.

Is that a good wow? 

[vanessa]

Yes Sarah. To get one person to commit to marathon bonding is something. To get two people on the same page – that’s wow. If I had to come up with a list of people who would do marathon bonding with me… it woud be a very short list…

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By vanessa on 5/09/2017 4:57 PM

Yes Sarah. To get one person to commit to marathon bonding is something. To get two people on the same page – that’s wow. If I had to come up with a list of people who would do marathon bonding with me… it woud be a very short list…

He was easy to get on board as he was sick of the living room being split in two 

[DanaNM]

Oh man, I can relate to that… my studio has been split in two for a long time now, even though we are barely at 2 weeks of pre-bonding with Moose and Bertha, because of the 6 week saga with Pippen previously… I’m tempted to try marathoning with Bertha and Moose, but I don’t want to rush their bond just because of time spent on a different attempt. 

. . . 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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