Should I start bonding?

[June Bloom]

For the past 2 weeks, I have been pre-bonding my 1 year old female Lionhead, Juniper, with my 3 year old male Holland Lop, Alfie. They have both been spayed/neutered 6+ months ago. Juniper has always been an anxious and moody rabbit, but Alfie is super laid back in comparison.

They have been staying in 4’x6’ x-pens beside one another. Juniper, my first rabbit, has been quite aggressive to Alfie. When I first put his cage next to hers, she would growl, lunge, and chew the cage bars. Alfie is a lot more relaxed than her when they are together; recently he has been going up to the adjacent pen wall looking for her and even laying down against it.

Juniper has been less aggressive towards him recently. She seems to only growl (very occasionally) and lunge when he makes quick movements. She has been laying down near the adjacent wall too and grooming herself, but she still doesn’t seem necessarily happy see him.

I was wondering when do I know when the bunnies are ready to start the actual bonding process? I want to take it at their pace, but I’ve never bonded rabbits before and feel clueless (though I’ve done lots of research!). One thing I’m worried might be holding Juniper back is that Alfie’s pen is right next to the pen she has always had, so maybe that’s why she is so aggressive. So I thought maybe bringing them to a neutral area (I was going to use the bathtub) would help lessen her aggression if it is a territorial issue?

[Sirius&Luna]

Have you done any prebonding?

Prebonding is an important step, which helps to get rid of territorial behaviours, as both buns lose track of what is ‘their’ territory. Swap them between each others cages every other day for a month. They’ll probably be pretty angry at first, but then by the end of the month, they should stop reacting. If they haven’t, keep going a bit longer.

You’re right that you need to bond them somewhere neutral like the bathtub, but it’s definitely worth waiting until you’ve done some prebonding. When you’re ready for the face to face meeting, make sure you have some leather gloves or oven gloves, and keep your hand between Juniper, so if she does try to lunge at Alfie you can stop her. You can gradually back off as they get used to each other. I had a very lunge-y and aggressive female rabbit, and this method worked for her. Generally they’re lunging out of fear, so you need to teach her that Alfie moving isn’t him trying to attack her. And you need Alfie to learn that he isn’t gonna get attacked either!

[Sirius&Luna]

Oh, and I would recommend reading the bonding section in BUNNY INFO, and also some other people’s successful bonding threads.

[June Bloom]

I’ve switched their cages a few times, though I should definitely start doing it more. Thank you for the advice. I think it’ll definitely help to be a bit more hands on with Juniper when we actually start bonding, since my biggest worry is that she will constantly be attacking Alfie.

I am moving across country by car in 3 weeks and I was hoping to have them bonded by then so they’d comfort each other, but that seems very unlikely. Though it’ll probably be for the best to wait until we are moved into a house neither of them have been before! After we’ve moved, do I need to do another month of pre-bonding?

[Sirius&Luna]

I think there’s no harm at all in being very hands on at first, especially when you have an aggressive bunny on your hands.

Interesting that you’re moving. It should actually work in your favour, as you’ll have a whole brand new neutral area! You won’t need to do new pre-bonding just because it’s a new space

A brand new neutral area is actually a great opportunity for marathon bonding, if that’s something you’re interested in. You could put them in the carrier for the car journey (if there’s someone else to monitor them in case Juniper gets aggressive), then set them up in a pen in the new space and monitor them non-stop for a few days, until you’re ready to say they’re bonded. This is often quite a successful method for bunnies that are difficult, as it forces them to interact and there’s not lots of breaks like traditional bonding. But obviously it is also very hardwork as you have to be constantly vigilant for days!

So, if that sounds overwhelming and horrendous on top of the stress of moving, I would just travel with them in separate carriers, and then go straight (as in no more prebonding, not straight from the car!) into bonding sessions in the neutral territory starting with short sessions and over a period of weeks moving up to hours, until they have only positive interactions for 24 hours!

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