Sound like an OK plan?

[ThorBunny]

Hi all!

Very excited to be welcoming a new bun into our family this weekend!! I’m struggling with coming up with a plan for his temporary living space and exercise time that works for our home, as well as appropriate places to bond them. 

So our setup: We have a 1 bd apartment with 3 rooms: living room, kitchen and bedroom. Currently Thor has free range of the living room and kitchen, with kitchen being her home base. She never goes in the bedroom, so I was thinking I could set up an x-pen in there for our neutral bonding space. 

However, if we use the bedroom for neutral space, I’d like another area for the new bun to live and have exercise time at first while he settles in. I could set up a corner of the living room with another x-pen for his living area, with a second layer of grids a few inches away so they can’t bite each-other through the bars. That way, I could let him out for exercise in the whole room in the evening and confine Thor to the kitchen. It also has the added benefit of them getting used to each other’s scents in their area. (Also planning to switch toys and litterbox daily). 

To sum up, is it ok to set up his living space in an area Thor usually has access to and may consider her “territory?” Its not her favorite location and she almost never is over there, but it is in one of “her rooms.” Am I setting myself up for disaster? 

We could also home him in our bedroom to start out, but then where would I do neutral bonding? 

Sorry for the novel of a post, just wondering if anyone has any advice? I just don’t want to start off on the wrong foot!

I’ll start another post and add pictures once we pick up our new fluff

[Deleted User]

From personal experience, I would say setting him up in the bedroom is probably the best option. I have my second bun (unneutered 10 week old mini lop) in my bedroom. Ophelia, my resident female, was not happy about him being in the house. She would come over and sniff and try her hardest to get in the room. One day, she ran into the room and they got into a fight. She was REALLY territorial after that, and would lunge and grunt at me when I came out smelling like him. Could you use the bathroom as neutral space when bonding? Even just the tub or shower? I think it would be best for her and him both if he was just kept separate. That way, he can settle in without the stress of her being upset about him being there. Could she jump over the x pen? I have two baby gates separating my room and the bathroom from Ophelia but she just jumps over them. If you have the x pens, you could also just set them up in the living room with a brand new blanket underneath to create a sort of neutral territory.

[DanaNM]

It all depends!

I like the idea of dividing up the current bun space, so that it becomes less Thor’s space. Then during prebonding you swap who is on what side. I’m in a studio apartment, so when I’ve bonded, that’s pretty much my only option. You want to allow them to set up their hierarchy on their own, rather than have Thor be the default dominant. That means he’ll have to get used to the fact that he doesn’t get the whole living room and kitchen anymore

Then you can also feed them side by side on their opposite sides, to help them start realizing the new bun isn’t the end of the world. Ideally during pre-bonding you will start to see their behavior sync up (grooming at the same time, eating hay at the same time, etc.), and territorial behavior reduce before you start actual bonding.

This also ensures that you have the bedroom to use for bonding sessions , which sounds great to me.

That said if you notice Thor is really stressed about the new bunny, and doesn’t settle down after a couple days, then you’ll probably want to keep the more separated.

. . . 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.  

[Deleted User]

You can probably see what works for you. My buns had been together since day 1, and we seprated them cause Bombur got a little too frisky with his brother, amd Asriel wasn’t having it. They’re currently in cages about a foot apart, but they always go to each other’s cahes during their separate roam times. They never lunge or get territorial.
It depends on the buns and their personalities

[Dface]

Depends on the rabbits to be really honest, but Thor is going to view all the house as hers anyway regardless of where the newbie is living. Plus Thor will need to share her space eventually so should probably get used to the idea of this new rabbit living there (seeing as she’s going to know about him even if you are ‘hiding’ him in your room)
For me its a better idea to share the space and keep the neutral areas that you can, because you are going to need them. A lot of bathrooms are very small and some rabbits bond better with space (if you have two stubborn buns, you need space, not confinement-the two Im bonding atm are testiomonies to this)

As long as you can be sure they cant get at one another while they are sharing space it should be fine-will help with prebonding too

[Deleted User]

Yeah I should have mentioned my doe was only 3 weeks post spay when he came home and she is a very good jumper, so xpen setup wouldn’t work for me anyway. Maybe it’ll be different for you. Good luck.

[ThorBunny]

Thanks everyone! I think I’ll try setting him up in the living room at first, then if Thor is too distressed I can move him to our bedroom if need be. Our x-pen is 3ft tall and she’s never even tried to jump over it, so fingers crossed it will stay that way.

One more thought, how long do you generally spend pre-bonding? He will be neutered so no need to wait for healing. I figure at least a week? It’ll probably depend on how long he takes to seem comfortable, but I’d like to start as soon as possible. I have so much more time in the summer before I have to start teaching classes again this fall

[Dface]

it should take him about a week to settle. most people say it should take about a month of prebonding to make sure everything is settled. Honestly I ignored that cause my female was not getting calmer, she was getting more aggressive about the rabbit near her…so I introduced them after a week and it helped keep her from pacing around his cage.
Pretty much everything in bondin is guidelines that need to be adapted for everyones unique situations and bunnies..it’s kind of a pain!

[DanaNM]

I have usually done a week of settling in (no cage swapping), followed by 2 weeks of pre-bonding, where I swap cages every two days. I continue swaps all through bonding too. I think this is about the minimum, but is also usually enough for most buns. 

But, base the timing off their behavior. If your new bun is still very timid and seems uncertain of exploring after a week, give more time to settle in. 

Same with pre-bonding. If they haven’t settled down around each other, but seem to be makine progress, extend it longer.

Usually more pre-bonding makes bonding go more smoothly, so it’s hard to overdo 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.  

[Rosie316]

I’m not sure how old your new bunny will be, but in my case (it may be different for you) I brought a 6 week old bunny home and put it in a different cage but in the same room my other bunny is in, and she got a hold of him and viciously attacked him while I was in the bathroom. Of course it was my fault, but it really could go two ways, so just be careful and give it a shot to see if your bunny minds or not.

[ThorBunny]

I’ll definitely be getting an adult, fixed bunny! My preference would be for one that was at least a year old. So luckily I wont have that specific problem but I’ll certainly take all appropriate precautions that they cannot get to each other in any way.

We’ll also be doing speed dating at the shelter, so hopefully that will reduce the chance that I get two buns who instantly want to be at each other’s necks. My dream would be love at first sight, but I know that’s not going to happen Setting myself up for a long process!

[DanaNM]

That’s great! 

Have fun on the dates! I hoped for love at first sight too, but we after 7 dates we settled on Moose, who Bertha let mount her with no aggression in return. So I considered that a win!

. . . 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.  

[Rosie316]

Sounds like a good plan I think bunny dates at the shelter are easiest, so that should go much better. Yes, you definitely wouldn’t want them to get into a big fight, it’s very scary! Good luck when you get your new bunny make sure to show lots of pictures of the little cutie!

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