Stress Bonding – Help!

[vdemske]

Hi gang!

Thank you for all of your words of advice and encouragement over the past couple of months! I think we are making progress – it’s slow, but it’s progress. I have a quick question and wondering what you guys think.

My boyfriend and I have been bonding our bunnies since January – we pre-bonded them from September to January as Jay (our fixed Lionhead boy) was very aggressive when Lola (fixed Lionhead girl) was first brought home. Jay now loves Lola – they are at a stage where they can hang out in a neutral space for 6-8 hours. Jay is the groomer – he will groom Lola for hours if she lets him. This process is very one-sided grooming – Lola will not groom Jay. If Jay comes at her fast, she will get nervous and run, and chasing ensues for a brief moment. 

We started stress bonding the other day by putting them both in a large storage bin and simulating a washing machine (we don’t have washing machines in the apartment). I don’t want to scare them or hurt them, just some slight rocking back and forth. We then give them a break and squish them and pet them together. We do this for about 15 minutes.

Should we be putting them in neutral space after this or do a stress session one day/regular session the other?  What do you recommend?

Thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

V

[DanaNM]

Sorry no one has responded to this!

I think doing a regular session after a stress one works pretty well.

How are things going?

. . . 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.  

[vdemske]

Hi DanaNM –

Thanks for responding. No worries!

Things are going okay… we took a small break from sessions as I was out of town a lot this week. Today we did a half hour session in neutral space – Jay loves grooming Lola. It’s really strange, he goes right to her eyes when he tries to groom her, and we don’t know why. We asked the vet and she’s never heard of that before. Because of this, Lola gets really nervous and runs away after she realizes what is happening. Do you have any ideas/advice for this?

I think tomorrow we will do the stress bonding then a normal neutral session to see what happens. It’s very discouraging. They aren’t fighting though, and they haven’t really fought in a while, which gives me some hope, but this has been a long process.

[Sirius&Luna]

Lots of bunnies groom each other’s eyes – all three of mine groom each others eyes pretty regularly, I don’t think that’s unusual at all. I think its cos they sometimes get crusty bits in their eyes and the bun wants to help them clean it. I guess Lola just needs to get used to the idea, and the fact that he’s not going to hurt her, so it’s just a case of time I think.

[sarahthegemini]

My rabbits groom each other’s eyes…

[DanaNM]

Mine groom each other’s eyes too.

Not sure if you’ve seen my thread on my two, but I’ve FINALLY broken through to the cementing stage with mine.

What finally worked was moving to a large (2 x-pens connected), very neutral, but not stressful space at a friends house and marathoning them there. Started at night time (so the space was the newest when they were most active), and by the next morning they were both grooming each other and cuddling.

I’m planning to write another post on it once they are moved back home, but if you have the option to try a new location and marathon them there, it could be really helpful. I think if Lola is overly stressed it will prevent the bond from being cemented, but you do need to maintain neutral territory for now. Adding lots of hiding spots (with at least 2 exits) might also help her feel safer. Don’t be afraid to ask a friend if you can take over their garage or kitchen for a couple days….

Since they aren’t really fighting, and it’s just Lola’s fear you are working with, I’m not sure stressing at this point will help much more. It won’t harm, but might not give you the breakthrough you need.

. . . 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.  

[vdemske]

Oh my! Thank you for telling me about the eye grooming! I had no idea! I thought it was abnormal and that he was hurting her, but that makes a lot of sense!

Maybe I’ll ask my boyfriend’s parents if we could do a marathon at their home – I saw your thread a little while ago – congratulations!

Does your thread go into how long you marathon’d for? Would a weekend be enough?

[DanaNM]

I felt mine were solid to be left alone in that space after 24 hours. I ended up keeping them there for 5 nights because I didn’t have a great semi-neutral spot, and timing with work meant I wouldn’t be able to supervise them at home until Tuesday night.

So yeah, I think if you started on Friday night, that would prob be enough. Or at least give you an indication as to whether the new space is beneficial.

. . . 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.  

[vdemske]

DanaNM – I will read your thread – thanks so much for the insight! I think we will try marathon bonding next weekend.

What happened when you brought your bunnies home? Does your thread go into that process also?

Thanks!!

[DanaNM]

I did go through it a bit. It was pretty smooth bringing them home!

I completely renovated their condo and cleaned my apartment like crazy. Baking soda on the carpets, completely new base for the condo, new fleece on the levels, vinegar’d any surface I could find. I kept them confined to the condo for the first 18 hrs or so, then gave them run of part of the apartment because they were BEGGING to come out and I have no will power. Slowly expanded their area over the first 5 days or so. We supervised non-stop for the first 3 days, then did leave them alone during the day after that.

Some pairs will have a bit of dominance displays to re-hash when you move them home, it just depends on the pairs. With Bertha, 2 of her 3 bonds haven’t had this, but one did, so it really depends on the buns. A good rule of thumb is that for however long it took in the marathon to get them to be solid in the neutral space, plan on it taking about that long for them to be solid in the less neutral spot.

. . . 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.  

[vdemske]

Hi all-

So I wasn’t able to do a marathon bonding this weekend at my boyfriends parents house; however, we switched our sessions to the bathtub and there has been mutual grooming and flops/laying down next to each other! We have been doing the bath tub sessions for a little under a week and I’ve seen significant progress!

That being said – has anyone marathon bonded in a bathtub? Would you advise against it? They seem to be doing really well in small neutral spaces – another’s option would be to use the bathroom floor. I was thinking we could do a marathon bonding in the bathtub or the bathroom floor. As an FYI, we put towels in the bathtub so they have some traction.

Thanks!

[DanaNM]

Awww that’s great!

The bathtub prob will be too small after a while, but you can definitely start out there! And I do know some people who have marathoned in very small spaces and been successful. It’s really whatever works for you at this point!

. . . 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.  

[vdemske]

Thanks for the reply! We decided to clean an area of the house that hasn’t been bunny occupied for a long while – we are on hour 6 and no fighting whatsoever! Just some thumps and some crankiness. We will try to go through the night tonight and see how it goes!!

Do they have to be cuddling to be bonded? I have read that not all bonded bunnies are super cuddly and some just get along and are happy in each other’s presence. Both Lola and Jay are grooming each other and they are laying close to each other but not “cuddling” like typical, is this normal?

[DanaNM]

I bet they will get closer together as time goes on.

You do want some cuddles, but it doesn’t have to be 24/7.

. . . 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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