stubborn rabbits…what to do?

[somebunny]

Hey guys, wanted to get some advice as to what next steps I should take in bonding my 2 buns hershey & joseph. We got jo from a rescue about 5 months ago, we tried bonding them for a couple of months but it wasn’t working. Hershey was always aggressive – pulling out fur etc and Jo is always scared. 

They have been living side by side (separated by a pen) for the last few months. We switch their houses a few times a week and let them out in the backyard together. They seem to behave fine outside, but if they are together in the house, hershey will chase jo and he will end up cowering in the corner.

We have put them in the bath tub together and had some progress, but it always ends with hershey nipping/pulling fur and Jo thumping and being scared.

I have seen them both grooming each other through the bars, and snugglign next to each other and I’ve seen hershey nipping at jo through the bars as well.

Seems like it’s a never ending cycle where both rabbits want to be the boss. Wondering if you have any tips on what we should do? Joseph is very stubborn adn hershey is impatient!

[piperknitsRN]

Despite having succesfully bonded pairs before, I now know how difficult it can be to bond a pair who, at the moment, seems to hate each other.  I am having some luck with “stressing” them.  I put them in a laundry basket and carry them around, and sometimes put them on top of a dryer that’s on.  The constant movement stresses them out (well, it does my New Zealand) and they cuddle together (in theory) for support.  Of course, my Olive (a Holland lop who’s smaller than the New Zealand rabbit, and he’s not even full grown) is more secure, and she often periscopes around/tries to get out of the basket–sigh.  But, they don’t fight (or haven’t any way) when I’ve done this, as opposed to the times I’ve put them on neutral territory and let them have free range.  All goes ok for half a minute and then they start to fight.  

[RabbitPam]

I agree with the laundry stressing technique as having been successful for many members who had bonds that took a while.
It’s been about a week now. Any improvement? did you try this method?

[somebunny]

Hello! Well the stressing didn’t help much unfortunately… however, we went away for a few days and had to leave the buns with my family which seemed to have calmed them both down alot! My famliy said they noticed the buns were snuggling etc while we were away. perhaps because it was truly neutral territory?

Yesterday we did a bathtub session which was much better than previous tries…they were mostly ignoring each other, as opposed to hershey nipping jo all the time. Although it did happen a few times.

I don’t want them to regress into the old ways…i suppose i should keep taking them to my family’s house for bonding sessions?

[LBJ10]

Is Hershey actually hurting Joseph when he nips at him? Even though Joseph is scared, you might just have to let Hershey get it out of his system. When I was bonding mine, all Leopold wanted to do was hump Wooly from every angle imaginable. Wooly was obviously upset, but we just had to let Leopold get it out of his system. After that, they were fine.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Posted By LBJ10 on 11/22/2011 09:16 AM
Is Hershey actually hurting Joseph when he nips at him? Even though Joseph is scared, you might just have to let Hershey get it out of his system. When I was bonding mine, all Leopold wanted to do was hump Wooly from every angle imaginable. Wooly was obviously upset, but we just had to let Leopold get it out of his system. After that, they were fine.

 

haha silly rabbits. Poor Wooly too!! <3

 

 

[Whiskey&Melvin]

this is similar to the laundry basket technique, but you could go for a car ride with the two of them in the back seat (under close supervision just in case) i tried this with my rabbits because Melvin had gotten a little nippy with Whiskey.

[somebunny]

I’m pretty sure Hershey is nipping at him to get groomed, and Jo silently refuses. I’ve seen her nip him in the car as well! It seems like Joseph is willing to be friends with Hershey only through the bars (I’ve seen them groom and snuggle this way) …if they are together (with no bars in neutral territory), he is too scared -which then provokes hershey. neverending cycle it seems…I hope they can live together one day.

[Elrohwen]

It sounds like pretty normal behavior – my female still nips my male and they’ve been bonded for a long time. What I did was shake them around in a laundry basket whenever Hannah would get nippy or humpy. She learned that annoying things happen when she’s nippy, but she doesn’t get to end the bonding session either. After a shake in the basket I could put them back in the tub for a couple minutes of calm and end on a good note.

[SugarbearNPepper]

Just wondering about the laundry basket method… do the buns ever try to jump out?

[Elrohwen]

Not really – since you’ll be shaking it around a bit, they’ll probably just hunker down and wait for it to end. Sometimes one of mine would stand up and look around, so I would just lightly push their heads back down and pet them so they didn’t get any ideas about jumping, but I doubt they would’ve have. I found it easiest to sit on a chair or the edge of the bathtub and bounce it on my knees – it saved my arms doing the work and left me a free hand to make sure they didn’t go anywhere.

[somebunny]

Hi guys, I have an update on this… I’m currently overseas and had to leave the buns with my sister. They are separated at her house but she says they are getting along quite well. I realise this is probably due to the neutral territory…wondering how I shoudl approach this when I get back (in 10 days). Is it possible they will be bonded by then? If so, when I take them home…not sure what will happen with the territorial stuff?

[Tula 'n George]

Hi – I just wanted to see if you have another update on hershey and jo. Your bunnies sound a lot like mine! Hope it is going well!

[Jenna, Chubs & Comet]

I would suggest smeared banana on the head of the rabbit that likely is demanding to be groomed. This worked well for my boys because Chubs was tricked into believing he was being groomed and Comet got a tasty treat and didn’t get nipped at. lol I still have to do this every once in a while (and they’ve been bonded for about 2 years) because Comet just doesn’t groom very often and Chubs occasionally gets mad at him and gets feisty. This trick always seems to calm him down again. It was a needed tool for bonding these two!

[somebunny]

Hello…well I have another update, I haven’t seen my bunnehs in about 3 weeks but the updside is they are living together happily with no barrier (so I’ve heard). It seems the neutral territory did the trick. When I take them home should I just let them live together and see how it goes?

[somebunny]

Hi guys, another update… the buns are bonded! they are living peacefully together, free range. A little bit of chasing from hersh during food time but that’s all.., took many months but 3 weeks of neutral territory seemed to do the trick!

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