Two pairs won’t bond

[Hamish]

Hi there. I’m hoping someone might be able to help me with a problem I’m having with my rabbits. I have two bonded pairs of rabbits. The first pair is a male mini lop (Scoop) and a female mini rex (Hamish). They’re both spayed/neutered. The second pair (Holly and Squee) are spayed and neutered mini rexes (obviously one female and one male). Well Scoop and Hamish lived happily and cage free in my home for about a year before I saw some very sad looking mini rexes in a pet store I happened to be in. Someone had dropped them off in a cardboard box and said, “I can’t take this anymore.” They were all stuck in a tiny little cage and looked so lost. I took them home thinking I could bond them to Hamish and Scoop. This was in December of last year. Well let me just say they hate eachother. I built them a very spacious cage but honestly I thought they’d be roaming free by now. I thought I’d have piles of bunnies around the house. But all I get when I try to bond them is growling and vicious behavior. I’ve tried months of introducing them on neutral territory with no results. I’ve even situated their cage so that they’re always near eachother. But Scoop and Hamish just pee and poop all around Squee and Holly’s cage. And when I put Scoop and Hamish away to let Squee and Holly have some time out of their cage…they spend most of their time peeing and pooping over the same spots Ham and Scoop have peed and pooped. My home really doesn’t allow me to set up their housing situation any differently. My carpet is ruined and I’m constantly cleaning it. My finance’s allergies are going bananas all the time. I don’t know what to do. I bit off more than I can chew. I feel like this would all be resolved if they would just bond but its not happening. Theres no progress. How can I get these guys to finally bond?

[Monkeybun]

Have you tried them individually instead of a pair with the other pair? Like, take one bun from one pair, introduce to one bun from the other? Individual bondings work better than pairs introduced together.

Switching habitats helps too. Just by having to deal with the scents in “their” territory helps calm them. At least, it did in my case

[Sarita]

What darling rabbits! I agree with Monkeybun, try some one-on-one time with them pairing one from one pair with another from the other pair. This is going to take some time and you are going to have to figure out the dynamics but I think you will be able to do this. Just be patient and very diligent.

I think putting them all in the mix together is just not working so switching to that tactic might make it more successful. Also switching their habitats is a good idea as well – you may have to clean up more messes in the beginning as a word of warning but it might help in the end.

[Hamish]

Well, I’ve thought about bonding them one on one instead of as a group a lot, actually. But I guess I’ve hesitated because Hamish really has the biggest problem with the little brown bunnies. Scoop seems like he might be willing to get along eventually. So I’ve been afraid that this method might break up Ham Ham and Scoop. At this point I’m willing to try about anything though.

[MarkBun]

The main issue as I see it is that you don’t have a neutral bonding space. So the bonding process will go a bit harder for you – especially with everyone marking their territory all the time. If you don’t have something neutral like a bath tub, you may want to look at getting a large cardboard box that you can fold up flat but then open up, complete with bottom and high walls, and put them into that. They’ll think they’re in a new room that is not ‘their space’ and it should help with a little bit of the dominance issues.

And like someone else said, I’d switch out thier litter boxes with each cleaning so that they get used to one another’s scent. 

[Monkeybun]

Maybe try Hamish with one of the others first then. Try her with the more submissive of the brown buns.

[Hamish]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I will certainly be trying these out and I’ll let you guys know how it works out. Thanks again!

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sorry I’m not helpful but I just have to comment on the insane cuteness of all your bunnies. I’m a big Rex lover. That first pic is heart melting…

[Hamish]

Thank you so much ^^ Yours are all so cute too!

[kralspace]

those are beautiful bunnies, all four of them! I love the big guy (girl?) just sprawled out over the other one. I tried bonding two pairs together, individually at first. I finally got all four to cooperate for a couple of weeks, but then all heck broke loose. Both my girls are big time divas, and one, my white rex Lola just started fights at every opportunity and the other three finally had enough. I was lucky enough to come home and find she’d been able to hide in a small space before they really hurt her. She was pretty beat up and I wound up with a trio and a single who became my personal companion. I didn’t have my group, but at least it was peaceful in the house again and the poo wars stopped.

Not trying to discourage you, just giving you a heads up if you have two really really dominant buns, they can really butt heads. I’m currently trying to bond a younger male with my trio of one girls and two guys.

If you do a search for bonding threads by Petzy, you’ll find a lot of bonding advice on groups. She’s taking some time off from the boards right now, but she had a very successful quartet and helped a lot of us through some rough times.

[Hamish]

Just posting to let everyone know that these guys are still viciously fighting. I don’t think this is going to work. I almost wish they made a bunny muzzle. Oh well.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

What are they doing? Did you try to bond the 2 dominant buns?

[mint]

Just wondering what happened with your buns??? They are really cute. I have two pairs right now and at least two of the girls definitely have strong A type personalities. I haven’t tried to bond all four because when the two A-types were put together they got in a really nasty fight. I am wondering if you made progress and how you did it?

[Author]

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