Unique bonding situation after traumatic event

[malkotigarche]

Hello all! 

We have had house bunnies for about twelve years now, our oldest, Dusty, passing over the rainbow bridge this summer at 11.5 years old. 

We had a trio for about seven years, and have three bunnies currently, hoping to make them into a trio as well. Here’s the scoop about our bunnies:

STRAWBERRY: She is about 3.5 years old and a rescue. We have had her the longest of our current bunnies, for over 1 year. She is spade and definitely the queen bee. She can be aggressive, but can also be sweet, though doesn’t like to be handled or cuddled much unless we’re on the floor with her, which is fine. When we first got her from our local shelter, she was very timid and afraid of her surroundings apart from us. My partner used to call her a wild bunny as she was just constantly like a deer in the headlights. This has changed significantly now and she’s quite calm in our home. She was bonded with our old boy Dusty until he passed. About three months later we adopted Bugsy and they are bonded well, though she gives him a nip if he gets too excited…

BUGSY: Bugsy is also about 3.5 years old and a neutered male. We got him from a lady that could no longer take care of him. He was previously bonded to a female, but she passed away prior to our adopting him. He is a very sweet boy, very chilled out and bonded near immediately with Strawberry, as he’d been previously bonded. Bugsy and Strawberry occasionally mount each other for dominance, and Strawberry honks and growls (sometimes lunging) when she’s agitated about his mounting attempts. He’s been with us for 5 months and adores being petted.

ROBIN: Robin is a neutered male and we adopted him from our local shelter. He’s I think just about 1 year old now. We were told he was 1 year old at the time of adoption, but think he was a lot younger. Apparently he’d been living in an apartment with his family, but they couldn’t take care of him anymore and that’s about all the back story we have on him. We’ve had him for about 3 or 4 months. He’s a lionhead and when we first got him, didn’t have too much “extra” fur, but has grown a lovely surfer-style mane and beard. He’s affectionate and gives kisses, but can quickly turn to nipping and loves biting and tugging on our clothing.

Ok, so in December, the bunnies were set up so they were living side-by-side, Strawberry and Bugsy in the kitchen, and Robin in the laundry room, separated by a baby gate with mesh and cardboard in between to block visuals. They are all litterbox trained, but would mark along the baby gate. I had done a few bathtub bonding sessions and litterbox swaps; Strawberry bit Robin during one of these sessions. One day Robin got out because I foolishly forgot to ‘click’ the gate shut. I came home 20 minutes later with fur and blood in the kitchen. Robin had attacked Strawberry and she got cut up quite badly. We had to go to the emergency vet and it was pretty bad; she ended up with stitches in her nose, both sides of her neck and on her side. We had to go back a few times as her nose wouldn’t heal correctly. All in all it was a horrendous experience. She’s healed and back to her mostly normal self. She’s been healed with all stitches out in mid January.

I have playtime with both sets of bunnies in the same room (obviously at different times). It’s poop city – they mark everywhere each time, but that’s tolerable. When I cuddle or hold Robin and then hold Strawberry or pet her with clothing that she can smell him on, she goes to nip me. Not all the time, and it was worse initially with me getting some nasty bites, but she still gets upset when she smells him. We continue to do box swaps and for the past month, there has been no visual contact. Robin lives upstairs in the bathroom (with his laundry room still closed off) and Strawberry and Bugsy in the kitchen.

It seems that Robin doesn’t really understand much etiquette as nothing really seems to phase him. Putting a small amount of water in the bathtub during a bonding session freaked out the two, but Robin didn’t even care. He seems to have bonded with my partner and I, as he gives kisses and little nips to our skin, but generally bites and tugs on our clothing.

I don’t want to give up hope on these babies, as they’re ours and I couldn’t see us giving Robin back to the shelter, but my partner is not as patient. Help!?!

[LBJ10]

Sometimes it helps to do one-on-one instead of two-on-one. Have you tried doing separate bonding sessions where it’s just Robin and one of the other rabbits?

[malkotigarche]

Hi LBJ10
I had done a few one on one sessions before the drama, but haven’t done any bonding since. They were both quite aggressive towards each other, whether Bugsy was around or not. One on one with Robin and Bugsy wasn’t any better as Bugsy would run, causing Robin to chase even more. This is all within confines of the bathtub.I’ve even done sessions where somebunny is in a carrier and the other out, both in the tub, then would swap.
I’m hoping part of it was because Robin was young and was a bit crazy re:teenager phase. He seems to have calmed down a little bit. He doesn’t really like pets and tends to duck away, but he’s fine with licking our palms for a short period of time. He’s pretty non stop too, then he flops for about a second then gets back up and explores now. He does sleep and nap during the usual bunny nap times.
Maybe I can get even more scent swapping by using old towels, though they all will bite and chew them up (I have no idea how some bunnies can have nice fleece bedding).

[LBJ10]

If all else fails, a little stress can go a long way. Have you tried having two in the carrier together? You can take them for a car ride, that usually freaks them out a bit. Our you could try to box trick where you place the bunnies in a box and if they start showing signs of aggression you give the box a quick shake. It disrupts the behavior without your hands being in harms way.

[malkotigarche]

In the past, nothing seems to have phased Robin, so it was difficult to envoke stress. I’m not sure if he’s some sort of mini super bunny or what. Maybe I’ll try a cardboard box with a cardboard separator, because I really have the suspicion they’ll go for each other immediately.

It’s just the way that Strawberry reacts to his scent. Does it take a while for a young bunny to “settle”? Like I’m hoping whenever he gets past this teenage phase that it will be a bit easier…

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