Wanted: Bunny Bonding Behavior Interpreter

[Leah & Lil' Lions]

Hey all – I’m a first-time poster and bunny-bonder looking for a little advice.

A few months ago, my boyfriend and I bundled up our (almost) 2-year-old neutered lionhead buck named Simba and made a big move from Minnesota to Florida.

I’m way too obsessed with this rabbit (I’m sure you can relate) and for more than a year Simba had slept on my nightstand – literally inches from my face – nearly every night.

My boyfriend and I knew that wasn’t going to work once we moved in together (hay smell and the occasional rogue Simba bink seriously messes with his sleep) – so we purposely found an apartment with an additional bedroom that we could turn into a bunny paradise.

Well I still felt insanely guilty – here’s why:

(1) This is Simba’s first time living in an apartment – and after living in a quiet, rural area for most of his life, the poor guy spent his first few Florida weeks absolutely spazzing out about every new sound made by our many neighbors.
(2) He no longer has the option to nudge me and jump on my face at night.
(3) My boyfriend and I work the same shifts – so while Simba gets lots of love every day, he still has more alone time than he’s used to.

My solution is Balto – a 3-month-old intact lionhead buck.

I’m hoping a friend will help with some of the stress from Simba’s big move.

I brought Balto home to meet Simba before making the decision to keep him … and the interaction went really well – Simba seemed so excited. He mounted Balto just briefly, then basically just did a lot of sniffing – then I separated them.

Balto has been with us a few weeks now and I’m in the process of researching veterinarians in the area so we can get him neutered ASAP.

Balto is set up in a pen inside Simba’s room. They can sniff each other but Simba can’t get to him.

I know we’ll probably have to re-bond them after Balto is neutered, but Simba has the run of our entire apartment when we’re home so since there’s no hiding the little guy we decided to start the process.

We’re now to the point where I can let both of them out in Simba’s (and now Balto’s) room and let them run around – closely supervised, of course.

Here’s where I’m confused: I feel like I’m getting mixed signals from their behavior together.

Simba has never bitten, boxed, or even grunted at Balto – but he IS very territorial about certain areas of the room (food bowl, fort & favorite plop-spot).

It makes sense. And when lil Balto wanders over there, Simba does chase him away – he’s also yanked some hair a few times – but he doesn’t bite.

When Balto isn’t in those areas, though, they’ll plop together, Simba will groom him, or they’ll just chill.

And even when Simba chases Balto out of those particular areas, Balto doesn’t seem very afraid. He’ll run away and end his sprint with either a bink or a plop.

Balto is completely submissive to Simba – BUT now I’m starting to notice Balto becoming more aggressive with us.

He grunts and sometimes boxes when we try to pick him up now … which is weird. Could that be hormones or something? Or do you think all the Simba interaction is stressing him out? I didn’t want to take any chances so we made Balto’s pen a little more private … but when he’s in there Simba really never does more than take a few sniffs as he passes by.

Balto chins things a lot but doesn’t show any other territorial signs. And he hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to replace Simba as “top bun” – in fact he seems hell-bent on being Simba’s friend – he’s always wedging his body between Simba and the wall trying to cuddle.

Would you recommend continuing with the play dates or is this a sign that we should maybe slow things down until Balto is neutered?

I do think they’ll make great friends – I just don’t want to mess it up!

I apologize for the long post – and thanks for your help!

[vanessa]

No play dates. Not now. Bad idea. Although Simba is neutered, Balto is not – which means his hormone surge could cause a very very ugly fight without giving you any warning at all. Even supervised. Bunnies are incredibly fast when they attack. Myself and others on this forum have experienced this. When they get to this point – and they will – they will develop a grudge and you might not be able to bond them later. You can’t bond unneutered/unsprayed rabbits. Even is one of them is neutered/spayed.

I highly recommend keeping them in areas where they can see eachother, but be separated by at least 6 inches. One divider fence isn’t enough. They can and will fight through a fence. By letting them see eachother but have no contact, you are doing prebonding. That is all you can do at the moment, and you do need to do prebonding before you actually bond. So this would be a good time. Let them see but not get within 6 inches of each other – at all, swap litter boxes, food and water bowls, blankets, etc, and wait until 1 month (some recommend 2 months) have passed after Balto’s surgery. Even though he may be feeling fine 2 weeks later, it can take a while for the hormones to dissipate. Those hormones are like little devils in a bunnie’s head. You want them gone for a successful and safe bond. Your vet might want you to wait until Balto is 5-6 months before neutering him, which is fine, beause that gives you a good amount of time to prebond. Please don’t let them have anymore play dates untill it’s safe to bond!

[Leah & Lil' Lions]

10-4. No more play dates.

Do you think Balto is all of a sudden being a little punk because Simba is making him paranoid? I’m trying to figure out if I need to separate them more or if this is just a normal phase for a rabbit Balto’s age.

We got Simba when he was about 6 months old so this is our first time dealing with a rabbit as young as Balto.

[vanessa]

I’d say it’s a normal phase for a rabbit his age – but not all rabbits are the same. Some are complete snuggly boos at 3 months. It is definitely hormones, which is normal for his age. I would separate their spaces as far as what is needed to control aggressive behaviors. For example if at 6 inches they are lunging, go to 12i inches. If lunging stops at 12 inches, that’s a suitable distance. But since his reaction is toward you – separating the cages won’t have an affect. I’m sure Balto would like a little privacy area like a box he can hide in, but boxing and refusing to be picked up could be purely hormone related and have nothing to do with Simba. My Avalon was easy to pick up while he was under 2 months. By 3 months, he was much harder to pick up. Just keep working at it. It’s more of a bonding/trust thing between you and him. It might be easier once he is neutered, but it is something you can still work on. Pick him up periodically, for short periods, and treat him when you put him down. It’s important to be able to safely and quickly pick up your bunny.
Chinning is perfectly normal.
It’s good that he is keen on befriending Simba, as it will make the bonding go a lot smoother.
Nothing sounds out of the ordinary to me 🙂

[vanessa]

Remember too that each rabbit is different, even at the same age.

[Mikey]

Intact rabbits cannot bond. Balto (great name!) will need to be neutered and given a month to heal/wash hormones out first before you can bond

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