We’re just not good at bonding buns…

[RetroSquid]

Our two female buns, Navi and Daisy. We’ve had them a while and have tried bonding them in the past, but quickly realised we were probably trying to take things too quickly, so, for the last couple of months, have been putting their cages together at night.
At first, there was a bit of chaos as they just wouldn’t settle with their cages so close, but that only lasted a couple of days.

Then, after possibly a month of that, I started swapping their toilets over, making sure they were getting lots of each others poops, then recently, started swapping their cages over at night.

Now, this as been a very slow process, it’s taken a few months… Proper ‘baby steps’. But today, I thought I would see how things went for a face to face somewhere neutral… So, in the hallway, by the front door, where neither bun goes, I had them both out…

Utter chaos in minutes… Fur flying, grunting, I had to use a foot to separate them as they just were so focussed on killing each other…

We’ve tried everything from being somewhere noisy so they’re both distracted, being in something moving, the softly-softly approach… 

They just seem so intolerant of each other.

We’ve had a routine of one bun in our bedroom, (Link, who’s just had surgery to remove an eye, so, he isn’t even being considered for bonding yet)

Navi in the dedicated bun room and Daisy in the living room.
We swap them about a bit, too, to make sure that each bun gets time with us in the living room, but, it was only supposed to be temporary… It’s not a routine we can continue indefinitely, but, it just seems like the girls will not tolerate another female bun… 

Gah, it’s so frustrating…

Rant over…

[RabbitPam]

I’m sorry it’s not going well.
Instead of swapping them in their cages, how about getting 2 stuffed animals as surrogates, leave them in each cage for 2 days to get the smell on them. and then swap the surrogates? Leave the stuffed bunnies in the cages for them to get used to, or be aggressive with at first. (No eating them, however.) It may make it more familiar to them when they are face to face.

[JackRabbit]

Also take a look at TanLover14’s web site wheekwheekthump.com. (really good info about bonding and lots of other bunny stuff)

[LongEaredLions]

I am sorry it is not working out for you. Have you tried any stress bonding? Another thing you could try is start with sessions where you put two plates of veggies 3-4 feet away from each other, and just set one bunny by each plate. When they finish eating, put the bunnies away. Continue this and move the plates closer each time, until they are eating off the same plate. Then, start leaving them for short amounts of time after they finish eating. Starting each session with veggies helps them to associate the other bunny with good things. I don’t know if this will work for you, but it can’t hurt to give it a try, it worked for me.
Hope you can figure this out.

[Stickerbunny]

You can also “hold” both bunnies so they don’t get near each other and pet them so that “bunny here is good, gets me attention” and then they can’t fight since you have them (takes two people though).

[RetroSquid]

Rabbit Pam – Daisy has a little pupped toy called José, but Navi doesn’t have or isn’t interested in anything like that, but we shall keep an eye out, they are well and truly used to one another’s scents, though. It’s contact with each other that riles them up, after seeing how they are, I don’t think swapping toys would have much of an effect, but we shall give it a shot!

JackRabbit – Thanks, will give it a look, but I’m pretty sure we’ve been through and exhausted most methods of bonding found while scouring the internet… But, like I said, will definitely give it a look!!

LongEaredLions – Honestly, we would never consider stress bonding again, not after everything that went wrong with our boy Link over the past 10 months…
The stress exacerbated a dormant E. Cuniculi problem that lead us down a lengthy road of medication and the likes that culminated in him having his eye removed a couple of weeks ago… Stress bonding is something we’re keen to keep as far from as possible.
Also, when there’s food about, Navi generally get’s her back up quicker… She’s very possessive over her veggies.

Stickerbunny – Haven’t thought about holding them much, be, me and the wife were considering getting a couple of harnesses for them, so they could move about, but prevent them from getting too close to one another… You really think that would be an option?…

[Stickerbunny]

It depends on the rabbits. Harnesses take training them to use a harness, you really don’t want a “spook, snap” situation with a harness… and you don’t want them stressed and freaked out about wearing a harness for the first time while bonding either. With mine, I did “double bunny pets” at times so they would calm down and just be around each other. I pet them both and kind of put pressure on their shoulder blades so that they stayed laying down, but were satisfied to be pet and were near each other. But, what works for one pair may not work for another. So, it’s best to customize it to them specifically. If you think it would help, you can try.

Also… be careful putting your feet between them. They bite HARD when they bite. A colander or something is safer!

[RetroSquid]

Oh, I know… have had hands and feet in the way when thinks have kicked off before… Buns definitely have a good bite on them…

Got the the point where an empty cardboard box is about the only thing that will separate them without me nearly losing a limb… o_O

[LongEaredLions]

I wondered after posting about stress bonding. I had remembered your story, but I couldn’t edit because I was on my kindle. Sorry about that. I do hope you find a method that works for you.

[Author]

Messages