what to do with 2 unbonded buns

[shirlybunnini]

Hello, I have two bunnies. One who I have have for 2 years(2ygirl) and the other adopted for about 8 months(3yrboy). We have tried bonded them for 6-7 months to no avail. They can be civil to each other sometimes but the original bun is really mean and attacky sometimes. They are still in separate pens in the same room. We originally planned to give back the 2nd bun to the shelter if they wouldn’t bond within 5 months because I was leaving for college. We didn’t have the heart to do it and stayed optimistic but 8 months later now, my family at home has a lot of added work and issues. The 2nd bun escapes from his pen at night and pees and poos all over, causing family to get more and more stressed every day. We plan on trying to bond them extremely hard over the summer, but if they still can’t bond, we might have to give the 2nd bun back to the shelter or to someone else. This makes all of us sad but this type of living for him and us is so unsustainable unhappy. He deserves to be with a bun who loves him back and ample free time. We really don’t want to give him away but it might have to happen.

Has anyone else had buns that wouldn’t bond for a loong time? Or how have you guys dealt with 2 separate bunnies and the added work? Is he going to be extremely depressed because us humans are gone and that he is no longer with the other bun? Is it true even if they are “bonded” The girl bun is just going to always be mean sometimes? Should I let them truly “finish” a fight and see if they can resolve on their own? 

[Zoe]

Fortunately, I have not had this problem, but I will share what I know. First off, are the bunnies both spayed/neutered? They both need to be fixed, not just one. I would also say try taking a break from bonding to relive the stress on the bunnies(and you). So just take a little break and start back up again slowly. You can start off with 3-5 minute bonding sessions in small areas like a bathtub(don’t put one bun in the other bun’s cage!) and work your way up to longer periods of time and larger spaces. Always end the bonding session on a good note. You aren’t going to get anywhere in bonding if the only things the bunnies remember about each other are bad things. You can also try stress bonding sessions where you put the bunnies next to each other in a small bin/box and gently shake it around or put it on top of a shaky washer. This will make the bunnies seek each other for comfort in a stressful situation. If the bunnies start to fight then gently slide a dustpan between them. And unfortunately, if this does not work the other thing I know is that some bunnies just don’t work well together. I hope this helps and that you will be able to get your bunnies to bond! Also, my bun kept jumping out of his cage(an exercise pen) so I took a sheet and secured it with clips over the top of his cage.

[shirlybunnini]

Thanks for your advice! Unfortunately we have tried all of the things you have mentioned, and they are neutered and spayed. We have not been bonding them recently other than they eat their veggies together and hang out near each others cage because our schedules have become so busy. Instead, we give them play time since the bonding seems to go nowhere. We DID do bonding in neutral area for different lengths of time, stress bonding, close pens, switches boxes  and homes etc for like 6 months straight.  Yes, we have added a lid to his home but we are afraid our consuming schedules will keep shorting their play time since they have to be out separately, bother each other, and he usually makes a pee/poo pile.  

[Deleted User]

Unfortunately, at this point they just might not be bondable. If you’ve tried everything and all sorts of stress bonding, then they may really just be unsuitable for each other. It might be a good idea to rehome the second bun, and in the future if you still want to bond the first bun, you can take them on speed dates at the local shelter to get a feel for who they’d be compatible with. There was a member on here who tried for a few months to bond her buns, and couldn’t make it work due to similar issues, so she had to rehome her male.

[shirlybunnini]

Posted By Asriel and Bombur on 1/25/2018 9:53 PM

Unfortunately, at this point they just might not be bondable. If you’ve tried everything and all sorts of stress bonding, then they may really just be unsuitable for each other. It might be a good idea to rehome the second bun, and in the future if you still want to bond the first bun, you can take them on speed dates at the local shelter to get a feel for who they’d be compatible with. There was a member on here who tried for a few months to bond her buns, and couldn’t make it work due to similar issues, so she had to rehome her male.

I’m just really depressed about it because he has been so ready to be her soul mate since the 2nd month of bonding but she just will not fully commit. He was the only one during speed dates that seemed to function okay with her. I really don’t want him to return to the shelter depressed but at home he may not receive all the playtime and attention he deserves. I would feel a lot better if he went to an experienced bunny owner. I don’t think he would be escapey or pee/poo places if he was bonded to a bun. 

[jerseygirl]

Is there a Rescue (or other) that offers bonding services? Would you be okay letting the buns go away for a while??

The benefit of using a service is the environment and people are totally neutral to the rabbits.

This may be my overthinking brain, but with the male buns marking behaviour, I have to wonder if you adopted a female that was thought to me a neutered male? A shelter could make that error if they took it in from someone and took their word at face value. That said, there will be some neutered males that continue to mark. And with bonding, “poop wars” is definitely a thing!!

[shirlybunnini]

Hmm the shelter bunny ladies seem pretty knowledgable. I think he was found on the street and the SPCA neutered him and chipped apparently? He marks kind of spontaneous. Some weeks he keeps marking, some weeks he will chill out with it. My girl bun did used to poop all over his home when they were first bonding and were switched, him too. But now she has basically stopped marking. Hes the only one that still does. I have to say, his pee IS smellier than hers though, but he drinks less water.

[jerseygirl]

Oh-in that case, they might have notes on record regarding his neuter. If there was anything unusual like only one testicle present, for example.
Maybe it’s just the way he is though. It can be frustrating, I know! My first rabbit, Jersey, became like this later in her life.

[Deleted User]

I had a similar outcome when I tried to bond a male to my female. I think that at this point, your bunnies are clearly trying to tell you that they don’t like each other.

I did prebonding for like 2.5 months, and then I tried bonding sessions for a little over a month. Everything was wonderful at first, I honestly thought they were going to be a love at first sight bond. They were so physical with each other, laying all over each other in the tub and I didn’t see any aggression at all. That first session ended up lasting 3 hours, at which time I had to separate them so I could go to bed.

Things seemed to still go well over the next two weeks, with some minor issues here and there, which is to be expected. At one point in week two Quincy let Ophelia mount him and didn’t fight back. That only happened twice though, all other times he would turn it into a fight. But the last two weeks things started to decline. Quincy was just being a jerk and refused to groom, so Ophelia would lightly nip him and then he would freak out and I had to intervene before it escalated. The last week, things were bad. I thought I was hindering their progress by interfering with every nip, so I’d let it play out but it was constantly turning into a chasing match and my final straw was when he was chasing her and I picked her up and he started to attack my feet, circling, grunting, and scratching me.

It was extremely stressful trying to spend several hours a day bonding rabbits when I had work and school as well. I was really depressed that it didn’t work out, and I still feel like a failure. I’m sure I must have don’t something wrong as it was my first time. There wasn’t a lot of neutral space in my apartment since they both were roaming buns and weren’t in cages. I think that might have been my major issue is that pretty much everything was “semineutral” at best.

I loved Quincy to bits, but he clearly didn’t like Ophelia even though she seemed to be in love with him at first. But she got sick of his crap too, so I thought it best to just make sure he went to a good home. I found a girl through my local rabbit rescue who had recently lost her 9 year old bun, so I thought it was a good fit since she had experience caring for rabbits. I have actually seen her around a few times and she’s told me that he is super sweet, friendly, and happy. I think that he does better with humans than with other buns. He’s super accepting of strangers.

So you may yet be able to find him somewhere that he will be happier. It would be stressful to live with another bun that he isn’t getting along with. Good luck!

[Deleted User]

Posted By BunNoob on 1/26/2018 7:25 AM

I had a similar outcome when I tried to bond a male to my female. I think that at this point, your bunnies are clearly trying to tell you that they don’t like each other.

I did prebonding for like 2.5 months, and then I tried bonding sessions for a little over a month. Everything was wonderful at first, I honestly thought they were going to be a love at first sight bond. They were so physical with each other, laying all over each other in the tub and I didn’t see any aggression at all. That first session ended up lasting 3 hours, at which time I had to separate them so I could go to bed.

Things seemed to still go well over the next two weeks, with some minor issues here and there, which is to be expected. At one point in week two Quincy let Ophelia mount him and didn’t fight back. That only happened twice though, all other times he would turn it into a fight. But the last two weeks things started to decline. Quincy was just being a jerk and refused to groom, so Ophelia would lightly nip him and then he would freak out and I had to intervene before it escalated. The last week, things were bad. I thought I was hindering their progress by interfering with every nip, so I’d let it play out but it was constantly turning into a chasing match and my final straw was when he was chasing her and I picked her up and he started to attack my feet, circling, grunting, and scratching me.

It was extremely stressful trying to spend several hours a day bonding rabbits when I had work and school as well. I was really depressed that it didn’t work out, and I still feel like a failure. I’m sure I must have don’t something wrong as it was my first time. There wasn’t a lot of neutral space in my apartment since they both were roaming buns and weren’t in cages. I think that might have been my major issue is that pretty much everything was “semineutral” at best.

I loved Quincy to bits, but he clearly didn’t like Ophelia even though she seemed to be in love with him at first. But she got sick of his crap too, so I thought it best to just make sure he went to a good home. I found a girl through my local rabbit rescue who had recently lost her 9 year old bun, so I thought it was a good fit since she had experience caring for rabbits. I have actually seen her around a few times and she’s told me that he is super sweet, friendly, and happy. I think that he does better with humans than with other buns. He’s super accepting of strangers.

So you may yet be able to find him somewhere that he will be happier. It would be stressful to live with another bun that he isn’t getting along with. Good luck!

I am sorry it didn’t work out for you 

I read your bonding thread the other day and didn’t know how it ended (maybe you should paste that post onto the end of your thread! &nbsp He sounds like he was a little jealous. Maybe his just happy as a single bunny with his human companion. I had a male bunny called Toby who was like that, and passed away aged 17. So don’t be to hard on yourself. You tried! I hope that I don’t have that happen to me though! But you don’t know until you try!

For the OP I do agree, you have given it a shot and it hasn’t worked. Weather you rehome one of them is your call but I can imagine how hard it must be 

Couldn’t you get a larger pen that is divided in the middle and keep both? 

[shirlybunnini]

Right now they are fairly close to eachother penwise. I feel bad for him because he likes my girl bun it would have to be him who is given away. The issue is I feel selfish if I choose to keep him because he will not get as much play time as he deserves because they cant be out at the same time AND he deserves to have a bunny friend which my bun will not give him. I plan on trying to rebond them in the summer, and if they dont bond I will try to rehome him to a great bunny home. Do you guys recommend stopping their interactions completely or still allow them to visit and eat veggies together , switch boxes and homes in the mean time until summer?

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