When are my buns really bonded?

[Laura]

I adopted my rabbit Spice (fixed male) in February and adopted Daisy (fixed female) in March a few weeks after his partner died. They took relatively quickly and I thought they were bonded, as they were grooming each other, eating together, and lying together. I felt comfortable about putting them together in the same cage, after about 2 weeks of them being seemingly bonded, and all was fine for a couple more weeks. I have a blocked off room that they can run around in all day except at night or when no one is at home, and usually leave them unsupervised. I noticed some fur on the floor, which I originally thought may be due to a fight, but figured that it was probably due to the changing seasons from what I read online. When I put them together in their cage the night I found the fur, they began fighting again, so I put them in separate cages again. They have only fought one other time since then, but have been fine the past 2 weeks and are grooming and lying with each other again. How do I know they are really bonded and when can I put them in the same cage again? Also, how can I prevent them from fighting again?

[Sirius&Luna]

Hi Laura,

I’m a bit unclear on your timeline, but it sounds like you brought the new rabbit home, and immediately started bonding. It’s really important to give a new bunny at least 2 weeks to settle in, as often they don’t feel comfortable in a new place, so they submit to the old bunny, and you don’t see their true personality. Then, when they feel at home a few weeks later, they’re ready to assert themselves and fights start happening.

It also sounds like you rushed the bonding process a bit. I would check out the BUNNY INFO section on bonding for an overview of the steps,but I’ll summarise below.

1. Let new bunny settle in for two weeks
2. Start prebonding – swapping between cages every other day
3. After a month of prebonding, introduce on neutral territory
4. Slowly increase the time they spend together, intervening to stop any fights
5. Look out for positive behaviour like grooming each other and flopping together. Work up to 8 hour sessions together.
6. Monitor them for 48 hours straight in their permanent home – if there are no problems and they’re grooming each other, snuggling, and sharing food, they’re bonded.

[Author]

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