When to decide a bun prefers living alone?

[Crush]

First, some background info: Callie is my approx. nine month old female, Lionhead rabbit and was spayed when she was bought by her previous owner. Crush is my three year old male, Holland Lop rabbit who was neutered prior to me adopting him as well. Both are rescues, however, Crush came from a decidedly nicer home than Callie. Callie’s home was very… well… negligent to say the least and she could go days on end without water in her water bottle, was handled by a two year old who would throw her, and her cage was constantly filthy so to say she lacks trust in humans is an understatement – she can, in fact, be quite territorial and sometimes even aggressive. I’ve called her bluff once or twice, but she did attempt to attack me the other day(I’m sure I scared her though).

I did post this question on a separate forum, but it didn’t get much input, and I’d love some more… 

I’m beginning to wonder if Crush is just pre-disposed to, and happy to be a lone-bun. Or maybe Callie isn’t the right fit.

There hasn’t been any progress, nor regression in bonding either of them over the past three months. Really, it goes the same, always. Callie chases Crush around to hump him repeatedly, and usually won’t stop either until she either gets too tired and slides off, or finds interest in something else briefly. And Crush really could care less about having anything to do with her.

He’s been over-grooming himself a bit since she moved in, and he’s been a bit stressed, I think, by her presence. He’s normally a very very relaxed rabbit, who handles most situations with gusto, but Callie is just one of those things that he would prefer to be left alone by, y’know?



And no fights happen. Ever. Crush has turned around and humped her in return twice.

But otherwise, nadda. He’s REALLY tolerant of her, but doesn’t have any interest otherwise. He has groomed himself in her presence(but only when she gives him a break from the humping!), and if she starts nudging his ears too much, he gets irritated and tries to turn away from her to get her to stop.

I do regular bunny dates, I do the swapping of the cages, and I let them have free-roaming time separately when they’re not supervised too.

I’m at the point where I’m wondering if I should really continue this, or find Callie a home with a bun that is more willing to socialize with her, as she’s an EXTREMELY socially driven rabbit. But I’m not huge on rehoming pets. Ever. To me, pets are for life and they’re my family.

But I can’t take on a third rabbit, I’m in the process of finding a new home to move to, am going back to work full time soon, and my fiance would be pretttyyyy upset if I tried to bring in a third rabbit, not to mention the financial ramifications of doing just that. Callie, overall, would be FAR happier with a husbun and Crush just isn’t interested in her enough.

Callie is SO interested in fact, that she rubs her face on EVERYTHING that has his scent, will hang out ON TOP of his cage if she’s out and he’s not, won’t stop harassing him when they ARE together, and she really doesn’t have ANYTHING else that she likes in the world. She likes socializing. That’s it. She doesn’t care for food/treats/veggies/fruits, or playing and certainly not with interacting with me. Whereas Crush is very bonded to me, loves to cuddle and ADORES food.

I’m wondering… How much more time should I give it before I start looking for a home that can bond Callie to a husbun that WANTS to be with her?



Is it perhaps because she came from a setting that had her with a group of other rabbits, whereas he came from three years of being an only rabbit? I don’t know what to do.



And I feel terrible for even remotely thinking these things…



My fiance wasn’t even keen on taking her in, in the first place and at the moment, I feel a little lost.



I feel the need to ask a few questions too:

– If I bonded them fully, could one or both of their behaviors change? Crush is very very human-oriented and loves his human attention, whereas Callie is quite territorial and will charge a person before she lets them bother her unless it’s on her terms. Callie also constantly thumps, whereas Crush is very quiet… So could they pick up on good/bad habits from one another?

– Would it help to diminish Callie’s territorial behavior to have her with another bunny and make her feel more secure? 

– If I did manage to bond them, as Crush will eat ALL the food in his cage and never leaves any… How would I go about feeding them to ensure neither was left hungry?



Some input, suggestions or advice would be great!

I’m going to post a link to a video of a short bonding session with them. You may want your volume down, as you hear me pretty loudly hushing my whining dog who is kenneled in a separate room to prevent any issues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sk_Tii_wzs&feature=youtu.be

[tanlover14]

Bonding is always stressful for both buns and humans a like. In my opinion, I think you need to stimulate them more to get them together. My girl bun would ignore my boy bun and thump her foot at him and what not whereas my boy bun wanted nothing more than to be best friends with her. I actually made their neutral space smaller and forced them to interact more together. After a bit of this, it helped to strengthen their bond with each other and now you can catch them cuddling all over the place together.

If their not fighting, this is a VERY good sign.. and one bun ignoring the other is much more progress towards bonding than them fighting. Humping is always normal, even in bonded buns so I wouldn’t let this worry or jolt you. How much time have you let them spend together and have you tried just leaving them by themselves for an hour or two to see how they do? They will eventually become interested in each other but my buns were always more interested in me until I left them alone. That’s when they finally decided to check the other out. I wouldn’t give up just yet! I think you just need to approach this in a slightly different scenario. It sounds like you’ve done a very good job so far. The fact that he’s not fighting her off sends me the signals that he doesn’t care either way. Typically, a bun that wants to be a lone bun is VERY territorial and will fight with any bun that comes into his area. Since that’s not what yours is doing, I don’t think that’s how he feels!

As for behaviors, behaviors change only really as they first get to know each other. Personality doesn’t change but for a few days my buns were more interested in the other bunny than me which is perfectly normal. After being fully bonded, they all went back to themselves and all still very much need their human attention so I wouldn’t worry about that aspect. My buns all have VERY different personalities and these personalities have remained distinctly different despite all three being bonded to each other.

As for bad habits, some bad habits are learned others are not. Such as thumping. My girl is the only one of my buns who has EVER thumped. The other two have never picked up on this at all so I wouldn’t worry. They’ve helped each other become little rascals and now have three minds to put to use when attempting to get into things they shouldn’t, but thats about it!

As for eating, that’s simple — just simply feed them in different spots at the same time or put them in their own areas until they have finished dinner and then let them back to roaming together!

I really think you’re headed in the right direction and should keep with the bonding f you have the funds to give this bun bun a good home with you!

[Crush]

Thank you so much! You’ve made me feel quite a bit better. I really do hope that Crush comes around and begins to show signs of interest in Callie, though. Because she absolutely adores him.

She loves Crush so much, that if I let her out and something has Crush’s scent on it, she’s immediately rubbing her face all over it like a cat would. And it’s so cute.

I love my buns and I’d love for them to love one another and be able to be in one big cage.

[tanlover14]

The main thing about bonding is not to get down about it! The fact that he’s ignoring her rather than fighting her is actually a much better sign. Ignoring is another sign of merely being comfortable around her.

I’m wondering if maybe you’re just not giving them the space. How long is the longest you’ve left them together and how long do you feel comfortable leaving them by themselves? This is how you enhance the bonding. And honestly, your girl may just be like that since she’s so young. My young buns are the exact same way but as they age they’ll calm down like your older bunny. He simply may see her as a young one and may seem disinterested because of all her activity. Your buns seem very comfortable together which is a very good sign. If you leave them together during their “down time” and when she’s slightly tired, you may actually see them cuddle or become more lovable to each other. Your little girl may be having her down time alone and getting hyper when she sees him so really I would suggest leaving them together for a longer period of time alone and checking on them every once in awhile.

[Beka27]

When you move, that may be the best time to cement their bond. Keep doing what you’re doing, but for when you relocate, aim to have them together 24/7 after that if possible.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I agree with the others. Give them more time. Some bunnies can take months to really become fond of each other.

[Sarita]

Sometimes what you call “love” is not what rabbits call “love”. So if they are just happy hanging about then that is good – they are content. I’ve had bonded rabbits that weren’t big cuddle buns with each other but were happy to have the company. Let’s face it not even humans can cuddle 100% of the time. So you just have to change your expectations of what you think a bond is.

I think they sound as if they are fine together so just start cementing them and don’t let your expectations of what a bond should be discourage you. Keep going!

[Beka27]

I also think having a LARGE space is so important for a bonded pair. My pair have a 4×8 foot pen (two xpens attached together) so there’s plenty of room for two litterboxes, hidey houses, pet beds, and room to just lounge about without being in each other’s way! Sometimes if the space is too tight, that will increase territorial behavior over the little space there is. So depending on what your set-up is now, you may want to go ahead with some new housing that will increase their space.

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