Your Experiences With Bonding Males?

[ZooLady]

Wow….so everytime I let them have their fifteen minutes together–it’s INSTANT attack.   I have read from some of the other posts on here, that bonding can take a long time.   Trying to get my two neutered males to be friendly seems a task so…daunting!

I would like to know, how long did it take you to bond two rabbits? I am particularly interested in those who have bonded males.

Any helpful advice you can give me will be appreciated greatly!

[Deleted User]

It can take anywhere from between no time at all (instant bond) to several months. Mine (neutered males) took about three weeks. I did one session per day, each day a little longer.

You should see some progress, though, even if there is aggression. If things don’t change between them, change the set-up. What is your set-up, have you tried stress bonding?

[ZooLady]

I want to try stress bonding, but I don’t have a car. (You are talking about the car-ride technique right?)

I usually let them meet for about 15 minutes in the living room. If they get aggressive, I keep a cage between them so they can just sniff.

I am wondering if keeping a cage with the new rabbit in the room where my older rabbit stays is in order. I can let them both sleep in the same room at night, and alternate their out time during the day, so that one is out around the room, while the other is in the cage. Do you think this might work?

[mrmac]

You could try the bath tub/shower too. When bonding my first pair we put them side by side in seperate cages and alternating time out, then letting them have time out together.

[ZooLady]

How long did you let them alternate times out before you tried them together?

[mrmac]

Mine bonded pretty quick, but I’d say everyday for about a week or so for how ever long I wanted to sit and watch them! Are they kept next to eachother but in seperate cages?

[Deleted User]

ZooLady, there are other stress bonding techniques besides car ride; on this forum there is one method frequently mentioned that involves putting the rabbits in a basket together on top of your dryer while it is running. It creates motion underneath the rabbits that acts as a stressor. I haven’t tried this myself. It depends what you have available… People have put their rabbits in a carrier together and suspended the carrier to rock it, gently, which again create motion and ultimately stress. I’d say try the bath tub first.

[ZooLady]

I have moved the newer rabbits cage into my bedroom, where the older rabbit abides. I have been alternating their time out—a few hours at a time each. It seems to be going okay. The first night my older rabbit threw a little bunny tantrum, but now they seem to have settled into the new routine. I havn’t tried any one on one time outside of sniffing each other through the cages yet because of how aggressive they were when I first put them together. We’ll give this technique a week or two, and then I’ll try the together time.

[Deleted User]

I had my existing rabbits living in my bedroom and then moved my new rabbit into a condo in my bedroom as well. This room is anything but neutral obviously to either bunny, and I have now removed all three to a new neutral place where they can bond without any more fighting. What you’re doing is fine for now to get them their exercise, but once you put them together to really meet face-to-face, make sure you do it in a place where neither of them have ever been before. Enrich this new place with new objects to investigate and don’t make it too large. in the meantime, have you tried the bathtub?

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