Bonding bunnies - any advice you can give me would be great!

[joeyC19]

Hi all, I have a 5 year old desexed female mini dwarf lop called Bonnie. Today she had a bunny date at our local shelter and we adopted a grey dwarf cross (desexed male) called Freckles. The bunny date with Freckles was really promising. They were quite indifferent at first then snuggled a bit and Bonnie bowed her head to him and let him groom her.

We got home and I (as instructed) did a meeting with them in neutral territory which was our bathroom. They spent quite a bit of time happily together - sometimes not focusing on each other at all, other times together - lots of sniffing at each other etc. A few times I have had to separate them because Freckles is a humper and tried to do this many times. Bonnie tolerated it quite well but lost her temper a couple times and ran off and growled a bit. I jumped in and separated them before any fights.It only happened a few times in all the time they were together today so I think all in all its going well.

Anything specific I should be doing next or anything I am doing wrong? Is all this (the humping etc) fairly normal bunny behaviour?

Thanks in advance -

Jo

 

[delusional]

Sounds like you're doing a lot right, to me. I've bonded a number of pairs now, and my preferred method is definitely the persistance method.

Basically, I set up a pen in the living room, with something down on the floor to make the territory more neutral, put the bunnies in, and sit. Get comfortable, pop in a DVD, you'll be there a while.

For me, when I have a promising pair (like yours sound to be), it only usually takes 2 or 3 days of this (though I do mean ALL day).

You don't want to separate anything too soon, however. You need to get acquainted with both your bunnies, and learn when things are getting too serious. But they need to be able to sort out who's going to be boss, and that means some humping, chasing, and even a bit of scuffling. It's when the scuffling turns into fighting that you need to make a bit of noise to distract them. I usually opt for rattling the playpen a bit, which tends to pull them out of it.

If you do need to physically separate them at this point, use a pillow to avoid nips.

When they can spend most of a day together without a scuffle, move on to the cage. If you're using an existing cage, you'll need to clean it down thoroughly so that it doesn't smell of either bunny.

 

[elrohwen]

It sounds like you're off to a great start! I would stick to the bathroom for a few more days until they really start to be comfortable with each other. Then, try moving them to another neutral area - maybe a pen somewhere. Eventually you can move them into the same common area for playtime, then into the same cage.

Also, the humpy bunny should get over most of his humping eventually.

 

[crystal]

Hi Jo! Welcome! I know you in real life lol

I started reading this and was like "wow what a coincidence Jo has a 5 year old lop called Bonnie... and she went to a shelter as well. Oh it is Jo!" haha I had already been to your facebook this morning to see if there were any photos or updates. and then I accidently found this

It does sound like you're doing the right things. The humping is normal bunny behaviour, as I think someone said it's about dominance (not about mating as lots of people think). Do you know how long ago Freckles was desexed? The website I assume isn't updated too often but it said for him that his hormones were still settling down or something to that affect, and I think it can take 4-8 weeks for the hormones to settle down after a neuter so it could also be that he will settle down a bit more in the next few weeks. He could already be past that point but it's something to consider if it's relevant.

I've got a similar thing going on with my buns too. Lopsy wants to hump Lulu and she gets frustrated, but thankfully she doesn't retaliate. What I tend to do is settle Lopsy down by petting him. and food is a great distraction too.

Bonnie and Freckles do sound very promising indeed! If you only separated them a few times in a whole day then they are doing very well. Maybe you'll find over today and tomorrow that the times you intervene will get less and less... hopefully

One last thing, we'd love to see pictures! Well at least I know I would lol

 

[joeyC19]

hahaha that's hilarious andhey what a coincidence i know a Crystal who has Lopsy and LuLu too

Yes I am trying with the pics but I turned my camera on today to take some and the "Change your batteries" msg came up. So have to buy some more. lol

Well the bonding was going fine until i put them both in a carrier to take them out to the yard and halfway there they started to fight in the carrier. Had to get them out of the carrier which was hard to do as they were in a lock and throw a towel over them to grab one of them. I gave them some timeout and then when I put them back together again in neutral territory they were obessed with fighting with each other. It was terrible. I have now separated them again and thus concludes our bunny bonding today. I will give them some space and we shall try again tomorrow. Have no idea what i did wrong there or whether it was just a bunny tiff and to be expected?

 

[crystal]

ah sorry to hear that happened. I guess a carrier was too smaller space for them at the moment. I made the mistake the first time I put L&L together of leaving their carriers in the space with them. Anyway they ended up fighting too in the carrier and we couldnt get to them etc. But they are totally different now, there's no aggression.

Hmm did you put that back into the same neutral space that they were in already? Maybe try another neutral place tomorrow. If they still seem to want to fight then there are various things you can do which put a bit of stress on them which apparently can then make them sort of have to trust each other. I only know all this just from reading about it, but some of the things are vacuuming near the neutral space where the buns are, or putting them in a basket or something together on top of the washing machine on spin cycle. the movement scares them a bit in that case.

Have they still been grooming each other, and snuggling together at all? Can you read their body language to see if it is one of them that starts the fights?

I think this post is now sufficiently long so I will finish up there! Feel free to PM me either on here or on facebook.

 

[elrohwen]

I'm sorry to hear about the fight! I'm a little confused on what to do about that, since, typically, putting bunnies close together and stressing them (like carrying the carrier around) prevents fights. I guess your bunnies aren't the usual! Haha

I would go back to stressing for a few sessions. Put them in a laundry basket and put it on top of the washing machine. Hopefully the motion and small area will keep them from fighting and they'll snuggle down together. And in a laundry basket you should be able to separate them quickly, or hold their heads down with your hand if you need to.

 

[joeyC19]

I am at my wits end with the buns lol why cant I just take them out for coffee and then theyd get along haha. Have tried several neutral spaces. As soon as they get near each other Bonnie starts absolutely running toward Freckles, jumps on him and bites him bottom area and back. At first I tried to let them go and see if theyd sort it out but it quickly gets into a big bust up. I try and stop Bonnie but she just runs back to him and I have to give up. Have tried the washing basket thing and they just fought in the basket. Same thing with the carrier. No grooming, no sniffing anymore just punch ons lol. No idea what to do.

 

[elrohwen]

Oh no :-(

Do you have NIC cubes around? A friend who is a bonding guru swears by making an NIC cube, putting a towel in the bottom, and putting the buns in. They're so close that they can't really fight. Then she'll put a strap on it and hang it, then gently push on the cube to make it swing with the bunnies in it. She's bonded some very stubborn buns this way and others have used it with success.

 

[joeyC19]

I don't know what an NIC cube is sorry lol

 

[elrohwen]

Oh, you might not have them in Australia :-( but I'm sure you could order online. They're a modular shelving thing: http://yuppish.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/091014cubes.jpeg

That people use to make cages: http://sprowtybun.tripod.com/rabitat2.JPG

You can make a cube using 6 of them and put bunnies in it for bonding - it basically gives you an open box that's 14"x14" (I think that's how big they are). You could probably do the same thing with a box of the same size. The key is to make them sit very close together so they don't have a choice, then shake the box or swing it gentley on a strap to stress them.