bonding bunnies

piperknitsRN · Oct 28, 2011

I brought Olive to the shelter today and she met up with a young New Zealand buck (neutered). They seemed to be doing alright so I brought them home and tried a bonding session... and they fought after she tried humping him several times. Fur flew before I finally got them apart, but no damage to any bunny occurred, thank goodness. OTOH, I now have a jealous rabbit (Olive) who is allowed free range and keeps coming up to the X pen where the new bunny is located and having 'sassy words' for him through the bars (I intervene before it becomes a problem). I switched Olive from her X pen to a smaller cage and the bigger bunny is in her X pen--which Olive doesn't seem to understand quite yet (though she gets free range most of the time unless I'm not home or asleep).

Any tips? We obviously need to take this bonding process much, much slower than I'd hoped after watching them interact at the shelter.

Sweetie · Oct 29, 2011

I had the same problem, except it was in my apartment. I suggest that you do everything with Olive first then the new rabbit. Feed Olive first then the other rabbit. When cleaning the cages, clean Olive's first then the new rabbit. Point is do everything with Olive first, that will help with the jealousy.

As for bonding, make sure that you do it in neutral territory for a while, and then move into semi neutral territory for awhile, then after good thing between the rabbits for awhile then you can move both in the area where Olive stays.

I have been doing everything with Sweetie first and then Pudden next. I am trying to bond them, but it may not happen, so hopefully they will be friends.

Sweetie and Prince bonded instantly, they are in my avatar. Prince passed away and I got another rabbit, which is Pudden.

Yes take it slow. Has Olive been bonded to another rabbit before this one?

piperknitsRN · Oct 29, 2011

Olive has not been bonded to another bunny--this is her first meeting with a bunny since she left the breeder, I assume, and her littermates.

Would you suggest putting them together in neutral territory? The fight was pretty bad--fur flew and the NZ bunny growled and honked (he's quite vocal, actually, which I think is a hoot--when he's not fighting for his life!). Olive seems to want to snipe him through the bars when she's out and about (he's not potty trained yet--though we're working on it as he practically lives in the large litter box). I've kept a firm eye on that situation and am hoping she doesn't tease him too much and get him to fight back. He's the NZ bunny--she's the Holland Lop--at some point, she's going to lose to his sheer weight, when he grows up, so I'm hoping they'll settle in over weeks and months and we'll have a nice bond. Right now... it looks like I made a horrible, horrible mistake by bringing them together.

piperknitsRN · Oct 29, 2011

we got the bunnies into the bathtub and no squirmishes there. Brief, five minute session, called it a night.

hayley1234 · Oct 31, 2011

Help needed - I have two rabbits one female who we got first who is now a year old and a male whos 9 months they have both been nutured. We have been trying to bond them for a few months and have tried all sorts having them in the bath having them in neutral territory and my female rabbits licks the male and they cuddle and seem to get on fine but as soon as we put them in the living room where they have both been and where we keep their seperate cages they fight we squirt them with water and it stops them but now i dont know what to do?? as i would love them to both be able to enjoy the whole space

piperknitsRN · Oct 31, 2011

My understanding is you have to make sure they are comfortable in the neutral territory--obviously they are fighting in the territory where they feel it's "theirs" so I'd go back to brief bonding sessions in neutral territory. I'm told the key is patience... a *lot* of it. So try to keep the faith and continue with the process. I am beginning to bond my newly adopted NZ white to my Holland lop, and it isn't easy! (I was spoiled; I had two bonded bunnies prior to this and it was relatively easy--within a week they were bonded. These two fought each other when I brought them home... bunnies can be such troublemakers!)

piperknitsRN · Nov 1, 2011

So, I'm still attempting to bond my bunnies. Things have been going slightly better--they mostly sit on opposite sides of the room and ignore each other. Sometimes they go nose-to-nose, but this hasn't resulted in an all out fight again. I am sure to separate them before they do get into a fight, but this is so stressful on me, I wonder what it's like for the bunnies!