Bonding rabbits...hmmmm

[daisyandparsley7]

I was advised to not do anymore face to face and continue to let them live side by side for two weeks. Then try it over again, as I did not give her enough time to adjust to her new home before trying to bond. She was in her foster home for a year so I guess I should have made her feel more safe before trying it. Thanks everyone for the responses, I will update when I try again and hope for the best!

 

[daisyandparsley7]

Going to start face to face again wish me luck! I'm traumatized from the last attempt two weeks ago. :/

 

[mscalbun]

@daisyandparsley7 - how is the bonding going? Have your buns worked out their issues?

I just found your thread and I did a double take as I have a boy chinchilla and a girl (mix) dutch, who look very similar to your buns. We adopted him first from the local animal shelter and had time to bond with him; he is the sweetest rabbit. We had one pet rabbit previously, who died last summer. We weren't planning to adopt two rabbits, but when we adopted him from the animal shelter, the local rabbit rescue volunteers were there at the shelter and convinced us that our bun would be happier with a rabbit friend. We didn't realize how finding a bunny companion is really such an art! We ended up adopting the dutch mix from the rabbit rescue after a couple of "speed dates". We made a quick decision as the girl bun's foster parents were moving out of state and the rabbit rescue was going to send her to a another rescue.

The rabbit rescue president thought that based on the buns' interactions (they seemed comfortable with each other in that they sat nearby with no interaction, but just groomed themselves) that we could do the fast bonding. We ended up putting them into an x-pen from day 1. There was some mounting attempts (by both buns), some chasing, but no biting or attacking. It wasn't instant love, but they tolerated each other until they worked out the dominance/submissive relationship. I thought she was the boss since she always presents for grooming, which he obliges, and she never grooms him. But, he is the one that chins her and occasionally will mount her and he always seems to eat first.

Anyway, hang in there. I'm glad we adopted the two (even though she's still not all that friendly with us - it's getting incrementally better); our boy bun is still the sweetie and seems happy with his gal pal. When they sleep or when he grooms her, it's the cutest thing ever.

I've attempted to upload a couple of photos of the happy couple. Hope to see some new ones of your buns sometime soon :sunshine:

 

[daisyandparsley7]

Ok so now finally ) she grooms him and we are at 10 minutes for bonding. But he just sits there like a log and won't groom back! She also grooms herself by him and stayed like this. What could this mean?

 

[daisyandparsley7]

Aww! I just saw your post! How Strange, I did a double take too when I only saw the picture! They are doing a lot better...fingers crossed! The two weeks without bonding really let her settle in. I am doing the slow way as it seems less stressful for this couple. He refuses to groom her and surprisingly she grooms him! She has been doing it more and more over the last few days and now we are up to 10 minutes for their dates! I have spring break the last week of March so I am hoping by then they will be up to 30 min and I will then try to leave them together while I watch 24/7. Thanks for checking in, and I love the pictures!

 

[daisyandparsley7]

Here is the picture from my question. the last one is in their side by side

 

[daisyandparsley7]

Well he gave in and now they both groom each other! We are up to almost three hours, but I still don't feel comfortable leaving them alone because they both try to hump each other and it ends up creating a little circling game. Probably they would be fine but better safe than sorry!
They were even sharing hay!

 

[lyndym]

How did you introduce them to a litter box? My two get along great and their longest date is 21 hours, but a litter box always throws a wrench in the works!

Looks like they have made great progress, congrats!

 

[daisyandparsley7]

They are fully bonded now! I originally had them in side by side pens and I would switch their dirty litter boxes so they could get used to each other's smell. I really didn't do it that much though. They are the large cat ones so they sit in it and eat hay, and when I put both of them in with the buns when the sessions were longer they didn't mind sharing and even went in the same one like in the picture. I think they were just really comfortable with each other's smell by the time I put the litter boxes in.

Although, when I first started bonding I tried to put litter boxes in and Natasha was guarding hers to the point of starting fights... I didn't try again until they were pretty much bonded and had better luck.

Good luck!

 

[daisyandparsley7]

Here's a new pic... I'm just so excited they bonded. I was pretty hopeless in the beginning.

 

[Azerane]

They're adorable I'm so glad that they bonded successfully!

 

[daisyandparsley7]

Thank you