Bonding

[BethM]

I started bonding Ben and Tobi yesterday. I will put yesterday's experience and today's experience in two different posts, as they were quite different.

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of my local HRS chapter, so I took Tobi and Ben in to have their first official meeting. I wanted an "expert bonder" to help me out and assess their behavior to find out if bonding those two would even be possible.

After an initial meeting, my bonding helper gave her assessment: Tobi and Ben have potential as a couple, but the process will probably take longer than normal. Ben is very laid back, but Tobi is VERY high strung. (She is also territorial, and high-energy.) There was only one moment of aggression: They were side by side, and Ben suddenly shook his head. The movement of his ears (he's a lop) startled her, and she nipped at him. He jumped away, but wasn't injured, and didn't seem upset.

I don't have a carrier for Ben, so I took him to the meeting in a medium-sized laundry basket. Since they did ok together, I took them both home in the basket. Ben loafed up, trying to be very small, and Tobi spent the whole car ride trying to hide under Ben.

Once home, I put them in each others' pens, as I was advised to do. (She in his pen, he in hers.)

This morning, I noticed that he seemed much more comfortable, after having been in her pen all night, than he has ever been in his own pen. I think he likes having the 3-level condo, and he ate much more hay than normal. He used the litterbox just fine. Tobi seemed quite annoyed at the low-class accomodations, and pooped a lot outside the litterbox.

I planned a before-dinner date for tonight.

 

[BethM]

Today did not go so well.

I decided to have their date in the bathroom, as it is neutral territory and has tiles, so it's just a bit slippery.

The sniffed each other for a bit, and she presented to him. He did not respond, and she snapped at him. I was warned that she will be aggressive towards him if he doesn't do what she wants him to. I separated them, and let them calm down a bit. I wanted them to have a positive experience before ending the date.

Tobi tried to hop around behind the toilet, and passed by the closed door. Unfortunately, on the slippery tile, one of her back feet slipped under the door, and she got it stuck for a second. I don't know if she felt pain, or just terror, but she started scrambling around, and screamed three times. (OMG, that was HORRIBLE.) She freed herself, scrambled across the room in a panic. I managed to catch her and pick her up, though not before she scratched the heck out of both my forearms. (Photo below.)
I held her close to me, until she calmed down just a bit. I ran my hands along both of her back legs, and it doesn't feel like anything was broken. After she calmed a bit, I decided to trim her nails. It had been awhile since that had been done, and I thought that would be a good opportunity. All of her nails were very pointy. (Last time, it looked as though she had been chewing the undersides of her nails, which made them sharper.) I decided not to go too far back, just take the sharp tip off, but the first nail I did nicked the quick, and she started bleeding everywhere. I did not try any of the other nails, as that one didn't even look like I was close to the quick, so I was very nervous about the others.

Poor Tobi. :cry2

I did my best to stop the bleeding, and continued holding her until she calmed a bit more. I decided to put her back into Ben's pen, so she wouldn't be jumping up and down, until we could watch her for awhile. So she's not happy about that. She has spent most of the evening hiding in the house, or resting out in the middle of the pen.

She seems to be hopping just fine, so I am optimistic that she was more frightened than injured. She took a treat right after she was put back into her pen, and Jason got her to eat some pellets. Once I am sure she is ok, maybe tomorrow, I will switch their pens again.


Not a good day, overall.

I am not sure how long I should wait before I attempt another bonding date. Next time, I will put them in the actual bathtub, or back into the laundry basket for a car ride around the neighborhood. I may also try spraying Rescue Remedy on her food first, so she's calmer.

I do hope this pairing will work out. Jason and I have become attached to Ben, though, and I don't believe we will be giving him up if things don't work between them. I'll just have to figure out a different way to arrange the rabbit room, and build him a condo of his own.

Here's what Tobi did to my arms, this is only my left arm, but the right one is just as bad:

 

[Amy27]

OMG Beth, Tobi sure got you good. That looks very painful.

I am not great at bonding expert so take my advice/experience with a grain of salt. My buns hated the cage switching thing. I started just changing the stuff in their cages such as litter boxes.

I think it sounds like you are doing a great job. I would give them a break tomorrow since Tobi had a bad day today but then I would continue as you are doing. I loved the bathtub. It worked really well for me.

It took a month for me to bond Little Bunny and Chase the first time. They were best friends until Chase had surgery so don't give up. It may take sometime.

One thing I used when I moved them from the bathtub to the bathroom floor was the water faucet. If they got mean, I would turn on the bathtub, they hated the sound and would forget about attacking the other and would listen at that awful noise of the water running. A spray bottle of water also worked really well for me.

Good luck and keep us updated. I hope your arms heals quickly.

 

[Spring]

Oh goodness!

Sometimes it just takes a long while for a pair to bond. I have a trio that went from a pair to a trio in a week, but on the other hand, took Pebbles and Georgie until now (started bonding in August) to get along! All depends on the pair, but there's always hope!

Has Tobi been around other bunnies before? If this is all new to her, may be very strange so she probably does not know how to properly communicate with other rabbits. Pebbles had this problem since she never really knew how to communicate, so would take the aggressive road. It took some time, but she did understand how to effectively communicate other than going straight for biting.

I would try a quick session in the tub in the next few days.. give her a day or two to settle down from the incident, and then just try them in the tub together for 10 or so minutes. Make sure to have a broom or spray bottle to correct any misplaced aggression.. I found the spray bottle very helpful in helping Pebbles to understand that biting didn't work to communicate!

Good luck!

 

[BethM]

Thank you both for suggestions, Amy and Spring.

I have a question about the tub: Should I be in the tub with them? My apartment had a curtain on the shower, so it would have been easy to be outside the tub next to them, but at the house the shower is a tub, with a sliding door. I was thinking it might be a challenge to stay next to them from outside the bathtub, but very crowded if I was inside with them. I think I will try a spray bottle rather than a broom, though, as Tobi hates the broom and will attack it when I'm cleaning her pen. (She doesn't like the motion of it.)

Amy, I don't think Ben minds the pen switching too much. He seems to like the 3-level condo that Tobi has, and has found good places to relax. Both Ben and Tobi have used litter boxes and eaten from the others' dishes. But Ben's pen was never intended as a long-term residence, and is just four pen "walls" and a floor. He's got a house in there, some toys and such, but not much else. He didn't even seem to like it much. She doesn't seem to mind that it's "his" place, just that it's not as nice as hers.

Tobi is eating hay now.

If I had thought it through, I should have the "bonding experts" take Ben straight from the shelter, and given them Tobi at the same time. They could have bonded them, then given them back after we moved. *sigh*

I am not sure how much Tobi was with other rabbits before she came into foster care. She was returned after refusing to bond with someone's existing bunny, and she hasn't been around anybun else since we got her. One of the people at the HRS suggested that, from her behavior, she may have been bullied and/or injured by another rabbit at some point in her early life.

It does seem that biting is Tobi's go-to response. Today, before she snapped at Ben, she had presented to him, but he sniffed at her and started to hop away. There was no aggression before then, but he didn't do what she wanted him to do.

I will certainly wait a couple days before I try again. Next time I will probably try the Rescue Remedy, as well, to help calm Tobi. There is currently a brick separating their pens; later in the week I will make an additional fence to put between the pens, and push them together so the pens are touching.

 

[Amy27]

When I used the bathtub, the first time I got in the tub with them with my book. But they cuddled up so I ended up getting out and getting my clothes out for work and things like that staying near the bathroom.

I really don't see anything I could do different being in the tub or sitting outside. So if you would rather sit outside I would do that. The main reason I sat inside was because it was easier then leaning over the tub. My buns do better when I am petting them. Plus I swear Chase knows that it is bad to bite the Little Bunny so she waits till I turn my back, though in the tub she didn't really do that. So I wanted Chase to know I was right there and she better be good.

My buns bite during bonding but not hard to draw blood or anything. I know as the bonding got farther and farther along in the process the biting got less and less.

That is good they don't mind the cage switch. I only switched mine a few times and they would trash the cage areas. It was a mess so I quickly stopped that lol.

I don't know if this is possible but I think it really helped me. When one bun is out, they can go visit the other bun. They go up to the other buns cage to see them. At first I had double cages up so they couldn't bite through the cage because they would. It took awhile but now they seem to look forward to going to visit the other bun and they don't try to bite through the cage anymore. They will share hay through the cage and it has been a real positive experience for both of them. I would also feed them both on differnt sides of the cage so they got use to eating next to each other but a gate was between them.

 

[Vixxy]

Omg lol. This brings me back to when I bonded my rabbits. I never thought my nasty lady would get along with anyone, but it happens that a small grey/black little lithe male that can't stop licking her ears broke down all her walls. She was mostly touchy about the "cage" intro part. It feels so good once they are bonded though. Its like setting up a blind date for people and seeing them totally fall in love. Actually, way better

 

[BethM]

They're still in the swapped cages, and haven't had much problems. Ben really likes Tobi's area better than his own, so I'm going to feel really bad about switching them back.

I was told to switch them every day, but I wanted to give Tobi some time, to observe her and make sure she wasn't actully injured. I was going to switch them yesterday, but Jason worked late, then went biking directly after dinner, and at 10 he said "let's switch them." Well, the cage Tobi was in needs to be cleaned, since she was still bleeding a bit when she went into it. (Just a couple small places, there's not dried blood everywhere.) Also, Jason hasn't been good on keeping the litter boxes clean, so those need to be done. Ok, I'm not going to launch an hour-long project right at bedtime. Can't tonight, as I'm going to a concert, and I want to be there to supervise them when they're switched. So Friday it is, I guess.

They seem to be interested in each other, and will look at each other. Tobi sometimes runs along her side of the cage when he's moving, but I don't know if she's being hostile or not. Her expressions of excitement and hostility are pretty much the same. (Bouncing around, ears stiff and slightly pointed forward.)

She's still angry at me, so catching her to switch them will be a treat. (She loves Jason, but after 3 years of having rabbits, he's still unable to pick one up. :X)