Help with bunny bonding please!

[BunbunandBarry]

Hi all,

I was hoping someone might be able to offer me some advice. My husband and I have a 2 year old female bun who was spayed in October (3 months ago). She has always been a slightly difficult bunny, we are not able to hold her as she is completely terrified (we tried when she was young but it never got easier so we let her be) she does not have a cage (well she does but she doesn’t spend anytime in it) instead she has entire room for her to sleep in and during the day she has run of the apartment (with supervision)

We got her spayed after realizing that even though I spend a lot of time with her she should have a bunny friend. We adopted a 4 year old male who has been neutered since he was 4 months and who had before lived with another female rabbit that had passed away.


So, due to the fact that our rabbit is used to being queen of the house, we set up Barry (our newly adopted male bun) in our bedroom as he has an extra large cage that he happily spends time in. We gave him a couple of days to adjust to the move without too much interruption and after those 2 days we thought we might let our female Bun have her first meeting (sniff of him) by putting Barry’s cage in the hallway (closed) and she can just say ‘hi’

This was going well for a few minutes, but then shortly after when I or my husband went to walk past nearby she was lunging at our ankles and being aggressive. She is not usually an aggressive rabbit, except on occasion when she doesn’t get a treat quick enough!

We thought maybe she was just having an off day and hoped the next time would be better.

I tried again last night to let her into our room and see Barry in his cage, but again they touched noses and seemed interested in each other, but then she started freaking out, running backwards and forwards in and out of the room. I tried to coax her away but she was running at my ankles and I had to put boots on as I was scared of her biting me (she actually didn’t, but I was still concerned about it!)

Barry the whole time was calm and just looked so happy to meet her.


I was planning on slowly introducing them, leading up to a face meeting, cage free in a ‘neutral room’ in a week (or when they seemed ready)

Now I’m worried what to do, should I still let her see him or is it too soon? The whole point of this is to have her not be alone, so I’m really hoping that it works out.

Why is she attacking us? Could it be her hormones or just because she is scared or threatened?

Any help would be much appreciated! I hate to see her stressed or unsettled.

Thanks in advance

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Don't let her go up to him when he is in the cage and she is loose. That will make the bond way harder because he will feel like she is already superior to him.

• First thing I would do is not let them see each other for about a week, just to let them almost forget about each other. Don't let him smell her on you, and don't let her smell him on you.
• Next, I would set their cages up 6 inches apart for 2 weeks before you start bonding. The cages need to be 6 inches so they don't nip each other. I know she has been free in her room, but she is going to have to give that up. You can clean out her room and put new toys, etc. in there and that can be the playroom. Let them out to play for an equal amount of time each day, but not at the same time.
• Introduce them in a large laundry basket for about 5-10 minutes each day until they seem to be ready to move on to the next stage. They should still be living in the cages.
• For the following stages watch the video and read the post on the links below:

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-bunnies.html

 

[BunbunandBarry]

Thank you so much for your response! I’ll keep
them from seeing each other for a while and then start the cage bonding process.
I’m hoping in a few days my female will be better as she seems to be getting hyper/aggressive in the evenings before I put her to bed. Maybe putting her in a cage a few hours a day when we start the bond will give her some boundaries and improve her attitude towards us. If that is how it works with rabbits in any way?! Fingers crossed!

 

[Buttercup808]

My Lionhead male rabbit was two years old and neutered when I brought in a new baby female Holland Lop to the home. My older rabbit is free-roaming and intended to make the new bunny free-roaming too. She was very tiny and not potty trained yet, so I kept her in a cage until I could at least potty-train her. For about three weeks, I kept her cage up on a table where he could not see her. My older bunny was not happy at first. After holding the baby bunny, my older bunny would lunge and grunt at me, and he could smell her on my hands. To get him use to her smell, she had this little blanket she came with, and I would put it in his area overnight and then switch it to hers a different night. I would do this back n forth. And then I also used a stuffed animal rabbit that I'd just lay it around, and he'd run-up to it and bump it and eventually didn't care about it. I would also put this stuffed toy with the baby bunny so it could smell like her and I'd put it back out again with my older bunny. He'd sniff it and not care much about it. After a few weeks of potty-training baby bunny, I set up a small gated area on the floor for her. With just the dividing gate between the two, they were able to go right up to each other. The girl bunny was very curious about him, but he was still a bit hostile to her. He'd bat his paws at her and grunt. I put their water bowls and salad bowls near each other. It took about two weeks, but they started laying right up against the gate that divided them. My boy bunny wasn't pawing or grunting at her anymore. At this time, I would also switch each other's litter box too, and they used it just fine.

After about two weeks of this, I had them meet face to face in a neutral gated area that they've never been. I put towels down in the area, so it was not slippery, in case one needed to get away quickly. And a spray water bottle to squirt in case a fight broke out and a towel to drape over one in case I needed to get one out. Nervously I put them together and amazingly everything went well. Really, they just ignored each other. I brought one of our little doggies around to sniff around the gate to see if it makes them nervous, and again they did well. Passing with flying colors, I let the baby bunny loose with my older bunny, and they've been best pals since. When she was five months old, I got her spayed. I was worried I'd have to re-bond them again, but I just kept her separated for about a week to make sure her stitches healed and put her back with him, and they were still fine with each other. Since getting another bunny, we notice our male bunny is so much happier and content. He now has someone to groom and snuggle together. I was definitely worried at first and wondering if I made a mistake to get another bunny, but I'm glad I stuck it out. They're so cute together.

Hope a little bit of my experience can help some. Takes time and a little extra time and patience. Good luck!

 

[BunbunandBarry]

Thank you so much for all your info, it is really helpful.
I’m grateful for any advice as this is my first bunny bond!