Nadia's Bonding Blog

[HoneyPot]

So I am going to keep a blog specifically aimed at my attempt to bond my 3 bunnies. Lots of folks ask about bonding 3 rabbits, so I figured while I attempt it, I will blog about it and maybe it will help someone(and hopfully I will be successful!).

So some background..

Misty and Charlie have been bonded for 9 months (wow.. seems longer). It took me 5 months to bond them as Misty is a witch in rabbit form.

Personalities
Some background on the personalities of the rabbits I am trying to bond...

:bunnydance:Misty - 2 years old, hell on 4 paws. She's an alpha female and is very strong willed. She is very passionate, cuddly, possessive. She's SUPER sweet - loves to cuddle, loves lots of attention. She's also a SUPER devil when she's been crossed. She likes her own way all the time. She's VERY intelligent andvery mischevious. She will not tolerate Neil or I smelling like an unknown rabbit - she will attack us and anything in her path if anyone she 'owns' smells like another bunny.

:brown-bunnyCharlie - 1.5 years old. He is a big doofus. He's sweet but doesn't like to be cuddled. He loves giving bunny kisses and grooms me any chance he gets. Very affectionate on his own terms, but is usually too busy enjoying life to sit still long enough for pets. He's a bit cowardly although I think he is the dominant bunny in his relationship with Misty (go figrure..). He's not the smartest tool in the shed -usually Misty is the ringleader, he follows and gets caught up in her mischeif.

:brownbunnyOliver - 3 months old. He is the new bunny - had him for4 days now. I've already been charged at, bitten, nipped, boxed, sprayed with pee. At the shelter he apparently terrorized his sister... so he's a handful. He's the most affectionate rabbit I've ever met. Shares out bunny kisses every chance he gets. He runs over to greet anyone that walks by. He's very feisty. No cowardice in him whatsoever.



Setup

At the moment, Misty and Charlie have free run of the top floor of my house. When Neil or I are home, they have free run of the main floor as well.

Oliver is currently in the spare bedroom in our basement (as far from the other two as possible). He has free run of the bedroom. Eventually, he will be brought up to the main floor in a cage... but that's the next step.



So... let the bonding begin!

 

[ellissian]

Oooh, good luck!

I can't wait to see what happens, I hope it all goes well!

 

[HoneyPot]

Week1: Wednesday July 25th, 2007

Neil and I just went to pet the bunnies on Saturday, but I should have known. It really is nuts that we brought home another rabbit, but we could not resist him.

Oliver (as he is now named) is setup in the basement of our house in his own bedroom. He spends most of his time on the bed :grumpy:.

He's not neutered and has been pretty stinky. He will be quarantined in the basement away from Misty and Charlie for at least a week or two... or three

Neil and I are changing our clothing and washing our hands and arms between playing with him and playing with Misty and Charlie. We're doing that for 2 reasons:

a) For quarantine purposes
b) Misty will kill us if we smell like another rabbit

So far so good. Misty is behaving quite remarkably (although this is because she hasn't actually seen Oliver yet).

At first she got a whiff of him on Neil's shirt and her little tail stood straight up, the ears went back and she started charging Charlie every time he moved. And charging me too... I don't know what it is with her and charging ME when it's Neil that smells like a strange bun.

So I made Neil change.

The next day, I put the X-Pen in Misty and Charlie's area. Oliver was in the X-Pen when we brought him home the day before. That was until we discovered that he could jump out of it without thinking twice... so now Oliver is just free run in the room. Why do I always get rabbits that are escape artists and can't be caged... Anyway, we put the X-Pen which smelt like him in Misty's space and she checked it out for quite a while, chinned it, layed beside it... but no agression. :shock: She even went over and licked Charlie face for a while.

Yesterday evening, I didn't change my socks between playing with Oliver and going up to the room with Misty and Charlie. Misty sniffed my socks and one again - the tail went up, the ears went back and she started charging everyone. So.. I changed my socks. She's so demanding.

So I've come to the conclusion that if Neil or I smell like Oliver - it's bad news, but if anything else smells like him, she's interested, but not aggressive.

Oliver on the other hand has been chasing me and biting me if I come into the room smelling like Misty/Charlie, so I took down one of Misty and Charlie's dirty litter boxes and I left it in his room. He's going to have to get used to having their scent around all the time. He spent a good 1/2 hour chinning it and pooping in it, but I think he's getting the message.

Today, I took that same litter box that Oliver chinned and pooped in and I brought it up to the main floor - a bit of an experiment. Misty came down to the main floor... and smelled the litter, chinned it, pooped in it, peed beside it, and then did a bunch of binkies...

Interesting...

Charlie just does binkies every time he smells Oliver, so I think those two will be ok eventually.

 

[jordiwes]

This is going to be a very interesting blog with such dominant personalities in the mix. Kudos to you!

 

[JadeIcing]

Intresting! I just started writing something up.

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

HoneyPot wrote:

:bunnydance:Misty - 2 years old, hell on 4 paws.

:laugh:Now I can't believe that for one second, just take a look at that sweet, innocent face and tell me she isn't just a little angel?:angel:


Good luck with the bonding!:biggrin2:

 

[HoneyPot]

Step 2 of my plan is in place...

We've decided that we need to get Misty to bond with the little dude before we try Charlie. Charlie will be easy I think, but Misty is the trouble.

I have started letting Oliver play on the main floor of our house (living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway). Misty and Charlie spend time on the main floor when we are home, but they are usually blocked to only have free run of the second floor.

So, when Misty and Charlie are upstairs behind their blockade, Oliver is out playing on the main floor. He chinned all their toys pretty good. Peed in their litter box a bunch of times. Slept in Misty's pet bed for a while. Tore up a bit of Misty and Charlie's play box. Binkied all over the rug. He had a pretty busy play time.

Today, I let the terror (Misty) down on the main floor and she ran around re-chinning everything, pooped up a storm, and then bikied like a mad-bunny.

SO far so good. She's also gotten a look at him. I walked her down to the basement and we had a peek in on Oliver and she just looked at him over my shoulder... no reaction. So at least now she knows there is another bun in town.

_______________
Nadia

 

[Haley]

Good luck, Nadia!

I did the same thing when I was trying to bond the three boys: Basil, Max and Tumnus. We were doing so well until Max got sick and I called things off.

I did Basil and Tumnus first since they are the dominant buns, I knew Max would go along with whatever big brother Basil said. Car rides worked the best for sure. And the dining room table.

I really hope this works out! If not, you can always get a girl for Oliver and have two bonded pairs like me. lol

 

[iluvmybuns]

I am seriously going to study this. When I have a house I plan on fostering buns and I know I'll end uo wanting to bond someone to my two.

 

[Raspberry82]

Ditto.

 

[HoneyPot]

So, another part of the plan is to have Misty get along with Charlie in an area that smells like Oliver. When we let both Misty and Charlie down onto the main floor after Oliver has been playing there, Misty has been charging and snapping at Charlie because she keeps thinking he's the new bunny.

So we've been having supervised play time between Misty and Charlie down on the main floor (just to be safe it doesn't get more serious). I had a spray bottle and gave her a good couple squirts.

Last night was the 3rd time they had been down together in the living room, and there was a small bit of charging between Misty and Charlie, but nothing serious and it definately smelled like Oliver. So I think she's easing up.

Our goal is for the two of them to be in an area that smells like Oliver and Misty to not be aggressive to Charlie - the last thing I want to do is break the bond between the two of them if I introduce the new guy.

And I have some new picture - will put those up today in the blog.

_______________
Nadia

 

[LuvaBun]

Oohh, this is going to make interesting reading, Nadia. Sounds like you have things pretty much under control at the moment. Looking forward to seeing how things progress

Jan

 

[JadeIcing]

I like reading this. One thing I want to point out is that Nadia knows her bonded pair very well. So it helps her knowing what would be ok with her first two. Each bun is different.

My guys are fine being in an area the others have been, seeing each other from a distance. The problem is when they are side by side.

 

[HoneyPot]

JadeIcing wrote:

I like reading this. One thing I want to point out is that Nadia knows her bonded pair very well. So it helps her knowing what would be ok with her first two. Each bun is different.

My guys are fine being in an area the others have been, seeing each other from a distance. The problem is when they are side by side.

Yes, JadeIcing hit a really good point. What works for my guys may or may not work for everyone. I know the personalities of my bunnies well, so I know that I need to really get Misty to get used to the scent of the new bunny. Whenever I come home smelling like another bunny, all hell breaks loose, so I know what I can force on her.

If you're bonding 3 bunnies, you really have to tailor it to suit your bunnies because like Jade said - each bunny will be different. But, the same ideas apply - get them used to each other's scent in their area, introduce them in neutral territory etc.



_____________
Nadia

 

[Flashy]

This is a great blog

You and JadeIcing have highlighted a really important point, so I hope that anyone wanting to bond three buns will take that on board and tailor it to their bunnies needs and personalities.

It's going to make really interesting reading.

 

[HoneyPot]

EEEeeeee, big stuff happening tonight.

Honestly, this is going too well now - what's the point of a bonding blog if the buns are being so good about bonding???

Well, I put Misty in her carrier and took her down to some neutral territory. Kept her in the carrier, but let Oliver run around. Historically, the sight of another rabbit would driver her nutso, but surprisingly, Oliver came up to the carrier, stuck his nose in, and Misty just kinda let him sniff her and didn't do anything.

WOW!

:dancingorig:



_____________
Nadia

 

[LuvaBun]

Are you sure that someone hasn't swapped Misty with a look alike:shock:. After all the hassle she gave poor Charlie (and you) this sounds like a different bunny.

Let's hope this is a good sign, and things will go smoothly - unless she is lulling you all into a false sense of security and preparing to go into attack mode

Jan

 

[JadeIcing]

Ohhh! Good stuff. One thing I was wondering is how they say there scents change after neuter/spay. Could that cause a set back?

I tell ya it was weird with mine. I started trying to add Elvis to Dallas and Teresa and it was ok but not great. Than I tried Connor and it was instant.

 

[HoneyPot]

Jan - I know - she's been surprising me at every turn. I guess she just really didn't like Charlie when we got him. The thing is, she loves Cookie... if we go to my parents' house with her, she'll flop out next to Cookie and present to him for grooming and everything... even though they're not bonded... so I guess it really is just depending on who they like.

Alicia - yeah, you're right about the neuter, I'm not going to put them together until he's neutered, but I wanted to test out the waters.

______________
Nadia

 

[HoneyPot]

Hmm.. another thing I just thought of is that when I got Charlie - Misty was about 8 or 9 months old, so she was still pretty young and in her teenage stage. Now she's 2 years old... maybe she's calmed down a bit.

___________
Nadia