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What's the average time to bond?

twee

Young Bun
Looking at getting Henry a girlfriend now that he is all healed from his op, but how long does it usually take to bond? I have read lots of threads that they need to be introduced on neutral territory (which means the bathroom!) but nothing about time scales. If i start in the morning, will they have to sleep apart the first night or would they be ok? Does his hutch need to be thoroughly cleaned to get rid of his smell?

Sorry for all the questions, but new to this
 
:wave: Think every pair is different, depends on age, whether or not they're both neutered and whether they're used to having other buns around. There's no magic answer I'm afraid.

When we had Ant in the middle of August he and Hoops took to one another almost immediately and have never been apart since they were introduced in Jill's kitchen. But you read other people saying that it's taken weeks of constant supervised interaction before they are properly bonded.

Think you just have to be prepared for them to sleep separately and hope that because you're prepared it isn't necessary. And yes, clean the hutch as thoroughly as you can to try to 'neutralise' the territory.

Hope all this is helpful. x
 
If i start in the morning, will they have to sleep apart the first night or would they be ok? Does his hutch need to be thoroughly cleaned to get rid of his smell?

To a large extent it really depends on how it's going. If they are getting on ok - few scuffles, chases etc but nothing serious, then I try not to separate. I recently bonded my two pairs into a foursome and spent 3 nights on the kitchen floor with them...Once you've started, I personally feel it's better to leave them together if you can as otherwise you have to 'start again' every day. But having said that, I'm not sure I'd leave bunnies outdoors alone on the first night - hence the sleeping nearby so I wake up if there's a problem!

His hutch does definitely need to be cleaned thoroughly - I would also suggest moving it (even if temporarily), and changing things around - use a bowl if he had a bottle, put food in a different place, put hay, straw, litter all in different places etc. All this will help him not to recognise the hutch as his territory.

Another option is to see if you can find a rescue who will start or do the bonding for you - so you simply collect your newly loved up buns and put them into their hutch after a week or so away on honeymoon. I have also done this before and it worked a treat :D
 
I have bonded 3 times now, the first two took a couple of days before we could "trust" them and they were snuggling up (there was a small initial territorial fight). The last one was a nightmare - 4 months!!! They are great together now. I think that was because we got the female from the RSPCA and she was not that used to other company and she appeared very nervous. She is still a little nervous but very cheeky. Good luck, I am sure it won't take as long as my last one.;)
 
I'm currently bonding my 4 buns nto a foursome and they've bene in the bathroom since Sunday, i still feel there not ready to go outside together and my dads getting kinda impatient wih how long it's taking:roll:
 
Looking at getting Henry a girlfriend now that he is all healed from his op, but how long does it usually take to bond? I have read lots of threads that they need to be introduced on neutral territory (which means the bathroom!) but nothing about time scales. If i start in the morning, will they have to sleep apart the first night or would they be ok? Does his hutch need to be thoroughly cleaned to get rid of his smell?

Sorry for all the questions, but new to this

The length of time rabbits take to bond are very variable some will be indifferent to each other and then slowly learn to love each other over the coming weeks.

If I am bonding rabbits I will always start early in the morning and ensure that I have at least 48 hours free to continue the bond to ensure that they do not need to be separated. By continuously separating them and restarting at another time you undo all the hard work you have started, all this does is to confuse the buns.

I would definately ensure like Alison says to thoroughly clean out the hutch, ideally if they have to go in one of the rabbits old hutch, make it the males and not the females. A nice strong smelling cleaner like vinegar is ideal.
 
I have bonded buns into male/female pairs and start in the morning by letting them see each other through a seperated run for about half an hour then opening the run up so that they can be together and have stayed with them all day. If they haven't been OK by bed time I have slept them seperately then started the same process again the next day and by bed time I have been able to bed them in the same accomodation with no problems.

I think all bunnies are different.

Rabswood
 
I think I was lucky with mine... They seemed to get along very well when they were first introduced. Snuggling/grooming took about three days to be witnessed, but prior to that they'd binky when they saw one another and would eat side by side...

I'm curious, though. I've seen a lot of people say not to separate them as it means you start again? I don't believe that happened with either of my pairs. They recognised one another, they didn't take any step back in the bonding and they were kept in separate hutches over night, but put together in the day. There's never been any starting again. I don't know if this is because they could see one another in the hutches. Just something that puzzles me. :)
 
Usually 3-5 days but my longest bond took 3 weeks!

'Love at First Sight' pairs can usually be living together within 36 hours.
 
Mine were love at 1st sight and and was grooming and cuddling up too each other within 24 hrs with me having a sleepness night keeping an eye on them but as every rabbit arnt the same you can never tell so as everbody has said it can take up to 5 days.:D
 
My lionheads took 2 days to become friends. Well, Bobby was grooming Nibbles after about 3 hours. I only supervised em for 2!! They're inseperable now!
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I've been signed off work for a week with an ankle injury so think now is the time.

Bunny hunting starts tomorrow :D
 
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