Bonding tomorrow sorry long post

yes its finally going to happen tomorrow! Bonding domestic bun Squirrel with female wild bunny Spudsey....Now both neutered. Think Spudsey may not have been last time I tried, but Squirrel was.

Thought I might have been free from Saturday afternoon onwards through till monday night to do this but now have things in between. Sadly my grandad died on Monday and so tomorrow a/noon I'm going to see him in the chapel of rest. On saturday afternoon I'm going dancing, and monday is the funeral. So now booked friday off work to start bonding off mid-morning.

Going to start them off in the bath...then hopefully going to move them out into a run which neither have been in before.

Now then....no litter trays to be used just them and newspaper hay etc.....do I just leave them to it whilst keeping an eye out how long do I leave them is it ok to separate them whilst i go out when do i know when they're bonded? if they're not bonded but still scuffling about in the evening do i put them both back in their cages and start again the next day!??????

When I'm bonding I make sure I have at least 2 or 3 days clear in my diary with no reason for me to leave the house. Once you put them together you ideally don't want to separate them (unless there are nasty fights) cos then when you put them together again you're as good as starting from scratch. It may be a case of setting up a pen in a room where you can sleep overnight if needed.

Expect chasing, humping and fur pulling ... this is all normal for bunnies establishing their hierarchy. Keep a close eye though for either bunny getting hurt and them "locking-on" to one another when they swirl around on the floor digging at one another's stomaches.

You'll know their bond is developing when they are happy to lie down near/next to one another and ultimately when you start to see them groom one another. Keeping them on neutral territory for a week or so will help to strengthen the bond ... though you may see humping, chasing, fur pulling etc again when you move them to a new place.

Good luck!! x

thanks for the advice, thinking of moving them into my bedroom after the bathroom....but I really do need to go out everyday apart from sunday so I'm a bit stuck on the separation thing. o/h can hopefully keep an eye on them tomorrow a/noon for me and then I suppose I'll just have to hope they are bonded by saturday a/noon!

Such a shame I have to leave the house this weekend, other half is out on a course for the weekend so this WAS going to be ideal...

It is, of course, entirely your decision but I would strongly advise leaving the bonding until you can dedicate more time to it. For example, is your OH going to know what to do if he's left with the bunnies tomorrow? How are you going to feel if you get back to find injured bunnies? Please consider waiting til you have more time x

Woodlouse said:

It is, of course, entirely your decision but I would strongly advise leaving the bonding until you can dedicate more time to it. For example, is your OH going to know what to do if he's left with the bunnies tomorrow? How are you going to feel if you get back to find injured bunnies? Please consider waiting til you have more time x

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unfortunately this is the most time I am going to have, o/h will be fine! just wish me luck!

When I bond (and admittedly I've only done it a few times), I tend to go for little and often until I'm sure they are OK together.

I try to always separate them on a good note and I increase the time until they seem happy with each other. With Inky and Smokey, I put them in the hall for about 30 minutes at a time about 3-4 times a day for the first couple of days. Then I started to leave them for longer. However, when I separated them, I made sure they were in hutches where they could see and smell each other.

By the 3rd day, they seemed happy enough, so I would let them spend the day together but they didn't spend the night together until about day 5.

Good luck!

Goodluck! Might be best to start Friday evening that way you've got almost 24hrs before you have to leave them rather the leaving early on when most issues are likely to be.

I should think if it's going to work the weekend will be plenty of time I've my fingers crossed for you. I know it's a bit nerve racking so I hope it goes smoothly

Hello!
Decided not to start them off this morning after all as had to go out twice today.....am now debating about what to use I have a manky run which I got for nowt last week but its tiny....OR I could use Squirrels run which is nice though its HIS run but if its in the bedroom its still neutral....??????

Give it a wipe down with some smelly pet safe disinfectant and that along with the move in location should make it neutral

Tamsin said:

Give it a wipe down with some smelly pet safe disinfectant and that along with the move in location should make it neutral

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excellent! going to give it a clean now...

if I put them in it later, shall I put them back in their own cages before I go bed or stay up the night!?

If it's going well then staying up would be the best option. Or sleeping close enough to hear any disturbance anyway. That way they would probably be bonded by the morning if it goes well

Tamsin said:

If it's going well then staying up would be the best option. Or sleeping close enough to hear any disturbance anyway. That way they would probably be bonded by the morning if it goes well

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oooh I'm excited now! bonded by the morning!!!!

The run is going to be on carpet but its an old one so not too bothered about it but would it be ok to put a new litter tray in there or not? sorry lots of questions

You can try putting a new litter tray in but I doubt they'll use it :lol: They'll probably try to out poop each other

Tamsin said:

You can try putting a new litter tray in but I doubt they'll use it :lol: They'll probably try to out poop each other

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Ok I won't bother :lol: Bonding is now due to start in the morning not going out now so will start in the morning and hopefully by monday morning which is when I do have to go out (grandads funeral :cry) they will be bonded :roll: