william's ever changing bonding attempt!

Maxwell + William have declared all out war and had to be separated - William ended up with chunks of fur missing and has a big patch out by his little tail, from when Maxwell latched on trying to pull him back into the pen!! Naughty bunnies!!

Sadly, I'm having to take Maxwell back to his foster home tonight after work... It's early here, still just 5:30! And William's taking a break for a week before going back to the shelter to meet a few prospective girlfriends! He'll meet with Sarah, Maxwell's sister, and Nola again. Nola seemed to be in love at first sight last week, so maybe they will hit it off! The foster mom said that they have a litter of babies we might try - since they're young she thought one might take to William quickly as an "alpha bun" which might help him feel a little better about sharing his space! We'll see what happens
I will really miss him but my city house just can't hold two bunny pens. He's so sweet that I know someone will fall in love with him! Hopefully soon.

The girls (and Maxwell - who was called Cadburry) are all at Luv N Buns if you want to google pics.

Does anyone have thoughts on William (10months) bonding with a baby? I'm not sure the age, but they'll have to be spayed after I adopt them, so probably a few months down the road. They're from a litter that apeared in a cage at the SPCA

Thea and Bobbin, who doesnt post much anymore, had an adult bun with her boy and they didnt get on.

She adopted a baby girl bun and they got on find, when it was time for her to be spayed, he went with her so they stayed together and they were fine

I just got back from taking Maxwell back - he was happy playing in their living room when I left.
And William's having fun running around here as the sole man of the house right now.

The lady from the shelter mentioned that we might want to try William's next "speed date" at my house - since he got allong with most of the bunnies last time and did so well with Maxwell untill he came back to his territory. Has anyone ever tried that?

From your posting I am not sure how you have approached bonding, therefore I will make some assumptions.

I am assuming that Maxwell is a boy and your were trying to bond two boys together. I am assuming that both of these buns are neutered. I am also assuming that you tried to bond these on territory where neither of them have been before .. or if they have it has been thoroughly cleaned in between you trying to bond them.

If I am right, from my own experience it is definately easier to bond two rabbits who are of the opposite sex.

I reguarly bond rabbits each week for a rescue, from my own experience you can bond any age of bun and size to any other bun, a male female pairing is far easier than 2 buns of the same sex, that is whether they have lived together before. The ones I find more tricky in relation to size is a mature small male with a mature larger female.

I am not saying you cannot bond 2 of the same sex, I am saying it is usually easier to do opposite sex pairing ups.

Just re read your last post where you say they did so well until they came home. When they returned home from bonding it is essential that they are kept in a confinded space for about 48 hours to allow them to settle before SLOWLY expanding their territory. About 75% of buns will end up fighting if their space is expanded too quickly. When I say confinded I mean about 5 foot by 2 foot.

Any space that the buns are allowed to have access to must be totally cleaned and neutralised removing all smells. An area which has not been cleaned will often result in the buns fighting for their territory.

When I bond buns for the rescue I vounteer for I keep them for about 48 hours and then if they are settled they can go home to a confinded totally neutral area.

I guess my postings were a bit scattered into different threads! I should have just updated the first one.

You're right - they were two neutered boys, around the same age. We introduced them at the rescue on neutral territory and they got on well. They stayed at the rescue for about 3 days doing some initial bonding before moving to my house. I had thoroughly neutralized William's area, cleaned the floors, walls, cage, put down a new floor for the pen, etc... And I introduced them in a small area, circluar and about 5 foot accross. They were alright the first night - a little warry of each other and some humping, but no fights. It was the next day that the fighting started and it just escalated.

I'm sure there were some sort of tricks I could have tried with bonding them, but they were just so vicious in the 2 big fights that I didn't want to risk either of them getting hurt (or myself getting any more scars - one of them managed to take a chunk out of my thumb joint!)

William has a couple little scabs and quite a bit of missing fur right now, but is otherwise doing great. I'm going to give him a little time to destress and then see if he's ready to meet some prospective buns next weekend - this time only girls!