Bonding going very bad - Sept!! Update

I had two rescue Rabbits for 2yrs. Daisy Duke a Lop aged about 5 and Halle Berry a Mini lop also 5. They were best friends and lived perfectly together. Sadly I found Halle Berry dead in her summer house one morning. Nothing wrong, had been well two hours earlier, just died in her sleep.

One week later I got a another mini sized black rabbit which we called Betty Boo. Had her spayed immediately. Her history was odd. Kept at a rescue centre for almost a year - apparently had been a child's bunny. The other died and this black rabbit was given to a rescue centre. The centre kept her on her own for the entire 12m (unsprayed) and she never left the coffin that was her home.

I have a large garden, my rabbits live in a huge hutch within a summer house that gives them access to a partitioned garden all day long. I have Betty Boo living in a cage within the summer house.

......but the Bonding is a disaster. I have done everything we have been trying for over 6w now. We have had about 6 really vicious fights, jaws clamped etc... from both rabbits. When they are apart they snuggle up through the cage. But together Betty Boo attacks Daisy Duke all the time. We have tried them in a box together, I have swopped them around in houses, Daisy sleeps in the cage and Betty has the hutch and swap them daily.

Today was the worst fight ever. I had to prise them apart and Betty Boo bit my thumb almost to the bone and then attacked my foot. Daisy Duke is too old for this hassle yet she misses company I can tell.

I really don't want to return Betty Boo the the rescue centre as I think that in itself would be purgatory. Any ideas anyone. At this rate I think I will just have to build another pen and summer house. Or will I just perserve?

Where are you putting them together? Females can be very territorial so it should be a neutral area where neither have been before?

Where are you? Maybe a rescue on here can help?

The summer house is a neutral area, Daisy lives in the hutch which is inside the summer house. Betty Boo lives in a large cage within the summer house, so Daisy snuggles next to Betty next to the cage.
I live in Yorkshire, I don't want to mention the rescue centre as I don't want to give them bad publicity

No I meant maybe a different rescue centre on here will help.

I am guessing the Summer house isn't neutral territory as they can still smell their smells. Have you tried in a cage in your house?

louise and Gus said:

No I meant maybe a different rescue centre on here will help.

I am guessing the Summer house isn't neutral territory as they can still smell their smells. Have you tried in a cage in your house?

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That's exactly what I was about to post. :wave:

Are you bonding in the summerhouse? Are you bonding by putting them together 24/7 or just letting them have 15 mins here and there?I was going to suggest bonding in the bathroom or [neutral] indoor cage,however I'm not happy they appear to have locked on fights.Perhaps you need to separate [not even see/smell each other] for a couple of weeks so that they "forget" each other.It might be in everyones interests to get a rescue to bond for you.Best of luck

No the summer house has got a partitioned garden area which is neutral - sort attached. So they both run through the partitioned garden to get to the bigger garden. I put them in this partitioned garden area to bond. I have never left them together for longer than 10mins as it has always ended in a fight. The rest of the time, Betty's cage is within the summer house, next to Daisy's hutch. So they are separated by the cage all the time. Daisy gets locked in her hutch at night and then the summer house is locked. During the day, Daisy has the run of the summer house and Betty stays in her cage until I come home from work in the afternoon. Or my partner will let them out if he is home. They stay apart all the time, so one might be in the big garden and the other is in the partitioned garden and then they swop. We have also tried them in a neutral box in the house several times but that also ended in a fight. Betty has been spayed for approx 5w now, so I guess her hormones are still going on. During the day, if in the summer house or out in garden they sit next to each other through the wire fence. If a rescue centre could do it, but I dont' really want to stress Daisy by moving her, she is a very nervous rabbit.

I can't say I have any experience of bonding apart from one attempt with ours which too ended in a fight! But my vet did suggest that the hormones were still present for many, many weeks, so 5 weeks may be a bit soon.


It is certainly a good sigh that they will snuggle up either side of the bars.

To be truly neutral it must be somewhere that neither rabbit has ever been so it they both go through the partitioned garden then to my mind that is not neutral.

I'm sure it would be best to get someone experienced to help - thats what I'm going to do too.

Good luck.

Thanks Dusty,
I have been looking at the other bonding stories. Am I right in thinking that this should be done over a week rather than months? The message seems to be so confusing.
At the weekend, I am thinking of bringing them into the house which is totally neutral and doing some kind of 'bunnywatch' over the whole day. If a fight breaks out, separate and let them meet again? and keep it up until the fighting stops. Even keep awake with them through the night? My partner says if this isn't going to work then we are goingto have to let Betty go, which I am just not wanting to do.

Sorry you are having such a hard time. I had a hard time with the two in the photo below, it took about 4 months as the black one (female) was aggressive and kept locking on to Homer. They too were in a cage separated with wire but could see/smell each other.

I kept trying it in different areas of the house (totally neutral) but it always ended up in attacks. I resigned myself to the fact it was not going to be so went out and bought a wendy house and said we would have to divide it so they could live by each other but not together.

I left if for a couple of weeks and then the wendy house came. I thought, I'll give it one last go and my approach here was slightly different.

I would take them both in and sit in the middle of house and let them sniff their own sides, they would then hop over to each others sides and at any sign of the tail going up I would immediately separate them and try again the next night. Each time the time they would sniff around/ignore each other grew.

One night Homer just started to lick Katy briefly, don't think she knew what to do. Shortly after I separated them and put them together the following night and they started to lie next to each other nicely and I built up the time and then started going out of the wendy house for 5 minutes but watched through the window and again built up the time on their own.

As you can see they get on fine now and are always grooming each other. I don't think that Katy (she was from RSPCA) had really been around other bunnies. She is actually the submissive one now.

Some people find that putting them in a carrier together and taking them for a car ride helps (I wish I had tried that :roll

Good luck.

Edit - The other two bonds we have done have been OK after an initial scrap and only took a couple of day. It really does depend on the bunnies. I have only ever bonded male/female.

Thanks BB,
It is so nice to see so many kind people who are dedicated to their animals, I thought I was the only fruitcake who is besotted by their pets.
I have just now put them back in the summer house, Daisy running around and Betty in the cage, they have tried to sniff each other again and someone bit someone else's nose. I am not sure who is the culprit here. My partner had put them in the cat carrier together last week and when they 'go' for each other shake it, and that scares them both to stop. I am just hoping in 6m time this will be all over and this nightmare is a distant memory. Thanks everyone.

Is she spayed?
I apologise if I've read it wrong and you've already stated this.

Yes, sorry it was a rambling story. Both spayed, Betty was done as soon as I picked her up from the Rescue centre. She had been left for 3yrs without been spayed and that might be the problem I think. She was also alone in box for 12month, high up in the air on top of other hutches approx 6feet up. I know rabbits don't like heights. So perhaps she is just having a mental phase and I need to let her adjust more. Now she lives on the ground. Takes some adapting to I suppose

Fishykittygirl said:

So they both run through the partitioned garden to get to the bigger garden. I put them in this partitioned garden area to bond.

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If they previously have run through this partitioned area to get to the garden this area will not be totally neutral.

From your thread would I be right in assumeing that these are female rabbits?
Female pairs are more diffiicult to bond than male / female pairs, I would suggest giving this chance on totally neutral territory where neither have had access to the area before such as indoors or getting someone else to try and bond them for you.

Yes, thank you.
I have sourced a pen that I can bring into the house which is totally neutral, it smell of my 4 cats, so no bunny smells. So I aim to bring them in and sit and watch them for a few hours non stop, just gently seperate them when they get too close. Yesterday before I nearly lost my thumb it was okay quite well, sat approx a foot away from each other, ignoring but not quite relaxing. It wasn't until Betty went for sniff and that wasn't taken well that the fracas started. So I guess I try the pen inside and see what happens. If I can get some pictures together will post them, then you can see what lovely girls they are and how i need to keep trying!

:wave:Good luck for today, hope it works out.

Not well, I am afraid, tried it again. Betty is just going for her quite viciously I am afraid. And when I manage to pull her off she is charging after her again. Luckily Daisy is a little fat and fluffy and Betty is only getting a mouthful of fur. I am not sure to keep trying this is the right thing. As I am unsure of this new rabbit's history I am thinking this was why she was got rid of in the first place. I have also got a 3-legged cat, if she attacked him and it was his back leg, I am afraid he would have to be put to sleep and I don't want that.
Do you suggest that I try to rehome her? But who wants a vicious bunny? She is okay on her own. She doesn't mind being stroked or picked up, she is just not social.

I'm having bunny bonding problems too, so you're not on your own. :wave: This is my first experience of bunny bonding.

My two actually got on fine at first, but had a bad fight one night after two weeks of living happily together and it all went wrong from then. Mine are a neutered male (Herbie) and neutered female (Sugar). Sugar started being aggressive towards Herbie, I think her patience ran out through him constantly trying to hump her. :roll:

After the fight I retried the intensive bonding method of putting both in a small neutral space under constant supervision. After 4 days and nights with no sleep I had to give it up as the tension and fighting was just getting worse.

After making the decision that Sugar would have to go back to the rescue, and then not being able to bring myself to give her up without giving her another chance, I decided to try the bonding again, but this time to take it very slowly. They are both in the house in one room, so they are living semi-together. I have one bun in a large pen and the other free range in the room. I swap them over every 24 hours, so both buns get free range time. I am now regularly finding them lying side by side only separated by the wire mesh. I gave them 2 weeks to settle down and get used to their new set and then I started to put them together properly in their playhouse, which is new and so neutral to both buns, for about an hour - always supervised. Sugar is much calmer now and isn't constantly trying to chase and attack Herbie. She does still try and bite him, but nowhere near as much as before. The other day she actually started to groom him again. As soon as the bonding session starts to deteriorate and I can see it getting tense, I call it a day and take them back into the house and just try again the following day. It's still a bit up and down, some days I see a bit of grooming and other days I get nipping and chasing, but on the whole this slower method seems to be working better for my two. I have resigned myself to the fact that this is going to be a long and slow process, but I am hoping with patience we will get there in the end.

Sugar was neutered a few weeks before I adopted her and I've also been told that after neutering a female can still be hormonal for many weeks. Maybe this is one of the reasons why we are having problems with our females. :?

Just thought it might help to share my experience and let you know that you're definitely not on your own.

Don't give up! I tried bonding an older female to my male/female pair and the original female hated her. There was loads of fur pulling and nipping and some locking on too but they get along fine now. It slowly got better over about a month and now there is no nipping at all.

When you first start it does seem like they will never get along but stick with it. If they are still fighting badly after a few weeks then maybe it's not the right pairing but leave them together all the time just separating them when they fight but never so they can't get to each other again. I think my 2 girls just resigned themselves to the fact that neither of them is going anywhere so they might as well tolerate each other.

Definitely a good idea to try doing it inside so you can watch them constantly.

Good luck :wave:

Thanks Tracy and Rhian, it is great to know that this is not me. You start to think that don't you?
They are still together in the summer house, and part of me thinks yes, if they really hated each other they would sleep at the other ends of the house and not follow each other through the wire. There have been so many lovely people on here that have been so encouraging, it is making me want to carry on.