Bonding question

Please help. I have been bonding Toby (age 1) and Luck (age 18 months for some time. They have both been "done". Things started a bit rocky but we made great progress and last Tuesday they fell in love and spent ages lying together in their run grooming one another. All went well until Monday morning (yesterday) when we put them in their run together... I don't know what happened as I leave them unsupervised now. I checked on them lunchtime to find fur everywhere (mostly Lucy's but a bit of Toby's too) and they had retreated to opposite ends of the run. They seemed to have established a wary trust so I put them together again in the run today and we had a simialr occurance only this time I found Lucy now has a couple of deep scratches on the back of her neck. After lunch I saw no further agression though. I am reluctant to split them up after they fell in love last week but am I doing the right thing continuing like this?

I have managed to acquire a combined run and hutch that is totally neutral which they are now in so I don't really want to separate them if I can help it. Can anyone reassure me that this is normal bunny behaviour and that we are doing the right thing or not?

I would guess that the extra space has upset the bond, maybe made them start being territorial, or just made them a bit anxious and stressed. This can turn into referred aggression and they take it out on the other rabbit.

I would take the bonding back a step and keep them in a small confined space for a few days. Scatter the food so they can't get territorial about bowls. I think it would definitely break the bond if you split them now.

If you feel ok about keeping them together, I would keep them in the hutch for a couple of days and not let them in the run at all. Or bring them inside in a small pen and take it back to early bonding procedures, but obviously that's very time consuming.

Is the hutch and run new? Moving in to a new place might have upset them. If it's not new, could it have the scent of other animals on it? Or it could be as simple as a noise scaring them. I wouldn't split them, but would keep a really close eye on them.

yes i agree, i think the extra space has probably started it off, can you take them for a car drive together? i have taken my group for many car rides and it really does settle them and makes them snuggle..

stick with it but really watch out for serious fighting as it can soon turn nasty! a bit of fur is nothing to worry aboout, they may still nip and fur pull its early days - its just proper fighting and biting to watch out for.
i use a water sprayer when mine are fighting, this also calms them down and makes them stop to wash themselves!

good luck

Yeah, the box on the washer and water spray worked with ours too. Forcing them to snuggle seemed to help a lot.

tintin said:

Yeah, the box on the washer and water spray worked with ours too. Forcing them to snuggle seemed to help a lot.

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I don't suppose tumble driers have the same effect? Our washing machine is under the worktops :?

Here's an update. The run the rabbits were in was the one they fell in love in last week. They were still in that run when the fighting started this week. We were rabbit sitting the in-laws rabbits over the weekend and although they weren't in with Lucy and Toby they were certainly in sight of them. Could that be what started them off? The other rabbits went home Monday night but the fighting escalated yesterday when Lucy sustained her first flesh wounds. They were moved into the combined run and hutch last night which is actually smaller than the run they were in. We were hoping this would help them get into just one hutch by giving us chance to sanitise Toby's big hutch for it to become home to both of them.
Just heard from hubby. Lucy has now lost more fur and sustained further scratch. As we cannot be with them the whole time at present he has now separated them again. Where do we go from here? Lucy has lost so much fur she's looking really scraggly the poor soul. We're both working the rest of the week and are then off for a long weekend so the rabbits are going to the in-laws house for a while. Should we leave them appart until after the break and start again from basics then?

If you fear serious injury I think you wll have to split them. It's a lot to ask your family to give them the supervision they will need if you are worried about fighting whilst you are away.

You'll then have to go right back to stage one of bonding though, I would think. Totally clean and neutral small space etc.

I would persevere with bonding them though, as they can obviously be happy together if they stop being silly bunnies. It could have been the scent/sight of another rabbit that set them off. Good kuck.