URGENT Bonding help please

Hi I am trying to bond a neutered pair: ringo (male lionhead 1yr) and baby (female mini lop 1yr) with saffie (smaller female mini lion lop 7mnths). 'Baby' who I think I now ought to rename is being horrendously mean to little saffie who runs away terrified and breathing loudly and has shown no agression at all but baby keeps biting her attacking her n pulling her fur out. She also occasionally bites her partner who runs away and has shown no signs of agression either. I have all three in a small neutral tiled area, the size people reccomemd with food water and a litter tray in the corner. I stop baby from attacking saffie but she's pulled loads of fur out of her n poor saffie is terrified. Should I give up? I've prob only been her half an hour but saffie scrambled up my legs onto my knee n is hiding her face n I feel so mean on her please help x

Oh no, bless it's not nice seeing them like that is it, I can't really offer any help as I have'nt bonded my two yet, but hope someone will come along and offer you so help. Good luck. xx

Chasing/Nipping/Fur Pulling is normal behaviour.

As long as they aren't actually fighting, i'd let them get on with it.

Is the area they are in neutral?

You say she scrambled up your leg, your not in the bonding pen with them are you? Bunnies can get jealous if you pet them during bonding etc.

Also, take out the litter tray to start with. They could be getting territorial over it.

Yes I'm sitting in the corner. I will get out of the area, thanks. I shall try to perservere then. I'm grabbing the litter tray now as the dominant one is sitting in it. Thanks I really hope she will stop attacking her soon as she's not fighting back at all

He's probably showing his dominance.

Anything they can 'own' shouldnt be in the pen to start with.

If you feel its not going well, get the 3 of them in a carrier and go for a 10 minute car journey if thats possible.

Keep us updated. I've only done one bond, but i've read many many threads and i act as a photograph, i can just relay information for you.

Others may come along soon to help too!

What size pen are you bonding them in? Is it 100% neutral?

Well thankyou so much for your help and advice its really appreciated. I have done a few bonds before but not for a while now and not done a three before. Also saffie (the bun who's getting picked on lives indoors at the moment so she's kind of my favourite a tiny bit and she's so friendly I used to put her out to play with my ten and a half year old for some mutual company and she's never bitten anyone. He unforunatly had to be PTS a few days ago and she's been really lonely since and harassing the dogs. I've got a huge two storey hutch in the garage which eventually I would like them all to live in if all goes well. Fingers crossed. It is a bit of a stale mate at the moment. Yeah the areas is completely neutral. No rabbits have ever been in here before and I've taken the tray

Louise G said:

Well thankyou so much for your help and advice its really appreciated. I have done a few bonds before but not for a while now and not done a three before. Also saffie (the bun who's getting picked on lives indoors at the moment so she's kind of my favourite a tiny bit and she's so friendly I used to put her out to play with my ten and a half year old for some mutual company and she's never bitten anyone. He unforunatly had to be PTS a few days ago and she's been really lonely since and harassing the dogs. I've got a huge two storey hutch in the garage which eventually I would like them all to live in if all goes well. Fingers crossed. It is a bit of a stale mate at the moment. Yeah the areas is completely neutral. No rabbits have ever been in here before and I've taken the tray

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Awesome.

Keep us informed - look forward to hearing how you get on.

Ignoring each other is good too, so if your at a stalemate, thats actually good so i've been told!

Hi just wanted to wish you luck :wave:
Just be careful when you seperate them as they can sometimes bite you by accident, use a broom or dustpan brush to save yoh getting bitten

Aww thankyou. I've got oven gloves on hehe. They seem to have settled into a triangle now, all equal distance from eachother so fingers crossed the worst of the biti
ng is over x

Also.. Does anyone know how long I should leave them together? Can I put the pair back in theor hutch tonight and continue bonding tomorrow or is it best to leave the trio together tonight? Thanks

Louise G said:

Also.. Does anyone know how long I should leave them together? Can I put the pair back in theor hutch tonight and continue bonding tomorrow or is it best to leave the trio together tonight? Thanks

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Leave them as they are, in their bonding space. Seperating them now will mean you'll have to start again :shock:

You'll need to stay pretty close to them, to break up any 'fights' they have.

They'll need to stay in the bonding area for a week at least i would say.

My bond took a week solid, but after 3 or 4 days they were pretty happy.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=250176

Thats my bonding thread, in case you are interested.

Thanks it looks like your bond went pretty well. Gorgeous bunnies by the way too I'm too scared to take them in the car because I'm sure baby will bite saffie. At last saffie calmed down and went to explore and as soon as she did baby ran up behind her n pulled a lump of fur out of her tummy. So mean. She's all scared again now and hasn't eaten, drank or been the toilet for the last few hours. Just sits there frozen. I feel awful

Just checked saffie and she has lumps off fur missing and bloody teeth marks on her back and bottom. I feel awful. The pair are both eating but saffie has still not eaten, just had a few sips of water. She has washed herself once which apparently is a sign of relaxing but is just hunched in the corner looking really awkward. The pair are sitting opposite together eating and grooming and she's scared on her own. Feel like such an evil person. Going to give them a bit longer as calm time between baby attacking saffie is getting longer and longer. I'm considering just giving up and bonding her with my unneuterd male (due to get done next week) in seven weeks and have two pairs. But then I have put her through all this stress for nothing and she will still have to be lonely for almost two months. I'm moving out of my parents soon and if I have two pairs it will half their playtime. I really want a trio/foursome eventually argh descisions :/

How big is the area you are bonding in? If Baby goes to attack saffie what do you do? A certain amount of fur pulling/chasing is acceptable however there is a point where you need to step in, i used a light water spray.