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BONDING - Fur flying

K

Kipper

Mama Doe
My attempt to bond Teddy with Munch & Pipkin has failed :( The 2 boys werent too bad together but Pipkin & Teddy had several big fights. They were rolling about on the floor together & fur was flying everywhere. Poor buns were both really scared but intent on fighting each other.

Did I do right in separating them after only about 10 mins together or did I act too quickly?

How long should I leave it before I try to bond him with another pair?
 
You should never see behaviour that will cause injury. If 'fur is flying' that sounds like proper fighting and should be stopped immediately.

Chasing with a bit of fur pulling is very different and can be allowed to continue.

How are you doing this bonding so we can see if it's the set up you have, the way you are introducing them or just maybe that they don't like each other.
 
I'm sorry that the bonding didn't work. :(
I don't think it would be a good idea to try bonding now, bearing in mind that the vets will be closed for the next few days. Better safe than sorry. :wave:
 
I choose the shower room as its neutral territory. Its quite a small room. I placed hay in various points plus a tray of veggies. I put Teddy in room 1st then my partner & I brought in the other 2. Teddy tucked into the veggies straight away whereas Munch & Pip just wanted to leave the room. They all had a sniff of each other & nobun seemed unduly worried by the others.
Munch & Teddy tried to hump each other & there was a little bit of fur pulling but nothing serious & Teddy wanted groomed. Munch moved away.
However Pip (female) & Teddy (male) ended up head to tail in a continuous circle & I had to separate using cardboard. At one point Teddy ended up on his back. There were large chunks of fur all over the room. I gave up because I didnt want anybun getting seriously hurt. Just noticed several hours later that poor Pip has been bitten between her nostrils. Given her 2 drops of metacam in case shes in pain, though shes eating & drinking normally. Not keen on leaving her cage tonight for free range time :(
 
Do you think I should try them again or try Teddy with another pair & if the other pair how long should I wait before trying to introduce him. Im seriously considering asking a rescue to help or someone with proper experience (though I know no one like that)
 
It does sound like you have tried this the right way to me. It's going to be very hard to say if you should try again without seeing them but it does sound like they took an instant dislike which for me often means that's a non starter. The topping and tailing doesn't sound great I am afraid but can happen to any bonding pairs or trios etc.

I'd give all of them a while to settle and I possibly wouldn't try that grouping again (bonding 3 boys is never going to be easy in my opinon), but you could try him with some other buns if it wasn't him that created the brawl.

Was it one of the pair that kicked off? Probably protecting their position in the pair.
 
Awww I'm sorry it didn't work out. We took ours to a rescue to be bonded (Alice at Windwhistle warren :love:). Might be worth taking them to a rescue with someone with more experience? We were too nervous to bond ours.
 
Munch & Pip are a male/female pair. Teddy male.
Pip (female) & Teddy had the fight though Munch was nowhere near them.
I did once try to bond another female (Lucky) in with Munch & Pip 3 years ago but Pip bit the Lucky & made her nose bleed so I stopped trying. I did think Pip only objected to Lucky because she was female & thought she would accept another male. Dont think it was just Pips fault as they seemed to lunge at each other at exactly the same time
 
My bunnies are all indoor buns. If a rescue would/could bond them for me would they be able to keep my buns indoors & how long are they likely to be away from home?
 
I'm not sure about where they would keep them. They may do? Alice had Lilly and Peanut for a week. Sorry I'm can't give much more I can only go from what I know. Not really an expert on this kinda thing but hope this helps :)
 
Ive just had a look at the windwhistle site. Im so in love with Mea & Mia but its too far from me & anyway I want to try to bond Teddy with one of my existing pairs but if it doesnt happen then I will look for a Mrs for him. Id love a group of buns
 
When I do bondings I do them in my living room and depending on the bond I normally keep them here a week. Trios are more difficult so can take longer.

We all do it differently. I know rescues that only take a couple of days before they send bunnies home - just depends on the relationship.

Ideally you want to find someone close to you because if it doesn't work after a few hours and you have driven home, the person doing the bonding would need to either find somewhere to keep the bunnies until you could return or get you straight back to collect.

I'd say the first 24-48 hours are the most important and the person bonding will usually know by this time if it's going to work or not.

I know you'd rather not do it yourself, but if you would like my bonding info sheet it might help you to see if what you saw was good or bad and if it might be possible to try again?

if you are interested e-mail me on therabbitcrossing@yahoo.co.uk

Helen
 
Thank you for the bonding sheet its very informative. Think my main problem is lack of experience in knowing how far to let things go before I give up.
It seems as if people generally think trios dont really work. Would I be better to adopt another female & try to bond the 2 pairs together?:?
 
It is tricky knowing what to leave and what to separate when you're new to bonding. Whereabouts in Herts are you? If you're not too far I'd be happy to pop over and help you get them started if you want to give it another go in a couple of weeks time. I could see if Lou (Louise and Gus) is available, too, we have started off several bondings together :)
 
Wow thanks for the offer. :D Can I get back to you on this? We're not sure how we want to proceed or whether to get another female for Teddy & try to bond them into a group of 4. We definately could do with some experienced help but we're also considering asking a rescue to help us I only wish we'd considered this before trying to bond them ourselves
 
Yes of course you can :)

Personally I would not adopt another rabbit with a view to bonding them as a foursome if there are questionmarks over the three - if there is an inherent dislike between two of the three buns, that probably won't change if you add a fourth, it will just add an extra dynamic that needs sorting out.

Personally if I were you, I would try the threesome again with some experienced help (happy to help but won't be offended if you find someone else ;) ) before leaping in with a fourth bun, and if the threesome definitely isn't going to work, you could perhaps consider a fourth but to pair with the single rather than to bond into a four.

Give me a shout if I can help at all :)
 
Thank you Santa. Im not going to try Teddy in with the same pair but with another pair, again male/female but it seems as if many people believe trios to be especially difficult. I can afford another bun & have space to enlarge their living accomodation. The main reason I want to only have 2 sets of buns is it would mean more free range time for them all
 
Thanks for the link. Did ayone else just think come on Brian just groom her :lol:
Has anyone got any films of group bonding because its quite different to bonding a pair. Would be especially interested in buns who seem to object to each other because that was the problem I faced
 
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