"i Wanna Stay Single!" Bun Says

I have a holiday bun (from April!) who looks like he won't be going back - he's on his own and seems content. He seems to want to fight any other bun that he encounters and I'm wondering whether he is therefore happy on his own, I would like him to have a pal but not if he doesn't want one! Your views please?

:wave: Is he neutered? How has he been introduced to the other buns? What size space? Completely neutral? And then what - how quickly do they fight, what exactly do you mean by 'fighting'? Have you intervened? In my experience, buns that want to fight at bonding often don't actually want to remain single, they're just scared of other rabbits as they don't know what to expect (or have had a bad experience in the past), and seem to take the view that if they attack the other bun before it attacks them, that they will be ok...attack is the best form of defence, as it were.

If I were you, I would want to ensure that a rescue or individual who is experienced at bonding has a go before writing him off as unbondable, as I suspect there's a reason for his behaviour and it's usually something that can be worked around using various different bonding techniques. Early stages of bonding can often have big hurdles which can make it look like a bun doesn't want to bond, but it's absolutely not necessarily - and indeed not usually - the case, it's just that some may need a little managing differently and understanding of why the bun is behaving like that during a bond, so it can be helped

Hi, is he neutered?

Rabbits quite offen fight when they first meet, you have to take them through a bonding process, which can take some time.

Have a look in the Behaviour and Bonding section of this forum for some tips :wave:

:wave:I have a good sized garden with double hutches round 2 sides and each hutch has its own fenced off play/run area. As well as that each group of buns is allowed free running around time in the big garden area (in shifts) The single bun lives in a very large Mollys mansion hutch on the patio on his own and plays out a few times a day on his own - although they can't reach each other they tend to 'swipe' each other through the fencing/run bars - there's never any gentle sniffing or inquisitive behaviour

Ooops yes he is neutered and has been for a couple of years - in fact all my buns are neutered

suzibunbun said:

although they can't reach each other they tend to 'swipe' each other through the fencing/run bars - there's never any gentle sniffing or inquisitive behaviour

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That's perfectly normal, and is absolutely no indication of bonding behaviour or a bun that wants to remain single. Rabbits are naturally territorial - which is one of the reasons that bonding MUST take place somewhere completely neutral, and it's absolutely, 100% very normal and usual to see rabbits behave like that in the situation you describe.

I bonded a pair of rabbits for my boss, they had been living side by side and used to grunt and scrabble at each other through the bars, but they bonded fine. Their behaviour on territory that one or more has been on before is completely different to their behaviour during bonding.

I would recommend finding an experienced bonder nearby to help you with bonding, nothing you've said there makes me think that you have a rabbit who wants to remain single, it's just normal bunny behaviour!

With a large number of buns in a smallish area it could be referred aggression especially if they share areas for exercise as he will permanently be able to see and smell the others. Some buns just dont like this and cant cope with it and become agressive

Thanks - the funny thing is I have bonded all my other buns with no trouble at all - maybe I just need to brush up on 'the rules' - he's gorgeous and deserves to have a pal now it looks like he's staying. Shall I do it in the house do you reckon as I seem to have run out of garden space for bonding :lol:

There is always the odd bun that will not settle down to bond, but out of the 300 odd that have gone through Hopper over the last few years there has only been one or two that didn't bond.

My Oscar was initially assumed to be un-bondable as he would launch ferociously at any female he was introduced to, to the point that we decided it wasn't fair to try him again.

A few years later we had Sea come into the rescue, and Louise had an inkiling that she might be the right temperament for Oscar.
We tried him, and after a very nervous initial meeting he fell head over heels in love with her.

We had the luxury, though, of lots of potential partners for Louise to choose from, and the experience and knowledge that Louise has around bunny behaviour.

Thanks everyone for your advice and comments so far - and GUESS WHAT!!!???
Postie's just been and delivered my Autumn copy of Rabbiting on and it's a BONDING SPECIAL!! Just gonna make a coffee and sit down and have a read - I'm sure someone must have been listening - I will always listen to everyone's advice and take everything on board, that's why I love my bunnies and have successfully been able to help and love loads - I like to think we're all doing our bit for the unloved/unwanted and neglected bunnies of this world - no matter how big or small our contributions xx