• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Just dont know what to do :'(

FudgeMallow

Mama Doe
This bonding is just not going right! :cry:

Im doing the slow process eg. swapping their litter trays, switching their cages, allowing them to see each other in a neutral area through a pen etc but fudge just doesnt like him one bit! She grunts and lunges and ive had plenty of bites in the past few weeks from her and had a few nips from Noah too :(

He seems to be getting more and more confident and she just doesnt like it! They are both very dominant rabbits and both are 'boss' and neither will back down! She is getting quite aggressive too which gets him going!

Fudge is getting very grumpy with me :( She allows me to give her snuggles once ive been in the bath and smell nothing like him but if i have stroked Noah and washed my hands she can still smell him and nips me and sits in a mood :( She isnt like that and its horrible that she is changing so much!

With her health being a big problem too i cant allow someone to take her to bond in their home as its just too much for her! I have to think of her health and try keep things as stress free as possible!

Im now scared to let them sniff each other through the bars incase she attacks him and he attacks her! This has been the hardest bond ever! My ex's 2 males had 2 big fights but that was SO much easier! He seems interested in her but when she has her nose up to the bars he tries to nip her :( and then she goes mental at him :(

Its causing arguing between me and my OH too as he doesnt understand why they cant be put toghether right now and them to be happy :roll: He isnt an animal lover so doesnt want 2 single buns and he is taking it out on me when i cant help that they dont love each other right away! I cant force them to love each other! Its like he thinks it my fault :?:(

Sorry just having a very stressful time just now and its not good :cry::cry: dont know where to go from here :cry::cry:
 
Oh no, im so sorry that its not going well. I know how stress full it can be and very worrying when they fight or bit each other.

Damm those OH's who just dont get it!!!

Will you keep trying? I know it will work in the end.

When we were bonding Muffin and Emily, it took 2 weeks, we call Suzanne in the end as we thought that they just were not going ot get on. As soon as she let them together, hey presto, like magic, they were bonded.

I hope things improve soon for you
 
To be honest I would be inclined not to continue trying to bond them if Fudge is already health compromised and also making it clear that she is not happy being near Noah. I fear it will be asking for more problems really.
 
This bonding is just not going right! :cry:

Im doing the slow process eg. swapping their litter trays, switching their cages, allowing them to see each other in a neutral area through a pen etc but fudge just doesnt like him one bit! She grunts and lunges and ive had plenty of bites in the past few weeks from her and had a few nips from Noah too :(

He seems to be getting more and more confident and she just doesnt like it! They are both very dominant rabbits and both are 'boss' and neither will back down! She is getting quite aggressive too which gets him going!

Fudge is getting very grumpy with me :( She allows me to give her snuggles once ive been in the bath and smell nothing like him but if i have stroked Noah and washed my hands she can still smell him and nips me and sits in a mood :( She isnt like that and its horrible that she is changing so much!

With her health being a big problem too i cant allow someone to take her to bond in their home as its just too much for her! I have to think of her health and try keep things as stress free as possible!

Im now scared to let them sniff each other through the bars incase she attacks him and he attacks her! This has been the hardest bond ever! My ex's 2 males had 2 big fights but that was SO much easier! He seems interested in her but when she has her nose up to the bars he tries to nip her :( and then she goes mental at him :(

Its causing arguing between me and my OH too as he doesnt understand why they cant be put toghether right now and them to be happy :roll: He isnt an animal lover so doesnt want 2 single buns and he is taking it out on me when i cant help that they dont love each other right away! I cant force them to love each other! Its like he thinks it my fault :?:(

Sorry just having a very stressful time just now and its not good :cry::cry: dont know where to go from here :cry::cry:

Are they both spayed/neutered?

I'm by no means an expert, I've only bonded 2 rabbits before, but I did use the slow method, which lots of people on here don't recommend. I didn't switch cages, just hay, and I used the bath as their initial neutral territory to start with. Have you introduced them face to face yet, rather than through the bars? I don't think the way they act through the bars is an indication of how they will be face to face. Sorry if you have already, I'm not sure I'm reading your post quite right :lol:

I'm sure you'll get lots of replies in rabbit chat, but you'll often find some bonding experts in the behaviour and bonding section too! :)
 
I am by no means an expert but have bonded several pairs of rabbits and two trios. I did gentle introduction just for two days then put them in a dog cage in the living room and camped there for 3 days with a very effective water bottle. it may be worth putting them together with a water bottle and your OH on hand to see what happens, it may be the behaviour is different once there are no bars in the way and they can interact properly. however, not being there and not knowing your bun or its health problems it may be that this is not the way. I hope whatever happens that it works out for you.
 
I'm sorry it's not going well. :( I've never done bonding so don't have any advice - it looks as though you are doing all the right things though. :?
 
Both buns speyed/neutered yes :D

I did the first bonding almost 3 weeks ago, the 'quick' way (put in neutral territory together and left supervised) Fudge DID NOT like this one bit, stressed her out and she was ill for a few days after! Noah just wants to hump her all the time and because she is the 'boss' she doesnt like it and attacked him which then made him attack her :( both buns had small wounds which are all healed now!

Left it a week and started the slow bond which seemed ok at first, changed litter trays they both just had a good sniff and that was that! Then Fudges behaviour started to change, she is grumpy most of the time and grunts at me alot!

She is almost 4 with dental issues, tummy problems where her diet is up and down just now trying to sort out her eating and her weight isnt great just now due to being ill recently so im having to up her food intake to help put the weight back on her!

Noah is a great bun, i love him so much and i dont want to have to see him go :cry::cry: Its so stressful and ive cried many tears as i know Fudge wants a friend she just wants to be boss and Noah just wants fudge to love him but he wants to be boss to!!

Im not sure wether to try a car journey together to see if that could help things! I dont know what to do from here :cry: I start my new job next week aswel so i will be out 8 hours 5 days a week so dont want to leave either bun alone! I:cry: just wish Blackie was still here :cry: Fudge loved her brother :cry::cry:

ETA: Noah seems fine with Fudges scent and he is fine with her, he just wants to 'be on her' ALL the time!! Fudge doesnt like his scent at all, went through to see her, she sniffed me, grunted, thumped her foot and ran under the bed! She is now sitting under there looking like she wants to eat me :roll::?

I know she is lonely as the only time she was at her happiest was when she was with me!! Should i try once more?? I dont know!! Should i continue the slow bond for another few weeks? The biggest problem is i cant keep 2 single buns and i cant allow Noah to be a single bun anyway and 3 buns is too much!!! AAAAAHHHHHH this is a horrible situation! Didnt see this coming! Will have to think things through for a couple of days and see how it goes the rest of this week and then i will have to decide!!!:cry::cry:
 
Last edited:
Have you tried asking for ideas in the bonding section? Try not to let Fudge see you are getting stressed, as this will probably make her worse if she is sensitive and close to you.
 
My bond was easy, so can't talk from experience or anything like that.

But have you tried giving Noah a teddy to hump? Maybe if he had something else to hump, he wouldn't try with her so much?
 
Sorry, I don't have any advice, just wanted to send you some hugs as I know how much you want this bond to work. {{{{{hugs}}}}}
 
Really sorry things aren't going well. I was very lucky with my two's bonding so can't offer any advice I'm afraid but sending lots of bonding vibes xxxxxx
 
I agree with Jane! I wouldn't even attempt to bond a rabbit who is ill! Established bonds can break apart if one becomes ill, so trying a new bond is very unlikely to work and is just going to stress the ill bun....and possibly impede her recovery! Wait until she's 100% better then try again! Keep her well away from Noah as seeing him and smelling him is obviously really stressful for her!
 
Things still going slow! Fudge has settled slightly, back to her normal happy self with me but still doesnt go near Noah when they have supervised time together in the hall (seperated with a pen)

I dont mean she is recovering from an illness she is just a very 'ill' bunny! Dental problems, gut problems that cant be 'fixed'
She has been ok for the past week, she just gets stressed easily and it causes a tummy upset :(

Noah is still interested in her and wants to see her but when she starts grumping he does too and trys to nip her nose hence why she stays away :roll:

Im going to take it very very slowly and if nothing improves we will go from there but hopefully they get used to each other! Especially fudge, hopefully she gets used to another bun living in her house!

Noah is a little monkey now :lol: He throws his food bowl about and digs at his blankets, he has settled in just fine!

Fudge is getting her probiotic daily to help her tummy but is now off the metacam so hopefully she doesnt need it again anytime soon :D Bought her 2 new types of food Supreme vet care, the digestive one and the urinary tract one! Fussy little madam doesnt like it :roll: no surprise there then! She only seems to like her ss pellets and excel and wagg pellets! Its a nightmare trying to get her to eat any high fibre food :(

Happy bonding vibes would be appreciated! I would have the worlds most stubborn bunny:roll:
 
Hope things pick up... or at least that they can cope with each other's presence. At least you have tried to make two lonely buns happy. :thumb:
 
This bonding is just not going right! :cry:

Im doing the slow process eg. swapping their litter trays, switching their cages, allowing them to see each other in a neutral area through a pen etc but fudge just doesnt like him one bit! She grunts and lunges and ive had plenty of bites in the past few weeks from her and had a few nips from Noah too :(

He seems to be getting more and more confident and she just doesnt like it! They are both very dominant rabbits and both are 'boss' and neither will back down! She is getting quite aggressive too which gets him going!

Fudge is getting very grumpy with me :( She allows me to give her snuggles once ive been in the bath and smell nothing like him but if i have stroked Noah and washed my hands she can still smell him and nips me and sits in a mood :( She isnt like that and its horrible that she is changing so much!

With her health being a big problem too i cant allow someone to take her to bond in their home as its just too much for her! I have to think of her health and try keep things as stress free as possible!

Im now scared to let them sniff each other through the bars incase she attacks him and he attacks her! This has been the hardest bond ever! My ex's 2 males had 2 big fights but that was SO much easier! He seems interested in her but when she has her nose up to the bars he tries to nip her :( and then she goes mental at him :(

Its causing arguing between me and my OH too as he doesnt understand why they cant be put toghether right now and them to be happy :roll: He isnt an animal lover so doesnt want 2 single buns and he is taking it out on me when i cant help that they dont love each other right away! I cant force them to love each other! Its like he thinks it my fault :?:(

Sorry just having a very stressful time just now and its not good :cry::cry: dont know where to go from here :cry::cry:

Oooo sorry hun, i know exactly where you are right now. The story with my buns is identical right down to the OH getting stroppy at having two single buns :roll:

I'd love to say that we had a happy ending and the buns bounced off into the sun set together but unfortunalty it never happened :( it was like world war 3 here at times with them escaping through doors and attacking each other or weeing and pooping everywhere to mark terrortory. It still gets like that every now and then but we've now got a permanant system where they never come into contact so thats the best we can do. Buster is very poorly at the moment so we're keeping them further apart so that he can recovr in peice. I dont think its ever possible to bond a pair of buns that really dontlike each other but i hope im wrong and you end up with a very happy pair. Sending bonding vibes your way :)
 
Oooo sorry hun, i know exactly where you are right now. The story with my buns is identical right down to the OH getting stroppy at having two single buns :roll:

I'd love to say that we had a happy ending and the buns bounced off into the sun set together but unfortunalty it never happened :( it was like world war 3 here at times with them escaping through doors and attacking each other or weeing and pooping everywhere to mark terrortory. It still gets like that every now and then but we've now got a permanant system where they never come into contact so thats the best we can do. Buster is very poorly at the moment so we're keeping them further apart so that he can recovr in peice. I dont think its ever possible to bond a pair of buns that really dontlike each other but i hope im wrong and you end up with a very happy pair. Sending bonding vibes your way :)

Thanks :wave:

Its just the most stressful thing ever :( Not good for me or the buns!!

I know Noah wants a friend! He stares at her and is always up at the cage wanting her attention!
She just isnt interested in him and cant be bothered with him! Im not sure if its because she has been on her own for 3 1/2years now and she has just gotten used to it, or that she sees it as HER house and he isnt allowed here or im HER mum and he cant have me :lol:

I wish he would let her be boss as i know thats what she wants :( I cant force them to fall in love and my OH will not allow another bun for Noah so if this doesnt work then i have to let him go :cry: But im attatched to him and i would miss him terribly :cry:

I want her to be happy but i dont know what will make her happy! Being alone the way its been for almost 4 years and with me for company or give her a husbun so she will never be alone again! Theres only been one male bunny she loved! My little boy Blackie, her brother, she loved him loads and got on with him great :( I miss him :cry:

I can only try once more as its not fair on fudge getting stressed so much if she really doesnt want him and its not fair on Noah being alone when he really wants someone!
 
Hun,

I'm so sorry things are not going too well. :(

I'd love to say that I would take Noah if things didn't work out but my little Orla would eat him for breakfast!
 
Back
Top