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Bonding Bear and Alice - 2nd day smaller area

HoneyBear

Mama Doe
Well, after all the excitement it didn't go at all to plan :(
Only nuteral place we have is the bath so popped them in on a towel.
Bear started honking and humped and humped and humped her, she looked terrified poor thing.
When he stopped he circled her and stamped his feet and then tried to mount her the wrong way round so we took him off her.
When he went towards her again she stamped her foot and growled at him so decided to separate them as she seemed quite destressed.

I don't know if my nerves can take this!
Feel like I've bitten off way more than I can chew :(

Does anybody have any advice?
Alice is quite timid anyway but can be a little madam when she wants!
And Bear only got neutered 6 weeks ago, is it normal for him to hump her so so much? Or do you think it's to soon for him?
 
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Hi :wave:
I think it can take up to 8 weeks or so before a male settles after he has been 'done'. When we first bonded our two, Harry had been done for four month's but he still tried to mount, only for a very short while tho and now they get on really well :D
I think you will get there in the end, we put ours next to each other in the cage so they would get used to each other, but unable to do any harm to one another and it worked. I think it might be a few weeks before his hormones settle down.
Good luck!
 
Thanks for the advice.
Both are free range bunnies so difficult to put them near each other without caging them which there not used to!
Hopefully it's still his hormones then!
 
Thanks for the advice.
Both are free range bunnies so difficult to put them near each other without caging them which there not used to!
Hopefully it's still his hormones then!

You are lucky, wish mine could be free range! My other two used to be as they were older, our present two are a lot younger. Harry and Daisy are out and about the house when we are in and in a large pen in our utility room when we are out. Hopefully they will be free range one day, when I know my carpet won't be nibbled :D
 
That sounds perfectly normal to me, it's if they start fighting you need to worry, but I don't know much about that.

When I bonded Oscar and Jessie, Oscar went completely hump-mad, so much so that poor Jessie tried to jump out the bonding pen!

I would try again in a couple of weeks to make sure Bear's hormones have completely died down. Is the bath definitely the only place you can bond them? You will need to neutralise everywhere before you let them out together, and it works best is you can increase the space slowly.
 
Had them in the bath again today, went better I think, or it could have juts been I was calmer....
1st few minutes was Bear humping Alice and honking, no flying fur this time though.
Then a few minutes of ignoring.
Then Bear sprayed (he has never done this before)
Bear would keep putting his head upside down under Alice's chin and stomach, she didnt pay much attention.
If bear approached Alice head on she would growl and lunge and nip, id say OI! and it would stop, wouldnt call it a real fight!
They would keep trying to get under each others chins but no grooming whatsoever.
Bit more grunting and circling from Bear but no more humping.
Then they ignored each other some more but next to each other and Bear even did a sort of bunny flop.
Then Alice lunged for him a few more times and boxed him a bit but again noting me saying OI! to wouldnt stop.

They were together about 15 mins, I was weary of it getting very hot in the bathroom and could tell Alice really wasnt enjoying herself one bit, Bear seemed really relaxed though!

Please could someone with experience in bonding let me know what they think of this?
And what should I do next? Should I repeat the visits to the bath, and if so how often and for how long? This is the only neutral place we have.

Thanks:D
Will try take my camera next time and get some pics!
 
It sounds pretty normal. Just keep putting them together and hopefully with time things will improve. Do you give them a treat together like some veg.
 
Thanks for replying!

How often should I be putting them together and for how long?

No I didnt try the treat, she's not fussed about food but he would love it, I'll try that next time thanks :)
 
I don't have much bonding experience myself, but from what I read on here it seems like one of the best ways to bond is to leave the rabbits together for at least 48 hours while fully supervised, then slowly increasing the amount of space they have. Otherwise, every time you separate them and put them back together, they have to re-establish their hierarchy all over again, so it takes much longer to go through the chasing/mounting phase.
 
Would love to try that, only problem is as there free range we have absolutely no where neuteral in the house so don't know how that would work:(
 
Put them together as often as you can. The more time they spend together the more settled they will be with one another, hopefully! Doesn't she like grass or spring greens?
 
Would love to try that, only problem is as there free range we have absolutely no where neuteral in the house so don't know how that would work:(

This was the problem I had too, ended up putting cheap and neutral towels down under their bonding pen, and a bit of white vinegar sprayed on the carpet directly around it to neutralise that too.

Are they both going to free range together once bonded? If so, you will need to neutralise everywhere before you let them out together anyway, because it will still be separate territory.

That is, unless you have rabbits like Oscar and Jessie who pushed the panels over that were blocking half of our living room off (they were wedged between the sofas) and had free run of the rest of the house overnight before we had chance to neutralise everywhere else! Luckily they didn't have a problem, but such a massive increase in space into un-neutral territory could have gone horribly wrong...
 
U have given me a great idea! OH is in the garden now neutralising the run and going to bring it inside on an old quilt cover so hopefully neuteral!
 
1st of all nuteralised the run in the garden and put it on the patio

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Seemed to go OK, lots of ignoring, a bit of chasing and nipping and Alice is covered in Bears wee bless her :(

Dont know weather you can see on the photo below the orange wee tinge to her ears.

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OBVIOUSLY though cant sit and watch them outside forever
So have moved them into our living room which is Bear's territory. We have hovered, disinfected and cleaned basically everything in there in the hope it wont smell like him. Also in the run we have put an old quilt cover down to cover the carpet and the water and food bowls have never been touched by either.

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What do you think?
 
Looks good! Are you going to keep them together in it now until bonded?

The only thing I would suggest is maybe reduce the size of the pen to start with (if possible) so they are forced to interact with each other- maybe put some hay down too so they can nom together? Be careful of the food bowls/litter trays too, in case one of them tries to get territorial over them.

Good luck, they are gorgeous :love::love:
 
Hope it goes well :wave: I agree with tiger_lily though, smaller area, pile of hay in the middle and maybe scatter feed :) with a space like that they can avoid each other and it might slow things down. I know it might seem cruel to have them in a small area, my 2 were in a 3ft indoor cage at FatFluffs for 2 days, but that's all it took, 2 days :) I upgraded them to a 4ft hutch for 3 days after that, then a 5ft space until letting them have the whole 6ft hutch, the next day I gave them the run too. Start as small as you can and build it up like that when you see things improving, just do it slowly.

:wave:
 
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tonibun
Put them together as often as you can. The more time they spend together the more settled they will be with one another, hopefully! Doesn't she like grass or spring greens?

Sorry I missed your post! She will eat the occasional dandelion, thats about it!
 
Mmmmmm.... Only thing I have thats smaller is one of these

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/rabbit-100-guinea-pig-and-dwarf-rabbit-cage-by-ferplast-37559

Which by the way he arrived to me in I would NEVER even cage 1 rabbit in here!

Is this to small for the both of them or would it be about right?

Id feel really really cruel shutting them in there :(

Honestly for bonding, it would probably be alright. It would only be a couple of days max. We had Oscar and Jessie in a pen that was a similar size- about 120cm x 60cm (made from puppy panels). Make sure you can get in quickly though in case there is a fight you have to separate
 
The one Donny and Lola were in for 2 days was similar to that one. It might seem cruel but it might take forever if they aren't 'forced' to have contact, being able to avoid each other hinders the bond.

In the cage Don and Lola were in Donny could only hop twice and Lola the same. There was nothing in there but hay, that was it and it took 2 days initially and then me gradually increasing the space over the next week. They were in a 4ft hutch for 3 days and after the 6th day they had the run and hutch so could stretch their legs. What happens afterwards is more important than what you have them in during a bond :wave:

Don't think about it being cruel, it isn't because they will have each other for company afterwards and they won't even remember they were in it :)
 
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