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best options for bonding rabbits.

miss c

Young Bun
I made a post a while ago about rabbit bonding in derby/options and didnt really get an answer, but i just realised i put it in rabbit chatt didnt see this bit at the time lol :roll: putting it in the right bit might of helped! :lol:

So ive had a crappy start to the year and lost 2 buns :cry:, my last bun was very close to her partner so i want to bond her asap as its been a few weeks now and all seems settled.
I have now 2 single girls and a pair of bonded boys. I have decided to split my boys as they have been fighting more and more over the last month :( and im worried that 1might get hurt and well if their scuffling then surly cant be 100% happy together.
So im thinking i can hopefully bond 1 boy to each girl which would work out great! ive spent so much at vets recently if im just looking after 4 buns they can have the best with the money saved and can have all my extra time tho i will miss having so many.

So what are the best options for bonding? i will do bella and smokey 1st shes a very dominant diva but was very affectionate to her mate and hes quite quiet and submissive and i think they might work. i did the dating method once when i bonded her before but cant remeber exactly what i did, and im unsure about when i can move him into her shed, do i get rid of her scent from their? or move her out of their while boding then move them both in their? also i was confused by reading about to much space to soon? when i get them in the shed do i block off the run part for a while/how long? also i usually let them free run in garden on alternate days so do i not do that straight away?

I will then use that method for bonding trixe and bright if that works :thumb:

I dont think theirs anyone round here that can help, ive tried 3 rescues but they only bond their own buns and the bording places that did offer bonding have closed! So ive decided to try it myself and im kind of frightened but i just want things to get back to normal and to know their all happy!

Thanks for reading and any help, this was supposed to be a short post oops :lol:
 
hello miss c...

I'm no expert in bonding bunnies :oops: but I didn't want to read and run... I have bonded 3 pairs of now happy bunnies and each experience was different but this what generally worked for me...

1) Show no fear :lol: sounds crazy, but bunnies will pick up on your anxiety...
2) Small neutral space. For my situation, this was setting up a pen in my living room, first using four puppy panels and steadily increasing during the weeks. (or decreasing if necessary) there was nothing in the pen to begin with, just newspaper and loads and loads of hay. I scattered their pellets and had two water bottles rigged up.
3) Be on hand first 24 hours if possible (I camped downstairs next to the pen for a couple of nights initially, until I felt I could trust them. :lol:) There will be some initial chasing/humping to start with. Sorting out who's boss - but sever aggression needs to be stopped immediately.

There are lots of different ways to bond bunnies and there are some good posts in this section about various methods. Bunnies personalities are different so don't be too disheartened if the the first method/approach to bunny bonding doesn't work.

Sending lots of luck, hopefully more experienced rabbit owners will be along to add suggestions soon. :wave:
 
Hi :) sorry to hear about your loss.

I bonded Bailey and Belle myself using the fast track method when I rescued Belle. And they were fine for 6 months. Spring fever set in this year and unfortunately they had a huge fight resulting in an operation and loss of part of the ear for Belle.
I attempted to reintroduce them when Belle came home but the dominance started immediately so I knew I had to start from scratch again.
I didn't have the time to go back to basics with them and re-bond in the spare room unfortunately and couldn't find a rescue near. I did however find one an hour or so away from me. Fat fluffs in Solihull, so they went there for the week. It really is an amazing rescue.
They came home and I spent a night/day with them in the neutral spare room and then they went back into their normal room (but neutralised) . They seem very much back to normal now!
I'd say Derby is only about an hour or so away from Solihull if its possible for you to get there?

Are all of your buns spayed/neutered?

xxx


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Argh this is the 3rd attempt to reply lol, 1st the baby pressed something and all went blank then the computer crashed when I pressed post!!!!!! Right 3rd time lucky! :thumb:

Thanks all for replying, yes all are spayed/ neutered so hopefully that will make things easy as possible. I don't drive I could of got a lift half hour or so but an hour might be pushing it but if I really struggle I might have to do some begging and take them down.

I have set up a 3x3ft neutral area in the garden for the 1st few dates, then I thought I could up them to the 6x3ft run if ok. however my house is teeny so thought could maybe put them in the dogs cage overnight and stay with them and back out in the run in then morn would that work do you think I havnt got room for a proper set up indoors :(?
Want to start tomorrow if you think its a workable option, its so scary, show no fear I will try :lol:
 
want to get started soon as while im feeling brave!

Do you think my plan will work? Want to get started soon as im feeling brave today :lol:
 
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