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Helping "newly wed" bunny bond.UD post 6

H

hoppetylop

Mama Doe
My Milly and Sam have been bonded for about 2 1/2 weeks.The local rescue did it for me and it went very smoothly.They have been fine for a week but yesterday I walked into their enclosure to find loads of Millys fur all over the floor and Sam looking uptight.I thought it was maybe mounting spring fever/early bonding behaviour so didn't panic.I decreased their enclosure size and watched them all evening yesterday.They seemed ok so I left them together last night and went to see them early this morning.They weren't sitting together but there was no more fur pulled.
I popped in at lunchtime to see them and again, fur everywhere.:roll:I stayed for sometime and watched.They were mostly calm as long as Milly sat quietly.
There has been more of the same and Milly looks abit fed up but again as long as she stays put Sam is calm and sits about 4 foot away from her with his back to her.Having now seen the behaviour he isn't mounting her-just chasing and pulling fur from her bottom/back.
Milly was incharge to start with.Their decreased enclosure size is 6 foot x 2 foot(previously 8 1/2 x 7)

They have both been neutered for some time.
The rescue lady will take them and do some "marriage guidance"for afew days if necessary but like all rescues shes so busy so I need to try to help them myself.
What else could I do to help the bond?It was brilliant to start with.

I not sure whether to separate them for now either.
 
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hoppetylop said:
My Milly and Sam have been bonded for about 2 1/2 weeks.The local rescue did it for me and it went very smoothly.They have been fine for a week but yesterday I walked into their enclosure to find loads of Millys fur all over the floor and Sam looking uptight.I thought it was maybe mounting spring fever/early bonding behaviour so didn't panic.I decreased their enclosure size and watched them all evening yesterday.They seemed ok so I left them together last night and went to see them early this morning.They weren't sitting together but there was no more fur pulled.
I popped in at lunchtime to see them and again, fur everywhere.:roll:I stayed for sometime and watched.They were mostly calm as long as Milly sat quietly.
There has been more of the same and Milly looks abit fed up but again as long as she stays put Sam is calm and sits about 4 foot away from her with his back to her.Having now seen the behaviour he isn't mounting her-just chasing and pulling fur from her bottom/back.
Milly was incharge to start with.Their decreased enclosure size is 6 foot x 2 foot(previously 8 1/2 x 7)

They have both been neutered for some time.
The rescue lady will take them and do some "marriage guidance"for afew days if necessary but like all rescues shes so busy so I need to try to help them myself.
What else could I do to help the bond?It was brilliant to start with.

I not sure whether to separate them for now either.
Click to expand...

Ah what a shame! However, I'm sure it will work long term. I wouldn't separate them if they were mine.

I am surprised you've reduced their area together to what is in effect the size of a hutch? Did the rescue advise you to do this? When I've bonded a pair I usually give them at least the area you had previously and lots of logs/boxes/tunnels and places to hide and jump onto etc. Always use two food bowls and two water bowls (in different places) to minimise food aggression. At least two hay racks and litter trays. In the long term you won't need the duplicates, but it may be inflaming things currently.

Have they ever looked like they've been loved up together? Or are they a pair that 'get on' but don't need so much physical contact?

Lastly, is there any blood or is it just fur around the place?

Hmmmm.... CCTV?!:shock:
 
Thanks MightyMax:thumb:

Iwill make sure they have 2 of everything and plenty of places to hide.

They were very "loved up" to begin with and going so smoothly I thought it was the perfect match.

There is no blood at all-just loads of fur and ive been checking Milly regularly to make sure she doesn't have any injuries.

I just presumed that reducing enclosure size was the thing to do in this situation?
 
Of course everyone has different ways of doing things and there are no one size fits all solutions, but whenever I've had incidences of fur pulling in this kind of situation I have reduced the size of the bonding area temporarily (sometimes I've just done it for 24hrs) and I've found it settles things down nicely. I don't use food bowls or hay racks I just scatter feed and put hay and loads of forage in a big pile and it encourages them to interact.

Hope they settle down soon. Dandy and Beano had a scuffle over their food bowl when I first got them home from the rescue (they are brothers and were very closely bonded) but the move and new territory affected even their bond. They soon settled when I scatter fed their food. they also had several scuffles the next day when they went into the run, so I restricted them to the hutch for a day and they were fine from then on in :thumb:
 
hoppetylop said:
Thanks MightyMax:thumb:

Iwill make sure they have 2 of everything and plenty of places to hide.

They were very "loved up" to begin with and going so smoothly I thought it was the perfect match.

There is no blood at all-just loads of fur and ive been checking Milly regularly to make sure she doesn't have any injuries.

I just presumed that reducing enclosure size was the thing to do in this situation?
Click to expand...


Sorry I have only just seen your reply, many apologies for not writing back sooner!

As Zoobec says, there is no one way to bond rabbits. I never like them to be in each other's faces, as with a dominant female she can get a bit stressed and maybe lash out. I like to give them places to hide and bowls etc to call their own. Once they are loved up again you'll not need duplicates.

What you have said about the fur flying doesn't seem serious to me. Of course they are always well behaved when you're watching them, so it's difficult to know who's setting things off.

I hope they won't need the Rescue's marriage guidance and that things settle down of their own accord :thumb:
 
Well it seems that Milly has a jaw abscess and that could well be why the bond isn't too good.

I have kept them together in a pen and am watching them as much as I can but they aren't spending any time together and Milly is quite wary of Sam but not frightened.She had an op yesterday to remove a molar where the abscess is so is fairly quiet anyway.He will sometimes hop over to her and looks like he will nip her but she runs off quickly.They will eat from a pile of veg together and Milly stays the whole time in the litter tray while Sam sits near it.Sam seems abit uptight.
Im worried about all this stressing Milly.I think the abscess has been bubbling under the surface for awhile and the stress Milly had with the bonding has brought it to the surface.Im concerned that she spends all her time in the litter tray but at least shes eating.

I need to give her a couple of days to recover but am unsure of what to do after.:?

Thanks again MightyMax for your post.x
 
Ive separated them.Sam made a sustained attack on Milly this evening and although he didn't hurt her I didn't like the way he seemed to have "lost it" with her.:shock:He was quite angry.The attack came from nowhere,Milly was just sitting quietly eating parsley.Shes not well and I just feel this is all too much for her at the moment.They are next to each other in adjacent pens but I don't think im going to try again.:(
 
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Oh no, what a sorry state.. Bonding is the most traumatic thing to watch and nerves are often in tatters at the end of it...

Perhaps the Rescue can Check if there's another suitable bunny for you and keep them together till it's more settled..

I am so sorry, sometimes it just doesn't work out...

Fee xxx
 
Thanks Fee.They were SO loved up and both my lonely recently widowed buns and it seemed like a match made in heaven.Im worried I may have to rehome Sam as I haven't space to get them both a friend and ive had Milly the longest.I really hope not.
 
I'm so sorry, maybe it would be worth trying again once Milly has recovered, seeing as they were so good together originally?
 
Maybe it will.
They are at least ignoring each other-no aggression from Sam through the bars.Hes miserable in such a small space.He just has 9 foot x 3 foot which isn't enough for a very busy young boy.
Milly is wary of him though and was rejecting his advances to make friends which might be why he flipped?
 
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