Hi all,
I have read many post about bonding bunnies and I understand it's a difficult process. I thought after reading post and countless websites that I might be able to figure it out but I feel as though my hands are chopped off.
I have two female bunnies, Dutchy and Soutie.. I have posted before about getting them spayed and issues I faced. Thanks to everyone on this site for their helpful advice it turned out perfectly! But now I face an even bigger problem, these girls are not friends. We came home with the bunnies during Easter last year, (at a pet shop) I know pet shops are not the best for place for adopting bunnies, but we wanted a good home for them. They were friends and friends can be. My boyfriend and I decided we would each have a bunny live with us, one at his house and one at mine, so we could both bond with them, and on weekends switch them around. This was great for the first two months as the bunnies seemed to like the change of environment. After a while we noticed once they saw each other over weekends they would fight for about 10 minutes. It was not viscous and usually ended after a couple of minutes. But we were concerned so I started keeping them both at my house (My boyfriends work got busy so it was a good decision as I could manage with the bunnies and give them more time). We were in the process of building them a hutch for outside (so they can have the joy of outside and inside) so while we carried on building, the bunnies would live inside and we'd let them out during the day when we could watch over them. Everything went great until October when Soutie had to have eye surgery. She is OKAY and is perfectly fine now, both eyes are great! but this damaged their relationship. I had to keep them separated due to Soutie's one eye being delicate (Dutchy used to lick her eye before the op) so it was vital that I kept them apart). Needless to say as soon as I tried to let them out together.. they fought. I panicked because of Soutie's eye, even though she had healed, the last thing I wanted was a fight to mess it up. So I separated them. Everything I tried to get them closer they would fight. SO eventually in December we got them spayed. I thought this may help, so as soon as they were good enough to be out and about we went on holiday. I figured this would be a great time to bond them in new 'territory' because they both became territorial over my bedroom. It didn't work, they attempted to fight with the mesh in between them and when they realized they couldn't hurt each other they calmed down. After two days we tried to let them out together, they fought. Spray bottles didn't work.
Now, back at home, this is absolutely breaking my heart. I have to give them each at the least 4 hours out each day. We build the hutch (3 stories) when they were still friends, we're currently trying to separate it so they can each have their own space and we built a temporary hutch with mesh in between. The temp hutch is great because they cannot hurt each other. When I saw them lying next to each other and sniffing each other I saw it as a sign of hope. At least this way they could get close to each other and hopefully bond. So after a few good days I tried to let them out together. Towel and spray bottle at the ready. I have read it's not good to be in the situation but I was not about to let them be alone. All hell broke loose and they fought like I've never seen before. I quickly threw they towel over them. It didn't work, I sprayed and sprayed and managed to cover one of them. The other one bit me extremely hard. I separated them. I looked at the bite mark on my hand and thought that if this was what they could do to me, what are they not doing to each other? I cannot bare the thought of them hurting each other like this. My heart is breaking because our next project is an indoor hutch so they can have more space instead of being in their cages. They are both territorial over my room, I don't want to let them live outside in the hutch.
If anyone can give me any piece of advice I would greatly appreciate it. I'm afraid they might get lonely, even though they are always next to each other. This is not good for them.
I have read many post about bonding bunnies and I understand it's a difficult process. I thought after reading post and countless websites that I might be able to figure it out but I feel as though my hands are chopped off.
I have two female bunnies, Dutchy and Soutie.. I have posted before about getting them spayed and issues I faced. Thanks to everyone on this site for their helpful advice it turned out perfectly! But now I face an even bigger problem, these girls are not friends. We came home with the bunnies during Easter last year, (at a pet shop) I know pet shops are not the best for place for adopting bunnies, but we wanted a good home for them. They were friends and friends can be. My boyfriend and I decided we would each have a bunny live with us, one at his house and one at mine, so we could both bond with them, and on weekends switch them around. This was great for the first two months as the bunnies seemed to like the change of environment. After a while we noticed once they saw each other over weekends they would fight for about 10 minutes. It was not viscous and usually ended after a couple of minutes. But we were concerned so I started keeping them both at my house (My boyfriends work got busy so it was a good decision as I could manage with the bunnies and give them more time). We were in the process of building them a hutch for outside (so they can have the joy of outside and inside) so while we carried on building, the bunnies would live inside and we'd let them out during the day when we could watch over them. Everything went great until October when Soutie had to have eye surgery. She is OKAY and is perfectly fine now, both eyes are great! but this damaged their relationship. I had to keep them separated due to Soutie's one eye being delicate (Dutchy used to lick her eye before the op) so it was vital that I kept them apart). Needless to say as soon as I tried to let them out together.. they fought. I panicked because of Soutie's eye, even though she had healed, the last thing I wanted was a fight to mess it up. So I separated them. Everything I tried to get them closer they would fight. SO eventually in December we got them spayed. I thought this may help, so as soon as they were good enough to be out and about we went on holiday. I figured this would be a great time to bond them in new 'territory' because they both became territorial over my bedroom. It didn't work, they attempted to fight with the mesh in between them and when they realized they couldn't hurt each other they calmed down. After two days we tried to let them out together, they fought. Spray bottles didn't work.
Now, back at home, this is absolutely breaking my heart. I have to give them each at the least 4 hours out each day. We build the hutch (3 stories) when they were still friends, we're currently trying to separate it so they can each have their own space and we built a temporary hutch with mesh in between. The temp hutch is great because they cannot hurt each other. When I saw them lying next to each other and sniffing each other I saw it as a sign of hope. At least this way they could get close to each other and hopefully bond. So after a few good days I tried to let them out together. Towel and spray bottle at the ready. I have read it's not good to be in the situation but I was not about to let them be alone. All hell broke loose and they fought like I've never seen before. I quickly threw they towel over them. It didn't work, I sprayed and sprayed and managed to cover one of them. The other one bit me extremely hard. I separated them. I looked at the bite mark on my hand and thought that if this was what they could do to me, what are they not doing to each other? I cannot bare the thought of them hurting each other like this. My heart is breaking because our next project is an indoor hutch so they can have more space instead of being in their cages. They are both territorial over my room, I don't want to let them live outside in the hutch.
If anyone can give me any piece of advice I would greatly appreciate it. I'm afraid they might get lonely, even though they are always next to each other. This is not good for them.
