Pre-Bonding

Hi all,

I've been reading about pre-bonding online and wondered if any of you have tried it?

I have recently taken on two boys who used to get on, but fell out. They now live separately in a double hutch, without a ramp.

I thought that pre-bonding sounded like a potential idea for these two to get used to each other again, I could swap droppings, toys etc. It suggested that you could leave something, maybe some vet bed in with one for 24 hours, then swap over. I suppose I could even swap the rabbits over in their hutch.

This might mean that by the time we bond them with our doe, the boys may be more willing to accept each other.

What do you think?

Thanks x

I reckon it would work if you were thinking of bonding boy and girl but I doubt it would work for 2 boys. They can smell one another as it is - did you find out how long they have been neutered? It might be that they would get along now if you were to try it. It's just one of those situations with rabbits that you really don't know until you try it I would leave them for a while to get settled in - that will give you some time to consider what you can do. Don't rush things, the boys are ok, they have a good home now.

I've never tried it - I just whack em all in together as soon as I get home :lol: which might be a bit mean but I reckon the sooner the stress is over the quicker they can get on with leading hoppy lives together.

Good to hear you have the boys now. When will the trio bonding commence?

I done it for the girls when we were bonding. It helped a lot I feel to get them used to each others smells.

I'd personally always do it given the choice - maybe swapping the cage every day would be easier, if not then swapping litter trays works just as well.
(We gave in swapping trays & started swapping cages each day)

tonibun said:

I reckon it would work if you were thinking of bonding boy and girl but I doubt it would work for 2 boys. They can smell one another as it is - did you find out how long they have been neutered? It might be that they would get along now if you were to try it. It's just one of those situations with rabbits that you really don't know until you try it I would leave them for a while to get settled in - that will give you some time to consider what you can do. Don't rush things, the boys are ok, they have a good home now.

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No, I don't know how long ago they were neutered. I'm hopeful that we can get them bonded again, but I'll take things slowly x

joey&boo said:

Good to hear you have the boys now. When will the trio bonding commence?

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Well, we need to book Buffy in for her spay, but the vet did say we could bring it forward (they originally said we should wait two months for her to settle in). So once she has recovered, a month or so .....

Thanks dp, it sounds like it might not work for 2 boys then, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try x