An end to the dominance battle??

Hiya

I posted previously regarding a friend for our house rabbit Harvey. We had him neutered and we have (just over three weeks ago) adopted a spade female called Honey. We have had them in separate cages next to each other and have been swapping them over so they go into each other's cages.

We have then been introducing them in neutral territory (the kitchen) for about half an hour at a time (or sometimes less when the fighting breaks out!). We have tried to do this every other day as time permits.

Sometimes things have gone well and we have had a bit of mutual grooming and they have lay down by each other but more often than not it ends in a big scrap with fur flying everywhere.

It started off that Harvey was clearly wanting to be the dominant one and Honey, being new, wasn't so sure of herself. However, she is settling down in our house more and is making it clear that she will not give way to Harvey. Harvey will not give way either and gets fed up if she ignores him and if she nips at him then he will nip back at her and won't let it go (think Scrappy Doo from Scooby Doo!).

I have read back on the previous posts of people bonding rabbits but I haven't found anything on what to do if they keep fighting and no one wins the dominance battle. How long could it take? As I say sometimes it goes OK and they will play nicely but more often than not we have a lot of nipping, jumping and fur flying. We then tend to pull them apart and hold them near each other and try to calm them and then go again.

Any ideas?

Love Louisa xx

Hi Louisa,

I don't know how long you've been trying this but I was warned it could take weeks or even months. My nerves would not have stood that! Good luck.

I would'nt know, best to wait for the experts to answer . You could always try the rescue where you had your bun from to see if they would bond them for you, depending if they had the time that is.

Sorry I could'nt be much help

When my brother was bonding his two neutered boys it took 9 months before they stopped trying to take chunks out of each other. :? It's never taken that long for me to get a bonding completed, but then I'm not as squeamish as my sister-in-law.

Have you got anywhere that's new and completely neutral for them to play in? The grooming sounds very promising, and if you've gotten them to that stage then it shouldn't take too long to get them to be friends. Females are very territorial, so now she's got her feet under the table she isn't going to let Harvey bully her, and it's probably going to take Harvey admitting defeat before they fully bond. A change of venue might help. I always found that once the novelty of the new area wore off the fights were more likely to start again.

Have you tried taking them for a 1/2 hour car ride :?:

Sometimes I have heard that this works a treat

Keep us informed.

bronie

ps I have my buns car trained so would be a problem if I had to find a new tactic to use :!: :!: :!:

Hi, I'm no expert I'm still trying to get my 2 together, They don't fight or chase any more but there is no love there -yet.
The fact that your 2 groom each other is good! when a fight does you could try stopping them with a broom or a tray but dont actually seperate them.
I have found it hard finding the time, so I set aside a weekend and had them together all day - supervised, They made alot of progress then. I'm into my third week now, it takes time with some :roll:
Good luck and keep us updated!

Thanks

Thanks for all your tips.

We could try taking them for a ride in the car. What do we do to go about this? Do we put them in the car in their respective cages or together? Might be being a bit thick here - sorry!

I think time is a bit of an issue and and maybe we could try having a longer session. It just gets a bit waring separating them all the time. Plus we have run out of neutral areas in the house as the downstairs minus the kitchen was Harvey's area before we got Honey. Then we had them upstairs for a couple of weeks as neutral territory. Could try the bathroom I suppose. It's quite good as they find it difficult to get "traction" to fight properly.

Thanks again for all your help.
Love Louisa xx

Hi there, whilst I have absolutely no experience (as yet) of bonding bunnies together, I have read that peeps just place the two buns together in a box or carrier, and set off on a nice half hour or so ride.
You could even park up in a secluded spot and let them kiss and cuddle on the back seat hehehe

I had the separate my two buns over the weekend because they had been fighting, but when I took them to the vets yesterday to be neutered, I just popped them both in the same carrier and they soon snuggled up together. Most buns find car travel a bit alarming so you'll probably find that once you get going, they will snuggle up and comfort each other
Good Luck!

Thanks for that Lisa. We may try to give it a go this weekend!

Love Louisa x

But what happens if they don't comfort each other on the car ride? I was warned (and it made sense) that buns pick up on your vibes so if you've put them together in a carrier and are stressed about it and get in the car.... sorry to be negative but we have to cover all options

Well I must admit I was a bit concerned about what we would do if they started fighting in the car. I think we will give bonding another go in a different location (aka the bathroom) and see how that goes. If that doesn't progress us then we might try to take them out in a large box in the car. Our plan is for my husband to drive and for me to sit in the back with the bunnies in a box so if they start fighting I can yank harvey out. It would be easier to yank harvey out as he is smaller and doesn't protest about being held so much. I don't think I would be able to hold Honey if she panicked a lot. I still have the scars from doing that at the vets!!

Love Louisa xx

P.S I will keep you posted