another bonding question?!

first of all, apologies, I was going to add this question to one of the other posts as there seem to be a lot about bonding on here at the moment so I apologise in advance :?

I adopted a new bun on Sunday. I put her in a pen next to my current buns (new bun is nuetered female, current bun is neutered male both around same age). They started off sniffing each other and my Mr bunny started boxing at her through the bars. I left them to settle for Sunday night, since then I have been letting them out for stints in the bathroom together (neutral territory). my new bun does not seem at all phased by Mr bunny and tries to go up to him and sniff him lots. But Mr bunny isn't so keen and pounces at her, nips her and "boxes" at her.

The fighting seems to have calmed down a lot now, and he has even let her lick him on 3 occasions now for a couple of minutes, however he still nips her a lot and pounces at her a lot and doesn't reciprocate with the licking. Should I maybe put them into their future pen and let them work out their differences, and accept that they will nip etc to start off with, or should I carry on with little stints? It's just I get the feeling that every time I seperate them I'm going back to square one?

We are going on a car ride tonight, but I'm not sure if it will do much as I have been putting them in the bath (empty!?) together from time to time as this scares them a little and gets them to snuggle up together as they would on a car ride (this is usually when the licking takes place) but after it goes back to the same thing again.

New bun definately likes Mr Bunny and both have been grooming and ignoring each other, she follows him a lot now too, but he's just always trying to get away from her - yet it's him who's being the bully?!

Apologies for a long post but I'd love to know what people think the best way is to carry this on.

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Hiya,

Stick to neutral territory for now but leave them together as long as possible. If Mrs Bun is obviously getting annoyed then seperate them so it doesn't turn into an arguement but other wise let them settle it themselves as much as possible.

When you seperate them and put them back together you are holding it up so it will take longer that way.

Is the pen neutral territory? If so then you can let them in that.

Tam

They're currently in two pen's next to each other, when they have bonded the divide down the middle will be removed and they will have the space of both the pens as one - if that makes sense?! :?

Newfemale bun is happy being around my current male bun, he is just not so keen on it, but the new bun has spent a lot of time with other rabbits so poss isn't phased by the situation at all. I take them to and from the batrhroom in a pet carrier together, which they're not too bothered about, I've just read so many different suggestions for how to best bond bunnies, that I'm getting confused!

I hate to see them scuffle, and it is only occasionally, I know they have to sort out a pecking order, so I don't intercept especially as it's usually only a "get out of my way" nip that wasn't really necessary or a "you've been sniffing my nose for too long" pounce that doesn't amount to anything other than them going off in different directions. Unfortunately, I was a bit naive and thought that my placid, loveable, adoring and affectionate bunny would get on great with another bunny of a similar placid calm nature

I think given a little more time will work out. It's quite rare for two bunnies to cuddle at first sight, even the ones that become best of friends take a little while to get to know each other first.

When the boss bun decides he (or she) wants to go somewhere the rule is the other bun must get out the way. So that's a subtle way of saying I'm boss and checking the other rabbit agrees by moving.

How long are you leaving them together? If possible go for atleast an hour preferably more. Maybe put something across the door so you can keep half an ear/eye on them.

It's confusing how many different ways you can go about bonding, however you do it they need to spend time together so the longer you can keep them together the quicker it will work out. I know it's not always practical to supervise them all day though.

I'd give them abit longer before they go in the joined pen if possible as it will count are his territory even if it's had the divider removed.

There is no rush, it's only been three days I did a diarry when I bonded two - http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/bondingdiary.asp they're reacting a little differently to yours but the time periods and how their behaviour changed might help you.

Best wishes,
Tamsin

Thanks, yeah, I read all the articles I could before I went ahead, I knew it would take time, I guess I just thought that Mr Bun would be over all the petty moodiness by now! They've been having 1/2 hour - an hour each morning and at least 2 hours each evening, I'll try all day at the Weekends.

It's so confusing though, cos new bins really likes him and is soooo tolerant of his behaviour, but he's just playing mean at the moment, then sometimes he sits next to her and puts his head under her belly and sniffs her and things, and then changes his mind and goes for the pouncing again!? Do you reckon it would be OK to leave them on neutral territory overnight? They've not exactly fought, theyv'e just got to let the dust settle and when it gets too much new bun does just trundle off elsewhere, I just don't want to make it worse rather than better!?

I would think they'll be okay overnight, you might want to wait until friday incase you don't get any sleep for trying to hear what's going on tho! Maybe keep up with what you're doing Thurs & fri, then leave them together friday night/saturday. If that goes well you could then put them it the pen together first thing Sunday?

Tam

Thanks, I'll give that a go. We're already making slight progress, I took them on a 10minute car ride to my o/h's house, although Travis, my male bun has been here before, it was about a year ago. Both have been nosing around and snuggled up for the car journey. They have since been crashing out next to each other, and travis has only pounced on Treacle (new bun) once!! (So Far!!) so it would appear that we are slowly getting there. Travis seems a lot more tolerant of her now, however if it stays that way or not once we go home again is another matter!! :?

Just out of interest, do you feed your rabbits seperately when they're housed together so that you can monitor their food intake, and do they tend to stick to their own food, or pinch the other's ?! :lol:

That sounds positive

They tend to eat throughout the day so it's difficult to seperate them and unless there is a problem not necessary. You can monitor their weights by weighing them but other than that they should be fine sharing. Mine have a big pile of hay and their pellets go in a treat ball. They chase it around together, though Gypsy is best at it and Alfie nicks what falls out.

If one is particularly protective of the food you can put a dish each end of the enclosure but usually they share fine.

Tam

Another thing to do is to swap them so they go in each others beds and get used to having the other one's smell around all the time.

I always find car rides are the most succesful tool though.

My rabbits all share food bowls with their companions, although there are one or two that get more than their fair share :?

hi

I think this is a really interesting discussion - I find all the bonding questions interesting as I'm useless at it - I guess it is the commonest problem which is why it crops up so much

I also think your 2 bunnies are doing fine - If they both wanted to be dominant and bossy you would then have a real problem - When Benny met Zinniea it was awful - whirling around on the floor like a catherine wheel made of fur, and fur flying everywhere - looked terrifying :shock:
I wouldn't be worried about a little nip - that's just normal pecking order stuff

Sounds very promising!

sounds like your buns are gonna get on fine.
Angie

Update!!

Some good news. As the buns were being so well behaved last night, I decided that instead of splitting them up into their own pens when we got home, I would leave them together a little longer. I didn't want to move too quickly, so put them in the living room with their toys and slept on the sofa in case anything went wrong. There were a total of 4 tiny tiny scuffles in 12 hours and Travis (old bun) was even sitting next to Treacle (new bun) - when he wasn't nosying elsewhere. :lol:

So this morning, I took the plunge and put them both in their new pen for the day. They're not quite best friends yet, and I expect it'll take a little time, but Travis is certainly more tolerant of the new bun, and I'm sure he will come round eventually. The only problem at the moment is that all the litter training has gone totally out of the window, so my washing machine is on overdrive!?
:shock:

Will let you know how it progresses!