bonding nightmare!!!

Hi everyone!

I'm new here and really need your help. 5 months ago my poor beloved old bunny,Bilbo, died aged 9 and a half he left behind his young partner, Gypsy, who is now 19 months. I decided to get her a friend, even though she has bonded better with me and even sleeps in my bed I thought another of her own kind would be better for her. I had really wanted to get a neutered adult male, but ended up rescuing a baby 14 week old male. I know the normal rule is not to put a baby with an adult, even though it had worked for me last time when I had rescued Gypsy at 10 weeks old and brought her home to Bilbo. He loved her straight away and they bonded instantly. This time is going to be more difficult.
I brought home the baby male bunny and put him in an indoor cage to settle down. Gypsy was very interested and kept trying to break in to get to him. After a day I took the baby out of the cage and tried to slowly and carefully introduce them. Gypsy very roughly tried to mount him and chased him!. He had to go back to his cage for his own safety. The next day I put the two bunnies in the bath tub, ( it's the only neutral ground I could think of!) at first Gypsy was more concerned about getting out, but then hopped up to the baby and kept nipping him! :? He is now scared of her and stamps his foot when ever she goes near him. I kept tellling Gypsy to back off, she did then the bunnies just sort of stared at each other for 10 minutes. Gypsy hopped back up to the baby, started to groom him but then bit him again! He makes a little noise at her and stamps his foot. He is scared, Gypsy is bossy and bigger than him! I don't know what to do! Today they were in my bedroom, Gypsy chased him and was very rough, she did not growl or have her ears back but just wanted to try and nip him. I put him on my knee, she came bounding up and grabbed a mouthful of his fur!!!
Will they ever get along? what else can I do to help them? I don't want to stress the poor little baby boy out ( he doesn't even have a name! ) I've only had him 5 days. How long will it take? what signs do I look for? good or bad? any advice would be great! thanks!

hi

welcome to the forum - hope someone can help you - I've never had much success with bonding, but I know that introducing a male to a female's territory is much harder than the other way around as females are very territorial - And like you say, she's bonded to you now and will see this baby as a rival for your affections!

Is she spayed? If not she will be even more territorial, and you will have to split them up in a couple of months for about 3 months while you wait to get the boy neutered and 6wks after for sperm to vanish - Why not keep them alongside each other till then, so that she can get used to his smell etc? You are more likely to succeed long term with bonding them if he doesn't get to hate her too - they have long memories! I would keep him in his cage for now, and exercise him when she is restricted somewhere - maybe put her in a carrier if she doesn't have a cage normally, and then put her in his cage while he has a run, so she can get used to his smell?

thanks for the reply! yes, Gypsy is spayed, I had to spay her when she went crazy ripping up my bed and pulling hers ( and bilbo's!) fur out to build nests ( in my bed!). :lol: boy! that was fun! every few weeks coming home from work ready for bed and finding a big nest under the covers!
I was told that when a rabbit is a baby, they smell different so an adult can't tell if it's male or female. Maybe this is why Gypsy keeps biting. There has been no blood. I'm not sure if it's pure aggression of just her being bossy. Either way, the poor little guy doesn't like it
I wish things could be easy and they could just live together happily :? I only try to intoduce them for a short time each day, the rest of the time he is in his cage and Gypsy is running around free.
I hope someone can help me too
maybe when the bunny is older things will be different. I hope he doesn't start to pick on her then! that would be my luck!

And I hope it all works out

if it helps i'm going through the process of bonding my adult female with a new baby boy.

we took bump to chose her own little fella and bought them home in the same carrier. however we have been restricting atom to an indoor cage because his hormones have kicked in and on the last introduction he tried to take advantage of her and pulled out some hair.

we exercise him for about 5-6 hours a day with free run in the kitchen and hallway. you can see that they are interested in eachother as bump's litter tray is next to his hutch and his litter is placed as close as possible in the hutch to bumps litter (if that makes sense). they sit in their litters at the same time and he is always poking his nose through the bars to sniff her. she will also lay in the hall in front of his hutch too.

we try and restrict bump too so that he can run around in the lounge and scent things with his chin so that she gets used to his smell around the house.

he is getting spayed tomorrow and in a couple of weeks (when his hormones have calmed down) we will try and do some more supervised introductions for short periods at a time.

i'm hoping this might work but i think you really need to get gypsey used to the fact that he is around before you put them together.

hope this helps. its just what i am trying to do and have done prevously with bumps old boyfriend wicket.

you could try taking them on short car journey together, it definately worked for us although it didn't happen overnight.

We took them on a 20 min car ride and then put them in the bath when we got back, it took a while but one day it just clicked.

good luck

We took them on a 20 min car ride and then put them in the bath when we got back, it took a while but one day it just clicked

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Hiya - just out of interest, did you put them in the same carrier??

Thanks

Smokie was 2years old when I got Misty as a baby. Smokie was never allowed near Misty when I first got her, as he showed aggresive signs towards her. I purchased another hutch as I didn't intend to put Misty straight in with Smokie, as he is a huge rex!! Their hutches were always next to one another and I let them alternate the use of their run. Misty was six months of age when I tried to bond her with Smokie, it was like they had always been together. I can't say that Smokie didn't try to mount her, but this soon calmed down after they had been out a few times. Smokie protects Misty like anything and if he gets annoyed with anything he will let you know by grunting!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

thanks for the welcome and advice. I hope it works out for you too!. I also keep the litter tray near to the little boys cage. They do sniff each other but then Gypsy tried to nip his nose! she does sort of try and groom him, but her idea of grooming seems to mean pulling lumps of fur out and nipping and well as licking! She used to do that to Bilbo as soon as she became a grown up, but he just used to calmly get up and hop away!. The little baby is scared and flattens him self out then makes a noise at her stamps his foot and runs. She thinks it's fun to chase him. I will try the car ride, thanks for the advice, I will happily accept ANY advice right now!

p.s Im glad to hear it CAN work out! reading about happy endings is very encouraging

Here are some pictures of my two bunnies now:

Oh they're Really sweet! I have some really cute pictures of Gypsy and Bilbo from last year, but I can't post them as I don't have a scanner they always used to cuddle up and groom each other and even use each other as a pillow I long for the day when Gypsy and this other little guy do that! it would be so lovely!

You can't really see it in the picture, but Smokie is twice the size of Misty! and how he was when I first got her I thought he might kill her!! :lol: :shock:

Have you tried locking Gypsey in the cage and letting the little guy run free?? This may help as it would make the free space his territory and hers as well. Bondings do work it can just take a bit of time, bunny's are like people they will choose there own friends and sometimes it just will not work, but mostly with tiome and patience it will and you will have two loved up bunny's XX

I'd wait till he is older and has been neutered. I've just got a baby male rabbit who is hopefully going to live with Amber who is one year old, next spring. I am going to wait till at least 6 weeks after he is neutered before I introduce them.
If you bond them now you may have problems when his hormones kick in around 4 months and they may fall out permanently. If she is chasing and biting him it will stress him and make him nervous of her. If she bites him and injures him it could turn into an absess which is not what you want for your baby rabbit.
Don't try to rush things. I would suggest she can see him in his cage and maybe shut her away while he has a run round. That way they can get used to the smell of each other but she can't hurt him. If she is aggressive through the cage bars then I'd keep them separate.
After he has been neutered you can try taking them for a car ride together. I think you start off with them in separate carriers and halfway put them together. Or you can try the putting them in the bath. I'd clean the bathroom first so there are no smells, human or rabbit to distract them.

I will try shutting Gypsy in his cage while the little guy runs free and can explore with out my bossy little madam chasing him. When she bites she never draws blood, but she does get exited when she see's him on my knee. She hops over and starts off nice for a few seconds then nips. Maybe waiting until his older will work. maybe putting then in the bath tub a few more times will work, she is a lot quieter in there and they both just sit and stare at each other, with only a slight nipping situation. this is really hard! :?

Gypsey is nipping him to tell him she's boss! It's natural and should calm down XXX

I would also advise waiting until he is neutered and then try them together, esp if he is still tiny. The stress could be bad for him. And yes it is a nightmare introducing a male into an established female's territory. b-m

Hi again!
I'm not sure if I made progress with my buns. I put then in the bath tub, but the little one just kept stamping his foot everytime Gypsy went any where near him. He also makes a noise, like someones letting a little bit of air out of a balloon! :lol: a strange little noise! think he's telling her to keep away!. anyway, Gypsy started to groom him, this time with no nipping at all, she groomed him for a good 5 min, but he just sat flattened out like a pancake, not looking like he was enjoying it at all, and still stamped his foot when Gypsy went away. But this has to be sort of encouraging? doesn't it? :?

That is progress. If she is willing to groom him then she is probably ready to accept him. He is bound to be a bit nervous after what has happened before.

Some rabbits seem to need to go through the nipping stage :? Doesn't want to give up being the sole owner of the house without some show of dominence :lol:

A car ride could be the answer. The best way is to take them out to the car separatly and drive for 5 to 10 mins, then stop and put them together and drive around for a while longer. They should turn to eachother for comfort, which gets them over the initial strangeness. Then take them back and keep them together in neutral territory for a day or two until they are grooming eachother and everything feels safe. Of course when he starts getting the urge to mount her they may have to renegotiate who is boss, so be sure to get him castrated asap, 4 to 5 months is usual.