Hi, i haven't been on this forum for ages but I really need some advice on rabbit bonding. My male rabbit Patch lost his brother a month ago. They lived together in a hutch outdoors. I was worried Patch would become ill from missing his brother so i have brought him in the house to live in the kitchen.
I have a neutered female house rabbit called Tribbles. She is a German lop and lives in the kitchen and she roams freely there. On the advice of a lady who owns a bunny hotel, I have put Patch in a cage in the kitchen. When he comes out of the cage, Tribbles will chase him back into his cage and he is frightened to come out. She is a lot better with patch because when we first introduced them she was very aggressive and would growl and pull his fur and attack me if i got in the way. This is now limited to chasing and very irregular fur pulling.
It is a completely different story in the living room which is a bit more neutral than the kitchen. Tribbles is not aggressive and Patch will sit quite close and they will each groom themselves and lie down near but next to one another. This can take place for over an hour and both rabbits seem very comfortable with each other. Patch will also present himself to be groomed by Tribbles. It has taken me a week to get to this stage. However, tribbles will also try to mount Patch which results in a lot of chasing.
Basically Tribbles is a dominant female and patch was the dominant male in the hutch. I really want Patch to live with Tribbles in the kitchen but Patch is very reluctant to come out of the cage. Will they ever bond and how can i start to transfer the behaviour to the kitchen. i have been slowly introducing for a month now. Am I beeing too cautious? I am struggling to lock tribbles up in a cage to let Patch out to exercise in the kitchen because she has never been put in a cage and rattles the cage when locked in and appears very distressed and Patch won't come out. I am also hating keeping Patch locked in a cage all day too. He only gets 2-3 hours exercise a day. Sorry this is such a long post but I am getting a bit anxious over this bonding process!!!
I have a neutered female house rabbit called Tribbles. She is a German lop and lives in the kitchen and she roams freely there. On the advice of a lady who owns a bunny hotel, I have put Patch in a cage in the kitchen. When he comes out of the cage, Tribbles will chase him back into his cage and he is frightened to come out. She is a lot better with patch because when we first introduced them she was very aggressive and would growl and pull his fur and attack me if i got in the way. This is now limited to chasing and very irregular fur pulling.
It is a completely different story in the living room which is a bit more neutral than the kitchen. Tribbles is not aggressive and Patch will sit quite close and they will each groom themselves and lie down near but next to one another. This can take place for over an hour and both rabbits seem very comfortable with each other. Patch will also present himself to be groomed by Tribbles. It has taken me a week to get to this stage. However, tribbles will also try to mount Patch which results in a lot of chasing.
Basically Tribbles is a dominant female and patch was the dominant male in the hutch. I really want Patch to live with Tribbles in the kitchen but Patch is very reluctant to come out of the cage. Will they ever bond and how can i start to transfer the behaviour to the kitchen. i have been slowly introducing for a month now. Am I beeing too cautious? I am struggling to lock tribbles up in a cage to let Patch out to exercise in the kitchen because she has never been put in a cage and rattles the cage when locked in and appears very distressed and Patch won't come out. I am also hating keeping Patch locked in a cage all day too. He only gets 2-3 hours exercise a day. Sorry this is such a long post but I am getting a bit anxious over this bonding process!!!