sarahknight89
New Kit
Hi everyone,
I have been searching and looking into bonding bunnies for a month now and would like some no-nonsense advice.
I live in a small apartment in Spain where the pet shops don't seem to care much about the welfare of bunnies and advice is limited. My boyfriend and I bought Jager, our dwarf windmill lop (who looks a little drunk), back in February and he bonded with us amazingly well. We had him neutered asap and he is a house bunny, with his hutch on the balcony (bunny-proofed!) where he can hop around while we are at work. When we are home, he is in the apartment with us. He loves us, runs around our feet when we are home, licks our feet and hands, so we began to feel guilty that he was alone all day. For this reason, we bought him a friend - Bailey. When we asked the pet shop could you bond male rabbits we were told "yeeees of course, it's easy, just go slow". When I looked into the subject more my boyfriend and I got a tad concerned, but by this point Bailey had a name and we couldn't switch him for a female. we had Bailey neutered two days later so both boys are fixed. Jager is around 8 months and Bailey around 5/6 months (again, pet shops here are just terrible with information!).
We have been taking it slow for the past 3/4 weeks, alternating hutch/cage and having dinner dates every night - where they get their fresh veggies and have to eat together. As the apartment is so small and they are house bunnies, there is no "neutral" territory. The dinner dates go well for about 5-10 minutes and they sniff each other, but after about 5 minutes they telepathically decide it's time to fight/chase. My boyfriend breaks them up wearing gardening gloves and we spray them with water. We let them recooperate and then try again (as I'd read ending on a fight would mean bad feelings for the other bun). We try and get them back into separate cages or one outside one inside before they fight so it ends on a good note.
Jager seems to want to be friends. He will lie next to Bailey's cage, lie down when Bailey is out and about in the same area, but seems a little scared as time goes on and Bailey keeps nipping/chasing. When they chase/fight a lot of fur flies around but so far (touch wood) there hasn't been any injuries because we break it up in time.
We have no room to get them each a girlfriend and it is a real pain having a hutch and a cage on the go. We don't let them out on the balcony at the same time and the whole point of a second bunny was that they would be company to each other. But I've read so many conflicting comments about softly-softly vs. letting them sort it out; separating them after a fight vs. keeping them together so you don't start again the next day....etc.etc....
Please can you advise as to what you suggest next? We could drive them to a friends house for an evening/neutral ground, but would only be for a couple of hours before we would have to return to the apartment. Would this help even if they were separated again afterwards (due to the short time frame)?
Many thanks in advance!!
I have been searching and looking into bonding bunnies for a month now and would like some no-nonsense advice.
I live in a small apartment in Spain where the pet shops don't seem to care much about the welfare of bunnies and advice is limited. My boyfriend and I bought Jager, our dwarf windmill lop (who looks a little drunk), back in February and he bonded with us amazingly well. We had him neutered asap and he is a house bunny, with his hutch on the balcony (bunny-proofed!) where he can hop around while we are at work. When we are home, he is in the apartment with us. He loves us, runs around our feet when we are home, licks our feet and hands, so we began to feel guilty that he was alone all day. For this reason, we bought him a friend - Bailey. When we asked the pet shop could you bond male rabbits we were told "yeeees of course, it's easy, just go slow". When I looked into the subject more my boyfriend and I got a tad concerned, but by this point Bailey had a name and we couldn't switch him for a female. we had Bailey neutered two days later so both boys are fixed. Jager is around 8 months and Bailey around 5/6 months (again, pet shops here are just terrible with information!).
We have been taking it slow for the past 3/4 weeks, alternating hutch/cage and having dinner dates every night - where they get their fresh veggies and have to eat together. As the apartment is so small and they are house bunnies, there is no "neutral" territory. The dinner dates go well for about 5-10 minutes and they sniff each other, but after about 5 minutes they telepathically decide it's time to fight/chase. My boyfriend breaks them up wearing gardening gloves and we spray them with water. We let them recooperate and then try again (as I'd read ending on a fight would mean bad feelings for the other bun). We try and get them back into separate cages or one outside one inside before they fight so it ends on a good note.
Jager seems to want to be friends. He will lie next to Bailey's cage, lie down when Bailey is out and about in the same area, but seems a little scared as time goes on and Bailey keeps nipping/chasing. When they chase/fight a lot of fur flies around but so far (touch wood) there hasn't been any injuries because we break it up in time.
We have no room to get them each a girlfriend and it is a real pain having a hutch and a cage on the go. We don't let them out on the balcony at the same time and the whole point of a second bunny was that they would be company to each other. But I've read so many conflicting comments about softly-softly vs. letting them sort it out; separating them after a fight vs. keeping them together so you don't start again the next day....etc.etc....
Please can you advise as to what you suggest next? We could drive them to a friends house for an evening/neutral ground, but would only be for a couple of hours before we would have to return to the apartment. Would this help even if they were separated again afterwards (due to the short time frame)?
Many thanks in advance!!
