Newbie Needs Advice with Bonding

[vicles81]

Hello everyone.

I have a 2yr old male lop who was a house rabbit until we did some decorating recently. We put him outside because of the paint fumes, and since doing this my fiancee's chest problems have gone away so I think he is allergic.
So, Doody will be living outside from now on and I don't want him to be lonely, so I spoke to a lady who advised me on bonding.

I rescued a speyed 18mth old rabbit yesterday and brought her home.
I did as I was advised and took Doody in the car to collect her as the car ride may help them bond. I put them in the boot, and they didn't fight, so when I got home I put them in a nutral run for half an hour. There was minor chasing, and a few mountings of the new girl by Doody (she let him), but most of the time they were at opposite ends of the run.
They are in seperate hutches, and I can't get hold of the lady who was meant to be helping me, so I don't really know what to do now, or at what pace to take it?

Any advice would be most welcome, at what point do you know when it would be ok for them to live together?

Sorry for lengthly post!
Thanks in advance for your help

 

[BattleKat]

I've never bonded before but I gather if they seem to be ignoring one another try putting them in a smaller space. keep watching them for a couple of hours and right before you take them out give them each a treat to show them that spending time together is positive.
do that every day for gradually longer periods of time until you feel it's safe to leave them in together overnight.

I'm not 100% sure on that as, like I said, never bonded before! That's what I'd do though since they seem to be getting along.

 

[weeble]

Bonding needs to be done slowly and gradually over a period of a few days/ weeks in neutral territory.

You need a smallish space 4ft x 2ft max that neither bun has been in before. They need to be left to get on with things to a certain extent - leave them to it unless they really fight - nipping fur pulling and chasing are all normal especially at this time of year.

I would keep them in this small space and keep an eye on them for a day or two. Gradually expand their space and watch how they react. Once you are ready to put them in a hutch together you need to give the hutch a really good scrub out with disinfectant so that neither of them thinks of it as theirs

Also welcome to RU - stick around and you will learn lots. There are a few members on here not far from you and we have the odd meet up for lunches so we might get to meet at some point. PM me if you have any questions Kath x

 

[areia]

firstly as you have started the bond in the car its best to keep them together not to seperate as you have to start the whole process over again,

Though judging by what you have said itall seem normal behaviour, chasing fur pulling mounting is all normal behaviour, lunging, flying at each other blood and not breaking off ie fight lasts longer than say 20 / 30 sec is not a good sign,

stand off at each end of run is perfectly fine, its been a dramatic change and ittakes a while for them to gt used to each other, think of it as an arranged marriage

I know you said you decorating and that your OH is allergic

IS there any chance your OH could take some antihisimenes ( typo ) for a few days and you bring them in so you can keep a close eye on them ??

Area has to be very clean and small, small only until bond is certain then space to be gradually increased

 

[tintin]

It will be hard to bond them just using an outside run. There have been a few 'dream bonds' mentioned on here recently where pairs seem to have bonded themselves, but I think it is more usual that they need very close supervision.

I think most people end up sitting by an indoor pen for most of the day to prevent fighting. Ours took about 3 days to re-bond in a small indoor pen - the first 2 nights I put mesh panels between them as I didn't trust them not to fight. If things went wrong, I went back a step - increasing the space seemed to set off scraps, while scattering food helped.

Every time one went towards the other one aggressively I shouted 'No' and clapped. If they actually started fighting I sprayed them with water or put the hoover on - this scared them enough to distract them and force them towards each other for comfort.

It all seems pretty mean really, deliberately making your rabbits fightened, but it's lovely now to see them snuggling up and with a friend to play with.

I found these helpful:

http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml

http://www.3bunnies.org/bonding.htm

http://www.fuzzy-rabbit.com/bonding.htm

 

[vicles81]

Update: Newbie Needs Advice with Bonding/Not eating with cone on head!

Hello to all, and thanks so much for all your advice.

After rescuing Spot (speyed female) on Friday, things were going well. I was putting the two bunnies (Spot and Doody my not castarted boy) together in a small pen in the garden and supervising them. There was no aggression at all, only a bit of mounting and a bit of follow the leader!

However, things got a bit complicated on Sunday when the rescue contacted me saying they had the wrong paperwork on Spot and that she hadn't been spayed!!!!!! :evil:

So, I had her speyed on Tuesday and she was fine until yesterday afternoon when she started biting her wound. I had to take her back to the vets to be re-glued and she now has a cone on her head!

I'm now worried she's not eating properly with this cone on. I'm putting hay through the hutch bars at a height she should reach, but the cone bangs the bars and puts her off. Because I've only had her since Friday, she's not confident to take food from me, and I tried taking the cone off at lunch time when I could supervise her but the second it was off she was pulling the wound again and wouldn't stop.

Any suggestions anyone?

I'm feeling very sad that I've got to put the bonding on hold until Spot is recovered as it seemed to be going so well. I'm worried that after a two week break I'll be starting from scratch and things won't go so well.

Sorry for the rant!
Thanks for your time.

 

[weeble]

Can you put hay into hutch with her so that she can easily get at it?

 

[tintin]

Just to clarify, your male is unneutered? How long was he with your unspeyed female? It only takes seconds for them to get pregnant.

I would have your male neutered too. It will make bonding easier.