Is this normal bonding behavior?

Hello all!
Let me start by saying that this is my first experience bonding bunnies so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Also, I apologize for the length.

Now on to the buns! I have a 1 1/2 year old male, neutered hotot (Jack) and a 1 year old spayed female Dutch (Cali). I have been seriously bonding them for about a month. I started with placing their cages next to each other so that they can get used to each other's scent. I would let them each out of their pens to get some exercise and explore. When Jack would be near Cali's pen she would dart out and nip him in the bum. Jack would just turn around and try to sniff her. When Jack turned around, Cali would paw at him. This went on for a few weeks. Recently, I have been doing "bunny dates" in a neutral area and taking them on car rides. During one of their dates, Cali and Jack had a bit of a tussle. I believe it is because they are trying to assert dominance between themselves. I have attached a video of the encounter. Can anyone please tell me if this is to be expected when bonding or if this is a bond that is not going to work.

I think the best way forward now is to decrease the space they have by about 1/2, this will force them closer together, give them lots of hay to keep them occupied, throw in a few healthy treats so this is becoming a "fun" thing. Be in charge so they understand what you want them to do and don't tolerate any fighting. The Dutch bunny is the problem and maybe the male is a bit frightened of her instead of showing her who's boss.

When you put them together always put the male in first. If you try the above and let us know how things go.

Who is the most dominant out of both of them? I would put the most dominant in last, for example I have a pair I want to bond with my single. When it comes to it I will put Charley in first, she is a timid bun, then Donny who is much more placid and then little madam Lola .. who, if put in first, would claim that area straight away I have no doubt.

I would also decrease the space, add loads of hay, no litter tray or anything either of them can claim and use their food as a treat. So scatter feed in the hay which will keep them occupied.

I would also keep them together now if you can and stop the dates as they don't sound like they're going anywhere. Every time you separate them they are essentially going back to square one. If you can't then I would wait until you have a week or so spare where you can watch them constantly.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-rabbit-crossing/my-guide-to-how-i-bond-rabbits/463430373700695

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?410759-First-time-bonding

Hi Tinkgirl

I'm currently bonding my buns at the moment. I started out like you by keeping them in hutches next to each other and then doing little dates but I wasn't really getting anywhere with it. I took the advice you've been getting and did a full on supervised weekend on Friday last week and the progress has been brilliant.

The only thing I would say is that confidence helps. Don't be afraid to show the bunny that is misbehaving who is boss. My female rabbit kept mounting poor little Gus and after the weekend we've just had now all I have to do is put my finger in front of her before she gets into position and she stops and backs off. I felt very nervous about getting properly involved in the process and was a bit unsure but definitely feel a lot better about it all now!

Good luck if you work full time like me I wouldn't start until this Friday like I did so you have a good solid chunk of time with them

Thank you all for your help!

Harritec: What actions would you recommend I take when I see that Jack may be cornering Cali, which she does not like?

Aly&Poppy: I would say that Cali is the most dominant of the two. We have been placing Jack in first, then Cali. Our setup is a 4x4 expen. When we keep them together, should they be in a neutral area? Is this when we decrease their space?

tonibun:Thank you! I will post a video of any upcoming interactions!

Yep it should be completely neutral, then neither of them can be "Erm, this is MY house because it smells like me!" kind of thing It's both new to them so they'll be "hmm, better get some comfort from this bunny because I've never been here before and it's a bit scary!".

I would make the pen smaller, I had my 2 boys in a 1 panel x 1 panel x 1 panel x 1 panel until I was certain they would be okay, then I extended it by one panel at a time and increased every other day after that, that was a 'just in case' bond because they're soppy as hell but I wanted to make sure the bond wasn't compromised by me moving too fast

Have a read of this, it was written by The Duchess on here I believe, it's really helpful

https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-rabbit-crossing/my-guide-to-how-i-bond-rabbits/463430373700695

Aly&Poppy: Thank you! I just tried what was suggested by The Duchess and placed them in a smaller area with just some hay with the pellets spread throughout. This didn't go so well. They almost immediately began fighting. I have now separated them into their own cages and have essentially given up for the day. Maybe I should wait a week or so before I try again. I have included a video of what when down.

I think that's a good idea Go through that Facebook post and make some bullet point notes, then you'll be ready Waiting a week or so will give them some time to calm down I'd probably go small than that space though, so they have to interact because at the moment they can go to separate ends and ignore each other, so when they do come together they haven't been interacting at all so it would be a bit of a stand off.

Ok! Thank you so much!!

Hi Tinkgirl01, sorry to hear it didn't go too well with your latest try. I think leaving it a week is a good idea.

I can only suggest what I did. When I saw Poppy getting ready to mount Gus I went straight in there with a pair of oven gloves on (just incase she decided to bite) picked her up and put her away from him at the other end of the bath. At the beginning of bonding them she would go right back and try again and I would just keep repeating the process, telling her off as I went.

It probably sounds silly but I just thought of it as being like on Supernanny when the misbehaving child would start doing the naughty step and constantly run away from it and she said you just have to keep going back and repeating the process until they give up and just do as you say :lol:

But yes, as your bunnys are fighting I would definitely protect your hands as they may nip you by accident when you separate them. I've read that using a water spray helps but personally it didn't for me.

Ok! Thank you so much. I figured that I would have to get more hands on with them. I really appreciate all of your help. I will continue to post videos of their progress!

It looks very much to me like your little Duchy is being aggressive through fear. It's not uncommon that they adopt the attitude of 'I'm going to attack you before you attack me'. If you look at the first video but pay particular attention to the body language before the scuffles, you will see that her ears go flat and her tail up (about 1 minute in). Your beautiful boy is just curious and saying hello, and gets nipped for his trouble, which he tolerates well, until about 2 minutes in when you will see that he also goes ears flat, tail up just before he retaliates. And about 2 minutes 30, look again and you will see them both do it.

At an early stage of a bond when bunnies are behaving like this, personally I take quite an interventionist approach. Whenever I see those sorts of signs, I gently place a hand over their backs (best if there is a person per bun) as this prevents them both from launching into a full on attack, plus it means you can control how close you let them get to each other for a sniff without attacking. I don't take them apart from each other, so they can still see and learn that the other bun is not a threat, but simply control how close they can get to prevent nipping. I don't let them scuffle and then separate them, I try and stop them from scuffling in the first place, What I tend to find is that if you can get them to approach each other gently and back off gently without either attacking, the one who is being defensive will gradually calm down as they realise that the other bunny is not a threat. I know some people prefer to just leave them to it to sort it out themselves, but I find that risks the behaviour just escalating as each attacks the other because they think the other is going to attack them, as you can see towards the end of your first clip. Whereas if I take the patient approach, they tend to get calmer instead of more aggressive.

I wouldn't say it's a definite no-go, there is lots of general curiosity, ignoring and grooming of themselves, and they were separating themselves after their little arguments, but I do think you run the risk of these arguments escalating into a full-on fight if you aren't careful, and that would more than likely mean that they wouldn't bond well. So personally I would suggest small space, so that there isn't lots of room for them to get very skippy with each other and chase around, and be very interventionist. We usually find a good half day of quite heavily refereeing, slowly backing off as you can see their body language change towards each other, tends to see them settle down much better at a later stage.

Good luck xx

when my pair weren't fully bonded but had stopped fighting with one another I sat with them both in a neutral area and stroked both of them together, whilst giving them treats. It helped them associate being stroked and having food with each other and eventually they settled down. This doesn't look like an impossible bond in my opinion - my two full on attacked each other at first, it was a nightmare! But now they're a happy couple Good luck!

Thank you all so much for all the advice! I am giving them a bit of a break from each other and will begin to try again in the next couple of days. I will continue to keep everyone updated on our progress. *fingers crossed*

Moving in the right direction!!

So today we decided to place them in the bath tub, since it is a smaller location and the added element of a slippery floor provided just the right amount of stress. The session started off well. There was no fighting or aggressive behavior. Jack sort of nuzzled under Cali. While Jack was nuzzling, Cali did kind of nipped at his side gently, if that is possible. It wasn't an aggressive nip, it was more of a slow-motion nip. That's the best way to describe it, lol. We kind of cheated and placed a little bit of banana on each of their head to try to encourage some grooming. Cali actually began to lick the top of Jack's head, and even the area below his ear (which had no banana on it!). Jack, however, did not groom Cali but I think this is a step in the right direction! I have attached a video of this session for you all to see. Any advice is always welcomed!! Thank you all so much!

How has it been going since this session Tinkgirl?

2 steps forward, 1 giant leap back

So after this session we tried to place them in a smaller expen (1x1). They immediately started fighting and we couldn't get them to stop. We have separated them and will try a new approach today. I will post video of their newest exchange to keep you all updated.