My bonding thread :)

So I have started bonding my two! It all looks promising at the min I think, fingers crossed it stays that way.

We put them into the pen together and nothing happened for a few minutes and after around 5 they were sniffing each other and Pop's was doing a little bit of grooming! Shortly after he humped her so I gently pushed him off, this scared Pop's a little so she was then a bit cautious of her. An hour in though and they have both flopped, both groomed each other so I think it's going ok at the min.

Here they are a few minutes into the process!

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Any tips and tricks welcome

Aww sounds like it's going well :thumb: they'll make a lovely couple, like ying and yang

They do look great together. The thing that does seem to happen a lot is people expanding the space too quickly. It often leads to fighting (sorting out dominance all over again) so be patient and let them be there as long as poss. (Mine were in their bonding pen for a couple of weeks. Very long weeks I must say).

Zoobec, I was worried that they might look abit silly together as he is twice as big as her but actually you don't really notice that! I did go for him because then I'd have black and white!

Tulsi, that is really good advice. Once I know they will be moving in together I have the monster job of neutralising everything (any tips on rugs are much appreciated!). Because Pop's lives in a pen I have the ability to make it smaller so I plan (not set in stone as we're talking about buns!) to move them in with only a small section which is a similar size to the bonding pen theyre in now and then over what ever period is needed make it bigger until in the end they have it all, but I'm gonna play the increasing space thing by ear really!

They are now both flopped out next to each other, after a serious grooming session, looking like they've always been together!

More pics will follow

Have some favourite veg etc to hand in case they start getting a bit aggressive.

When you move them, that can trigger chasing etc, even if you have them in the same size pen, so I wouldn't move them unless you have to for as long as possible, at the very very least 48hrs after any sgns of aggression. And the same rule for expanding space too, leave at least 48 hrs each time you decide to expand space further.

Good luck with the bonding!
They make a lovely couple - contrasts are good!

So it would appear it is all still going well.

We have just made it through our first meal time. I fully expected this to be the point we would have a problem but we didn't at all! I scattered the pellets out on the floor and scattered a few herbs too and them just milled around each other eating it all up. Now both laid out having a sleep!

A few pics...

Some grooming they are both grooming each other now!
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Flopped out next to each other. We have discovered today that Ant sleeps with his eyes shut which is a novelty as we've never caught Poppy with her properly closed, she has to be really relaxed just to lower them abit!
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Aww

They are still going strong and as I hoped ant is learning of pops...he has eaten hay, has a tried some dry herbs (not many it has to be said) and he's shown off his binkying ability! He has also quickly learnt and gained confidence begging for treats and head rubs with Poppy's guidance! I hope it carries on this well!

Oh they look really sweet together x

When I eventually moved my four out to their shed/run I kept them in the puppy pen within the shed and kept all the litter trays (one per rabbit plus one extra) uncleaned out so that they didnt have to go round marking them all over again.

Sounds like yours are off to a promising start. Keep up the good work!!

Bit of a blip last night, poppy wouldn't stop humping so we split them up at 2am! Just put them back together and they've gone straight into flopped out and grooming each other! We shall see!

Hopefully it was just a bit of a blip, she was probably just asserting her dominance :thumb: hopefully he'll accept that and they'll be fine :thumb:

Still going well today, all is very calm lots of sleeping and snuggling going on!

Sounds like it's going well. I'm no expert but agree with what's been said, I had to move mine more quickly than I'd have liked and we took a few steps backwards!

Yer they're in the spare room so no rush to move them out...going at their pace!

ok so they have had dinner together fine and are now snuggles up again so I it looks like I am going to have to neutralize Poppy's pen so they can both move in!

I'm going to white vinegar everything I can but what would people suggest for the rugs? would people suggest spraying them with vinegar and then leaving for a bit before wiping?

thank you

countrybumkin said:

ok so they have had dinner together fine and are now snuggles up again so I it looks like I am going to have to neutralize Poppy's pen so they can both move in!

I'm going to white vinegar everything I can but what would people suggest for the rugs? would people suggest spraying them with vinegar and then leaving for a bit before wiping?

thank you

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i have very limited bonding experience, but have just bonded my two bunnies. neville already lived here and susie came from a rescue about a month ago.

swinging between humping and harmony - i found the humping went on for a good week - eventually i just let them hump it out, within reason. and the next day it had stopped. looks like they just needed to go mental to work out who was boss. because they hadn't hurt one another, i let them just get on with it.

moving - mine were in a small pen 6x2ft for about two weeks, just to be sure they were ok. i then moved the pen into the room they were going to be living in and kept it small for a few days. i slowly extended their space. they now free range. i saw a little bit of humping and at one point, i had them back in the pen overnight. all is peaceful now.

neutralising - because in my case it was susie coming into neville's home, it seemed to work out well. they now have a selection of new and neville's stuff and it caused no upset. i used water and vinegar on litter trays and washed any soft furnishings. they actually had neville's wooden arch from day 1, and it caused no upset at all. with the rugs and carpet - because it's your female's territory, i would say keep them in the neutral, small space for at least another week - they need to be solidly friends before moving into a potentially charged environment. if they're not quite tight yet, this may upset their young bound. think small steps.

feeding - i found that placing them side by side and feeding both of them and stroking them helped them to understand what i expected of them at food time. i also did the stroking after breaking up humping, just to show them who was top rabbit!

it looks like it's going very well, so keep on with the small space. make changes slowly and keep them small. i worried a lot about them being confined to such a small space, but it was absolutely worth it :thumb: