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bonding help please!

K

Kittykat23uk

Mama Doe
Hi everyone. Is there anyone in Norwich who can help bond Sprocket with his new wifeibun? I don't know if I am cut out for this!! :(

thanks!

Jo
 
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If you find anyone, I am always interested in help too. Not quite at the stage of ready to try bonding yet but yeah. I am more mid Norfolk than Norwich specifically. Sorry for not being of any help. I tried contacting PACT but haven't heard back from them. However, phoning them might help?
 
Thanks for posting. Actually we got her from PACT, they will do the bonding if we need them to but advised to try at home first. So far we have had her for a week, rotating them between our kennel and aviary set up. Have tried to put them together a couple of times, in a separate run on grass. Sprocket keeps trying to hump her and she turns on him, so I have to separate them. OH is away dealing with the death of his dad so I have no transport in case anything goes wrong. I only have this next week off work - I work full time. so I am rather concerned that I might not be able to do this on my own in the time I have and maybe will have to send them both to PACT rescue instead. I have never had to bond bunnies before, our first two were brothers and Sprocket was previously bonded to Widget before we adopted them.
 
If I lived much closer to you, I would gladly help....but I don't. Wishing and hoping however it happens....everything works out well.:thumb:
 
Kittykat23uk said:
Trying in the bathtub, does this look like good progress so far?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYkeL_bCbHs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Click to expand...

When you click the link the video is set to private so we can't view it! :oops:

Do you have a tumble dryer or washing machine at home? One good method to bond bunnies 'shock bonding'. Basically you put the bunnies in a situation that makes them nervous enough to seek support from each other. You can put both bunnies in a basket together and put them on top of a washing machine/tumble dryer. The shaking and loud noise will 'shock' them into cuddling up together and *hopefully* trick them into liking each other a bit more.
I also noticed you said your husband was away so you had no transport (sorry to hear about his loss)- but if he gets back before the bunnies are bonded the above method works if you take them on a car journey (especially on bumpy and twisty country roads) also.

Hope this helps at all? If you need more info I have actually started a blog and have a (not very well written) blog post on there about the methods I used to bond my bunnies.
This is the link:
Bunny Bonding

If you need any more advice I'd be happy to help you! Just post on here or message me personally :)
 
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TheBunsketeers said:
When you click the link the video is set to private so we can't view it! :oops:

Do you have a tumble dryer or washing machine at home? One good method to bond bunnies 'shock bonding'. Basically you put the bunnies in a situation that makes them nervous enough to seek support from each other. You can put both bunnies in a basket together and put them on top of a washing machine/tumble dryer. The shaking and loud noise will 'shock' them into cuddling up together and *hopefully* trick them into liking each other a bit more.
I also noticed you said your husband was away so you had no transport (sorry to hear about his loss)- but if he gets back before the bunnies are bonded the above method works if you take them on a car journey (especially on bumpy and twisty country roads) also.

Hope this helps at all? If you need more info I have actually started a blog and have a (not very well written) blog post on there about the methods I used to bond my bunnies.
This is the link:
Bunny Bonding

If you need any more advice I'd be happy to help you! Just post on here or message me personally :)
Click to expand...

i would never ever advise this. the shock can kill. :( plus it's cruel to scare them like this. :(
 
biscandmatt1 said:
i would never ever advise this. the shock can kill. :( plus it's cruel to scare them like this. :(
Click to expand...

Sorry you feel like this.
I have successfully bonded 10+ rabbits using this method and have never seen rabbit so stressed as to cause permanent damage. It's about knowing the signs of stress (rapid breathing,/nose twitching etc.) and stopping if you can tell they are too stressed. I would never intentionally hurt my/other peoples animals and none of these rabbits even have been hurt.
 
TheBunsketeers said:
Sorry you feel like this.
I have successfully bonded 10+ rabbits using this method and have never seen rabbit so stressed as to cause permanent damage. It's about knowing the signs of stress (rapid breathing,/nose twitching etc.) and stopping if you can tell they are too stressed. I would never intentionally hurt my/other peoples animals and none of these rabbits even have been hurt.
Click to expand...

someone posted about a case not long back where one died from the fright. seems a risky strategy to me.

eta: can't seem to find the thread but i think someone posted about someone else they knew who did the washing machine bonding thing and that was the outcome. it really stuck in my mind. :(
 
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biscandmatt1 said:
someone posted about a case not long back where one died from the fright. seems a risky strategy to me.
Click to expand...

This is a fair point and I understand that this is a devastating circumstance, but it is down to the individual rabbit and whether or not it is already fearful of being transported, in which case this is definitely not the method to use.
However, if I have tried to bond bunnies in small neutral spaces, sharing food, swapping litter boxes over and all other well known bonding methods etc. and have failed; I have always taken them on a car ride. This has always helped and never upset a bunny so much as to visibly see signs of shock (heavy breathing, wide eyes showing white, vocalisations etc.) other than cuddling up to the other rabbit. After these trips they are much more calm around each other and bonding usually occurs within hours/days after.
I personally haven't tried the tumble dryer/washing machine so perhaps what your saying is true about this method. I hadseen it suggested and given the 'no transport' circumstances I thought I would suggest this before mentioning car rides.
 
All looks very positive! Sprocket seems nonchalant about her being there. Although he is mainly ignoring her this is a good step forward as it means he doesn't mind having her around. She is displaying some dominant behaviour (lunging and forcing her head under his) although this again isn't a bad sign it just means she's happy with him and wants to take their friendship further for want of better wording. I think I even saw Sprocket give her ear a little lick! :love:

All looks great! Keep going and good luck :)
 
Thanks for the encouragement! I put a little bit of banana on her head to encourage him to groom her. I also stroked them pretty much constantly until it looked like they were relaxed, I know Sprocket loves strokes so hoped that would reduce his urge to hump her. Seemed to work well.
 
An update, bunnies have spent 6 hours together in an enclosure in a small hallway without any issues today. They are now back outside separated as I cannot supervise them 24/7 especially as will be out most of tomorrow and back at work Monday. It's my hope that I can continue to put them together when I can after work this week and then hopefully see if we can go a full 24 hrs from Friday when I'm working from home. How do other folks tackle this not being able to supervise all the time issue? At what point do you risk leaving them alone?
 
Bump. So tried them again in the same area sunday evening for a few hours. There was initially some nipping and fur pulling from Sprocket. From reading other threads it sounds like they are both trying to be dominant. The female keeps putting her head down for grooming whilst Sprocket is mirroring this and when she doesn't give way he starts to be really rough- nipping and fur pulling. Tried again yesterday after work and there was a lot of this. Took ages to get them to settle with each other. All seemed good for about 30 mins (mutual grooming was happening) and then they both kicked off big style with lots of fur flying! So I had to separate them again. Does anyone have any advice? is there any point trying to keep dating them in this way as and when I have time over the next few days after work or should I wait until Friday when I'm working from home and can really persevere with them over the weekend? Or should I just keep them separated completely and get the rescue to bond them on neutral ground (this could be several weeks away)? :(
 
I could really use some advice on this please, as now they won't stop going for each other even when I tried them back in the bathtub. :(
 
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