Hello, I'm new to this site but figured this might be the place to come for some specific advice about rebonding my bunnies!
I have an apartment and two house bunnies living in it who don't get on, so they are both currently being kept apart. One is kept in a spare backroom for half the time, while the other has the run around the hallway and my bedroom (all bunny-proofed), and then they get swapped over twice daily.This is obviously not ideal, and I think they are both lonely, and now I have a bit more time on my hands I want to make a sustained effort to get them to be friends again!
They are two brothers, both about 2 years old now (lionhead rabbits), and they got on fine until puberty hit, and then they had to be separated. Although they were neutered as soon as possible, one had complications (he kept opening up his scars) and this coincided with my exam period at university - so they were never bonded as soon as they probably should have been while still relatively familiar with eachother after the neutering process was finished. This was over a year ago now and I still have not rebonded them, which I feel quite bad about! Anyway, on a couple of occasions when my boyfriend has been round (and there's been an extra pair of hands!) I have tried to bond them with 'bunny dates' - at first in the bathtub, then in other unfamiliar locations in the apartment (kitchen floor, living room, etc - they never come into these rooms because they don't like the laminate flooring, so I guess these are fairly 'neutral' territories) and to be honest it has been pretty successful.
The problem is what happens when I have introduce them in the rest of the apartment at the end of the bonding sessions. One of them, Trigger, is quite a bipolar character - sometimes friendly, but usually quite aloof and highly strung with a 'nervous' disposition. The other, Tilikum, is a big softy who is very sociable, friendly and laid back. Tilikum usually grooms Trigger within a few minutes of their introductions - I think he would quite happily allow Trigger to be the alpha bunny, and as long as they are in the neutral territories they seem fairly placid together and there is no fighting (and they both seem quite relaxed in terms of body language and feeding). As soon as the bunnies were moved from the kitchen into the hallway (which they both consider their territory since they each have access to this when not in the backroom) the problems start though. As soon as they are together in 'his' territory, Trigger attacks Tilikum - and I need to come up with a way of stopping this at some point or they will never be able to be left alone together. The bonding sessions are always a success up until this point, so I just need to figure out a way to get around Trigger's territorial attitude.
I wondered if anyone had any ideas of how this could be achieved? Maybe if I left them both in the kitchen for a week or two together (assuming it was safe to leave them unsupervised, obviously!) or even in their cages, Trigger might 'forget' the territorial issues about the rest of the apartment?? Or is some drastic cleaning and rearranging of furniture needed to try and trick them into thinking the rest of the apartment is neutral ground (maybe while they are kept in the kitchen for a few weeks)? I always assumed that because they could smell eachother (and hear eachother) in the apartment, it might be easier to introduce them, but I wonder if this actually might be a problem that makes Trigger more paranoid about his territory?
If anyone has any advice about what I could do to, or where I might be going wrong, I would be grateful for the help!!
I have an apartment and two house bunnies living in it who don't get on, so they are both currently being kept apart. One is kept in a spare backroom for half the time, while the other has the run around the hallway and my bedroom (all bunny-proofed), and then they get swapped over twice daily.This is obviously not ideal, and I think they are both lonely, and now I have a bit more time on my hands I want to make a sustained effort to get them to be friends again!
They are two brothers, both about 2 years old now (lionhead rabbits), and they got on fine until puberty hit, and then they had to be separated. Although they were neutered as soon as possible, one had complications (he kept opening up his scars) and this coincided with my exam period at university - so they were never bonded as soon as they probably should have been while still relatively familiar with eachother after the neutering process was finished. This was over a year ago now and I still have not rebonded them, which I feel quite bad about! Anyway, on a couple of occasions when my boyfriend has been round (and there's been an extra pair of hands!) I have tried to bond them with 'bunny dates' - at first in the bathtub, then in other unfamiliar locations in the apartment (kitchen floor, living room, etc - they never come into these rooms because they don't like the laminate flooring, so I guess these are fairly 'neutral' territories) and to be honest it has been pretty successful.
The problem is what happens when I have introduce them in the rest of the apartment at the end of the bonding sessions. One of them, Trigger, is quite a bipolar character - sometimes friendly, but usually quite aloof and highly strung with a 'nervous' disposition. The other, Tilikum, is a big softy who is very sociable, friendly and laid back. Tilikum usually grooms Trigger within a few minutes of their introductions - I think he would quite happily allow Trigger to be the alpha bunny, and as long as they are in the neutral territories they seem fairly placid together and there is no fighting (and they both seem quite relaxed in terms of body language and feeding). As soon as the bunnies were moved from the kitchen into the hallway (which they both consider their territory since they each have access to this when not in the backroom) the problems start though. As soon as they are together in 'his' territory, Trigger attacks Tilikum - and I need to come up with a way of stopping this at some point or they will never be able to be left alone together. The bonding sessions are always a success up until this point, so I just need to figure out a way to get around Trigger's territorial attitude.
I wondered if anyone had any ideas of how this could be achieved? Maybe if I left them both in the kitchen for a week or two together (assuming it was safe to leave them unsupervised, obviously!) or even in their cages, Trigger might 'forget' the territorial issues about the rest of the apartment?? Or is some drastic cleaning and rearranging of furniture needed to try and trick them into thinking the rest of the apartment is neutral ground (maybe while they are kept in the kitchen for a few weeks)? I always assumed that because they could smell eachother (and hear eachother) in the apartment, it might be easier to introduce them, but I wonder if this actually might be a problem that makes Trigger more paranoid about his territory?
If anyone has any advice about what I could do to, or where I might be going wrong, I would be grateful for the help!!
i know it doesn't have to be strong you don't want to live in a chip shop 