Bonding with my bereaved Binky

Hi everyone. Just thought I may need somewhere to post about my bonding attempt with a girlie I have just rehomed and my recently bereaved boy Binky.

Both neutered. My boy is 8, new girl Coco is 5.

I have set up two pens in a neutral area and placed them side by side.
Things seem to be going really good but not really sure what to expect! Both showed an interest in one another and went to sniff through the bars. Coco ate some pellets and Binky has been laying down and looking rather relaxed.

Wondering if I shouldn't have gone to slow pre bond route and just tried them together but was nervous about that!!

Any advise welcomed!! thanks x

Sorry you have lost your bunny It's really good that you have got another friend for Binky. Well the best way to bond them is to put them together in a neutral space with a box or 2, a tube if you have one, a litter tray filled with hay and a stash full of treats to keep them more interested in that than each other. If they are enjoying themselves it is more likely they will accept one another much quicker.

Binky will probably still chase ypur new girl, that is normal for a couple of days. He may want to hump her if she lets him, but more than likely she will run away until she feels more confident with him.

Hopefully this is how it will be. Do you know if she has been bonded before? I hope they like one another.

Thanks. Very sad about losing Lady, it was very sudden. She was rushed to the vets and given treatment and having an operation but the vets found that she had a tumor likely in her brain and there was infection so was kinder to let her go to sleep :-(

This rabbit has lived alone for almost all its life. Was adopted from p&h adoption where she had been returned for fighting and then the only let her go to be a lone bunny :-( Her owner was rehoming her and happy for me to take her to try and bond with my Binky. She was the oldest lone bun I could find. The amount of rescues I have contacted it unreal!

My plan was to have them next to each other in a neutral area for a while and swap them over or swap litter trays etc. Then look at trying the in together in a different neutral area. I was wanting to go slowly slowly as was so worried about how it might go!!

I'm off tomorrow and then back at work Tuesday. Won't be off for any length of time again until the weekend where I will have 3 days at home again. So was wondering g if I should wait for my 3 days before I put them together or start today but I would have to have them separate in the day whilst I'm at work from Tuesday.

Binky is the grey lion head cross.

Go with what you feel is best then but you will have to bite the bullet sooner or later, but don't give her chance to become territorial over any particular place. Even swapping cages could mean she will assume they are both "hers".

Is the new bunny the Dutch? I have 2 similar.

Yes she is Tonibun

So they were doing really well in the pens I decided to give them a try!
Set up the bathroom, popped my Binky in first then coco and it went really really well. There was a fair amount of mounting by coco. Binky let her get on with it, he wasn't bothered and as soon as she was done got up and back to business as normal.
He is very happy to let her be boss, his previous wife was the boss too!
Lost of flopping, grooming themselves and eating the hay

Had then in there maybe 45 mins. Popped them back in their pens now and will get them out again tomorrow.

It looks like an instant bond!

Eeek!! So pleased. Hopefully it continues to go well!

Popped them together again this morning. Still lots of mounting by her but no aggression. Some laying together and Binky even groomed her does the mounting eventually die down?

Hopefully it will although it's usually the boy that does that! Hope they settle down well together.

Haha! Well it's all her. Binky has done a couple of pitiful humps!! My husband said that Lady our previous bun was the same with him. Will pop them together again later. And just keep doing this until the weekend. When I will plan a good full day in a bigger different area and see how they get on.
Do you think when I do that it has to be a different area? Or could I clean the room they are currently in and give them a pen share? Neutral areas are getting harder to find! Haha

Hi Lavinia,

I recently went through the exact same scenario as yourself. I lost my little boy Rebel a few weeks ago during surgery, leaving his little companion Scampi alone and grieving. So after only 3 days we had to go and get her a new mate and rescued a lovely boy Finn. I had never bonded rabbits and read everything about it and did exactly as you did, even putting them in the bathroom! Eventually I had to go to work and left them alone in their large pen, separated with a smaller gate. I stressed about them all day long. On arrival home, one of them had kicked the small gate down and there they were side by side snuggled up in their hidey box! I really think your 2 are doing great by the pictures. If it was left to me, I would have stressed and kept them separated for weeks like all the literature suggested. When in fact they know what they're doing and just let them get on with it. Yes there have been chases and nips, but it's ok. I learnt that. Just be brave! I was exactly in the same boat. Eventually what I have done is kept them exactly where they were. I think too much changing around unsettles them anyway. Cleaned it out, put the boxes around differently a bit and added 2 new blankets so that neither one has anything too familiar in there. Oh and yes the humping calms down too. My little Scampi has humped his head about a thousand times and bless him he doesn't seem to care. I honestly think they look good to go!

Wow thanks so much for your experience.
I don't think I'm brave enough to leave them alone yet though!! I really would love to as there has not been an ounce of aggression. But my next time I'm going to have to give them a good long run at it together is next weekend. So I think I will stick to that but I really think they would be ok. It all me worrying!
Can't wait for the humping to stop!! Poor Binky! Ha.

Video of Binky giving Coco a groom!

Bonding well and truly off the cards as Binky is now in stasis. :-(
Been at the vets all day and now home (my vets dont do overnight) I have to syringe feed him every 1-2 hours. Don't do this to my Binky. Can't lose you too :-(

I am so sorry to read this. Everything seemed to be going so well. Have you got some medication from the vets to give Binky at home as well?

Sending lots of recovery vibes for Binky. I guess it's the stress.

Had gut mobility, and pain meds at vets. Gut meds to have at home. Pain covers him for 24 hours. He was a little off it before all this happened and now I think the added stress has made it worse. I feel awful but just been trying to do what I thought was the best.
Long night for me tonight and back to the vets in the morning. They took bloods to send off so should have some results towards the end of the day tomorrow. Vet states his back teeth need a dental but she doesn't feel they are bad enough to be causing this. And she's reluctant to sedate because of his current state.

Luckily my manager has said I can take an a/l day tomorrow if needed. Will see how dead I feel in the morning!

Husband doing 11pm feed for me so I can try to sleep till 1am at least. On that note.... night.

Hope Binky starts to feel better today xx

How's Binky this morning? I don't think you should blame yourself. You've only done what any of us would do, which is to try to make his life better. The bonding also did not seem to be terribly stressful, so you could not have thought that it would impact on him in this way.

Sending him lots of vibes.