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2 Females and one terrified owner

Bexsters90

New Kit
Hello,
I am looking for some advice in bonding my two females.
Firstly - My eldest Bunny is just under the age of 2 and is a English Spotted I have had her since she was 8 weeks old, she is unaltered however I am set to change this as she has become increasingly territorial. I would trust her solely with myself not to be aggressive (she knows I am boss) but I have a six year old who loves Bella dearly but Bella has been known to box my daughter and grunt a lot at her (and me at times). She "was" fully house trained as well as having the garden to run around in but recently has started dropping droppings all over the house and weeing in places (very frustrating as nothing has changed - her cage is in the same place). She had made friends (on their own accord) with my next door neighbours male English but he recently passed away and now Bella insists on going in their garden to just sit next to my neighbours two Rex's (one male and one female) and sniff eachother - I may add there is no aggression from any of them between the wire.
I am due to move house later on in the year and it bothered me that Bella would then be on her own and I think she needs the company and clearly from her behaviour with other rabbits she desires a companion. She will let me stroke her, we rub noses etc but she does have bad days and used to be a lot friendlier by joining me on the sofa etc but has been known to get territorial with my daughter if they were both on the same sofa and has nipped her :evil:. Which all of this combined has lead me to the decision to get her spayed ASAP with the hope it will calm her down again.
Secondly - I have just got a Giant Papillon x Giant Continental Female roughly 9 weeks old named Bonnie, she is beautiful, fell in love straight away and something drew me to her and I now hope to bond her with Bella. Now I am aware bonding females is difficult but not entirely impossible. They have met and Bella was very interested and showed no real aggression just some nipping which I believe is to be expected. They sniff each other through their hutches. Obviously no real bonding can take place until Bella is at least 4 weeks post alteration with the hope her territorial behaviour would have subsided some what and by this time they will be very used to the smell and existence of one another with the swapping of litter boxes, food bowls etc

Advice - Do I need to wait to attempt to bond them after Bonnie is at the age of being altered which for a giant could be around 9 months so another 6 months to wait or could I attempt after Bella is spayed and Bonnie is still young? I am terrified of bonding them just in case they fight but I have read how rewarding it can be to have two bonded bunnies.

Any help will be greatly received.

Thank you,

Becky :D
 
Hello,
I am looking for some advice in bonding my two females.
Firstly - My eldest Bunny is just under the age of 2 and is a English Spotted I have had her since she was 8 weeks old, she is unaltered however I am set to change this as she has become increasingly territorial. I would trust her solely with myself not to be aggressive (she knows I am boss) but I have a six year old who loves Bella dearly but Bella has been known to box my daughter and grunt a lot at her (and me at times). She "was" fully house trained as well as having the garden to run around in but recently has started dropping droppings all over the house and weeing in places (very frustrating as nothing has changed - her cage is in the same place). She had made friends (on their own accord) with my next door neighbours male English but he recently passed away and now Bella insists on going in their garden to just sit next to my neighbours two Rex's (one male and one female) and sniff eachother - I may add there is no aggression from any of them between the wire.
I am due to move house later on in the year and it bothered me that Bella would then be on her own and I think she needs the company and clearly from her behaviour with other rabbits she desires a companion. She will let me stroke her, we rub noses etc but she does have bad days and used to be a lot friendlier by joining me on the sofa etc but has been known to get territorial with my daughter if they were both on the same sofa and has nipped her :evil:. Which all of this combined has lead me to the decision to get her spayed ASAP with the hope it will calm her down again.
Secondly - I have just got a Giant Papillon x Giant Continental Female roughly 9 weeks old named Bonnie, she is beautiful, fell in love straight away and something drew me to her and I now hope to bond her with Bella. Now I am aware bonding females is difficult but not entirely impossible. They have met and Bella was very interested and showed no real aggression just some nipping which I believe is to be expected. They sniff each other through their hutches. Obviously no real bonding can take place until Bella is at least 4 weeks post alteration with the hope her territorial behaviour would have subsided some what and by this time they will be very used to the smell and existence of one another with the swapping of litter boxes, food bowls etc

Advice - Do I need to wait to attempt to bond them after Bonnie is at the age of being altered which for a giant could be around 9 months so another 6 months to wait or could I attempt after Bella is spayed and Bonnie is still young? I am terrified of bonding them just in case they fight but I have read how rewarding it can be to have two bonded bunnies.

Any help will be greatly received.

Thank you,

Becky :D

Personally I would only attempt to bond two Does if both have been spayed (altered). As you say, Doe/Doe bondings are very challenging and if just one remains entire this can make things even more difficult x
 
Hello,
I am looking for some advice in bonding my two females.
Firstly - My eldest Bunny is just under the age of 2 and is a English Spotted I have had her since she was 8 weeks old, she is unaltered however I am set to change this as she has become increasingly territorial. I would trust her solely with myself not to be aggressive (she knows I am boss) but I have a six year old who loves Bella dearly but Bella has been known to box my daughter and grunt a lot at her (and me at times). She "was" fully house trained as well as having the garden to run around in but recently has started dropping droppings all over the house and weeing in places (very frustrating as nothing has changed - her cage is in the same place). She had made friends (on their own accord) with my next door neighbours male English but he recently passed away and now Bella insists on going in their garden to just sit next to my neighbours two Rex's (one male and one female) and sniff eachother - I may add there is no aggression from any of them between the wire.
I am due to move house later on in the year and it bothered me that Bella would then be on her own and I think she needs the company and clearly from her behaviour with other rabbits she desires a companion. She will let me stroke her, we rub noses etc but she does have bad days and used to be a lot friendlier by joining me on the sofa etc but has been known to get territorial with my daughter if they were both on the same sofa and has nipped her :evil:. Which all of this combined has lead me to the decision to get her spayed ASAP with the hope it will calm her down again.
Secondly - I have just got a Giant Papillon x Giant Continental Female roughly 9 weeks old named Bonnie, she is beautiful, fell in love straight away and something drew me to her and I now hope to bond her with Bella. Now I am aware bonding females is difficult but not entirely impossible. They have met and Bella was very interested and showed no real aggression just some nipping which I believe is to be expected. They sniff each other through their hutches. Obviously no real bonding can take place until Bella is at least 4 weeks post alteration with the hope her territorial behaviour would have subsided some what and by this time they will be very used to the smell and existence of one another with the swapping of litter boxes, food bowls etc

Advice - Do I need to wait to attempt to bond them after Bonnie is at the age of being altered which for a giant could be around 9 months so another 6 months to wait or could I attempt after Bella is spayed and Bonnie is still young? I am terrified of bonding them just in case they fight but I have read how rewarding it can be to have two bonded bunnies.

Any help will be greatly received.

Thank you,

Becky :D


Hi Becky and welcome to the Forum :wave:

In an ideal world, then yes it would be best to wait until they are both spayed. But you'll be waiting many many months. Definitely get Bella spayed and then assess the personalities involved. That's what I would do.

Nothing in this world is black and white. Use your judgement, and I sense you have a good judgement.

Some light reading on bonding, just in case?


http://rabbit.org/the-most-important-word-in-bonding-is-patience/

http://rabbit.org/introducing-rabbits-in-a-group-situation/

http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/ (good for pair bonding)

http://www.fatfluffs.com/info/bonding/

http://www.actionforrabbits.co.uk/bonding.html


Book in RWAF shop:

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/product/bonding-rabbits-by-fiona-campbell/



Mischief and Tinker’s Mum
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?462466-How-I-bonded-my-trios-videos!
 
Hi :wave: Welcome :)

I've never bonded two does, but we do have a trio of sisters who have always been together. We did get them all spayed, but more for health reasons, although perhaps their bond could have failed if we hadn't.

As a side note, one of our rabbits is an English spot (with perhaps a little lionhead) and her behaviour is similar to what you have described. She nips me, boxes my hand and makes grunting noises, so I'm always quite wary. She's the only one of our 8 that's like it, we've just accepted that's her personality though. She has a husbun now, they are very happy, I think he lets her be the boss. She's still just as feisty though :) x
 
Thank you for the replies and links - I am not sure there is any more reading material on bonding I havn't read ha.
Bella is booked in next week to altered. For now I am encouraging plenty of interaction between the pair so at least they will have six weeks of coming to terms with the existence of one another before they get put in some neutral territory.
Wish me luck and I will be sure to update on their progress
Becky
 
Thank you for the replies and links - I am not sure there is any more reading material on bonding I havn't read ha.
Bella is booked in next week to altered. For now I am encouraging plenty of interaction between the pair so at least they will have six weeks of coming to terms with the existence of one another before they get put in some neutral territory.
Wish me luck and I will be sure to update on their progress
Becky


Loads and loads of luck :wave:

Look forward to happy updates :D
 
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