Boy trouble

[Truffpuff]

Hello,
I am new to this forum but after looking at other posts you all seem very kind and not judgemental to fellow bunny lovers.

I am really hoping I can get advice because I asked this same question on a rabbit rescue and the reply I got has now really worried and upset me that I have mad a bad decision :-( they said what I am trying to achieve is very difficult and usually isn't successful and ends up with a big fight. So the story (apologies for a bit of an essay):


Myself and my other half have a 1 year old mini lop called Truffle and he has two friends that are our 8 month old kittens.

He is an indoor bunny and a very sensitive soul (it took two weeks for him to forgive me for going away for just a weekend!). He loves the kittens and has always seemed happy being a lone bun.....but there are moments I think he wishes he had a friend who spoke the same language especially when he asks to be snuggledor groomed but the cats walk away from him.

I work in a vets and helped bring a very sick baby bun back to health and we decided to keep him, hetc was born 03/03/17. He's going to be neutered in a month like Truffle is and then a few weeks/a month after the bonding processes can begin hopefully.

My question is, if we struggle with bonding because Truffle is a difficult bun and we have never done anything like it apart from getting him to like the cats which took a while, if they get bonded somewhere else.....would it all be undone when coming back here to our house because it's Truffles house still?

I don't know anywhere we can get help because I feel we only have one shot or Truffle will hold a grudge against the new bun forever, we are around Towcester - milton keynes area and I work in aylesbury.

I don't know what to do :-(
Lydia x

[roxyroller88]

Hi
A lot of people say that two males are hard to bond but i've got two males and they are fine. It very much depends on the personality of the rabbit.
Just because he is sensitive with you it doesn't mean that he will react that way to another rabbit. I've got a boy that is very shy and won't come anywhere near us but as soon as we introduced him to another bun he was completely different! He might just be really happy to have a bunny friend
You need to be prepared and make sure all hormones have settled down and then introduce in a small, neutral territory. Take it incredibly slowly and don't expand the space too soon, even if everything seems to be going well. That was my biggest mistake when I tried to bond my pair and we had to go back to square one.
You could also try doing the slow approach and have them living side by side for a little while, switching their enclosures or litter trays so they get used to the other ones smell. You might get an idea of how they will react to eachother doing it that way too.
Do you have any rescues near you? They will usually help with bonding for a small fee.
xx

[Truffpuff]

Thank you for your reply. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear you say you successfully have two males! It gives me hope.

Thing is I think Truffle will be aggressive initially because when we first brought the new bunny (Luther) home Truffle went bazerk trying to get him through the bars, so Luther is now in our spare room so we can bond with him until he's neutered etc.
Truffle was aggressive and steamrolled the kittens at first, with weeks of positive reinforcement we brought him round and they are inseparable now....then the boys came into sexual maturity and Truffle went right off them again until a few weeks after their op! He's a spoilt brat I think from being an indoor bun lol!

See a neutral area is difficult as he has free roam everywhere in the house a lot of the time.
Well that's why I thought I'd ask this rescue on facebook but she made it sound like it was probably not going to happen :-( I might have to look up others and see.

Thank you for your success story and advice x

[roxyroller88]

I had trouble with neutral space in my house too because mine are also free range.
In the end I got a piece of lino, a carpet offcut and ordered a new pen from amazon and set up a neutral penned area. I put blankets around it too so they couldn't see out of it and they had to focus on each other. This was for my male/female pair but it worked fine
I think a lot of rescues prefer male/female pairing but that doesn't mean that it can't be done. You just need time, patience and a thick skin!!!

[Truffpuff]

Oh that's a clever idea. We do have lino rolls because we are going to re floor Truffles hutch as the tiles he's now ripped up lol.

Yeah see that's the other thing, I'm a bit of a pansy when it comes to conflict. Especially as the new bunny Luther became sick because he was bullied by the other bunnies so he's quite submissive and also a bit smaller. I would upload pics but I haven't worked out how :-/ lol x

[roxyroller88]

You sound just like me! I'm a total wimp.
I make sure that i'm well prepared. I set up a little table next to me and I have gardening gloves, a towel to throw over them, a frying pan and ladle for banging, a water bottle for spraying (which i've never had to use) and a long handled brush for separating all ready to go. I also plug the hoover in and if it starts getting out of hand then I turn the hoover on which usually shocks them enough to break it up!

You need to use a hosting site like photobucket

[Truffpuff]

Glad it's not just me!
Wow lots of prep then, I'm so worried about doing it wrong and ruining our chances when it sounds slim anyway. Do you think if they were bonded somewhere else then truffle would turn on him when coming back?

Ok I think this might work with loading a picture....

[roxyroller88]

I've recently bonded my boy and girl and the rescue started it off for me. When you bring them home they suggest leaving them in a smallish space for at least a weak and then expanding out slowly. I guess they do the introduction which is the hardest part and then you have to carry it on at home yourself. We had some issues because we expanded out too fast because they seemed to be doing really well. We had to go back to sqaure one. If you take your time once they are home there is a good chance it will work. The slower the better I found!
You have beautiful pets

[Babsie]

There are some very experienced bonders on here so I hope they can help. All I would say is keep them completely out of sight and smell of each other until the tiddly has been neutered and you start the bonding.
Your pets are lovely - is your little ginger a female?

[Truffpuff]

I've recently bonded my boy and girl and the rescue started it off for me. When you bring them home they suggest leaving them in a smallish space for at least a weak and then expanding out slowly. I guess they do the introduction which is the hardest part and then you have to carry it on at home yourself. We had some issues because we expanded out too fast because they seemed to be doing really well. We had to go back to sqaure one. If you take your time once they are home there is a good chance it will work. The slower the better I found!
You have beautiful pets

Ah ok. That makes sense, hopefully I can find somewhere to maybe get things started off on the right foot. I'm feeling like there is hope, thank you so much!

Awww thank you....don't let the cute faces fool you haha! X