The Bond

Good afternoon fellow bunny friends, first time poster here!

After extensive research, mainly via Youtube & this forum (excellent advice may I add), my girlfriend and I have finally decided to take the plunge and bond our two rabbits; Rolo our mini lop (male, 6 months & neutered) and Taffy our lionhead x Netherland dwarf (female, 1 year & spayed).

The culprits in question -

Rolo:


Taffy:


Together (separated by run cage):


We have spent a couple of weeks initiating the pre-bonding process: bowl/toy swapping, litter swapping, hutches next to each other etc. The hutches have actually been next to one another since we first got Rolo 4 months ago so they were both already aware of the presence of another rabbit.

Following that...

...we started our first bonding process yesterday; 15 minutes long in the bath tub as a 'stress bond'. Taffy was NOT a fan of the bathtub whatsoever, as soon as her feet touched the tub it was evident she really did not like it and only moved three inches or so for the who session. Rolo, however, decided he wanted a to play the role of a bobsled and found great enjoyment running around sliding everywhere. Therein lies the problem with our potential 'stress bonding', Taffy does not like bathrubs, car rides etc whilst they don't bother Rolo in the slightest, so it doesn't seem particularly effective in them taking comfort from one another as it will be very one-way.

The general interaction was okay (I think), they spent a few minutes ignoring each other then Rolo decided to do some excessive humping but not particularly lengthy so there was no intervening; we moved any head humping away as I'm unsure how Taffy would have reacted. There was the odd bit of fur pulling from Rolo but it looked quite light and infrequent so that was also left. At the end Rolo flopped next to Taffy for a few minutes so we left it there. No fights or circling either.

Any possible advice moving forward? My main concern is Taffy showed no interaction, I don't think this was a lack of interest but because her stress of the bathtub. She tried to move away from Rolo once whilst humping but moved back because she couldn't grip the bath. Is it worth moving them to the floor with similar space allowance as yesterday to allow Taffy more comfort?

welcome to the forum, your photos aren't showing

Hi. I'd try them on the floor as long as that is also neutral. This will hopefully give a better picture if one does not not have the advantage of being confident in the bath. Good luck- it's worth it if they can get on. [emoji4]

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Most rabbits will get along because they really need a bunny friend. Your 2 are very young so shouldn't have built up any"resistances". Once together it is best to keep them together as it can be a case of 2 steps forward and one back if you keep separating them. The boy will want to hump your female as this is the natural thing to do but the good news is it doesn't last for long, maybe 2 or 3 days at the most. Good luck and keep us informed please. Just thought. lots of healthy treats help in the bonding.:thumb: