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Trying to Bond Lonely female

Lynn's Bunny

Mama Doe
Hi, my rabbit, Jack, passed away in August from cancer, and left his buddy, Henriette. She is only 5 years old so I got in touch with a rescue group and they brought over a single neutered male. He is about 2 years old. I introduced them in the shed as Henri hadn't been in there for 5 months and I cleaned it all up, etc.

I made the mistake of putting her on his side of the shed (I have it divided for now) and she was very aggressive with him. They ended up fighting.

So they've been separated since the brawl but can smell and touch each other thru the bars. He is honking at her and seems to like her. But she is NOT happy and lunges and boxes him. She also tries to bite him.

But I noticed this biting is not happening as much now and she is settling down. I don't plan on puttting them together like that, for quite some time.

But is it too late now for them to bond because they had that big fight. No one was bleeding but there was fur everywhere?
HELP!
 
I don't think it is too late for them due to the fight but females are very territorial. Did Henrietta live in the shed before? If so, can you bond them elsewhere? It can take months to bond some rabbits, incredible really, but they can be so awkward. Good luck.
 
Yes she has lived in the shed but hasn't been in since April or may. We are thinking of taking them on a car ride. Have you heard of doing that for bonding?

The aggressiveness has calmed down from my female. She likes to sit near him, with the pen in between, and groom herself. He is honking at her a lot. Is this a good sign?

What about swapping them back and forth with the pens. So their smells intermingle? Would that be a good idea? I honestly had no idea she would be so upset! I thought since she missed Jack she would be happy to have company. Maybe she prefers to live alone afterall.

Well, I guess time will tell! 😊
 
Rabbits are strange - they want company but something makes them resist a new rabbit. I suppose it will be a matter of time so she can get used to him and are you sure the male is neutered? You can keep swapping them over, it might help, but stress bonding is frowned upon and I have never done this but others have. One person put the 2 rabbits in a pet carrier for 3 or 4 days! It did work luckily but imagine having them both stuck in something like that for a few days. A small neutral space seems to be the most popular way of bonding, I didn't realise so many people use this method before going onto UK Rabbits. Folk are bonding all the time on there. Sometimes it can take a few months! Your boy sounds really enthusiastic, let's hope your girl will get to like him.
 
Yes she has lived in the shed but hasn't been in since April or may. We are thinking of taking them on a car ride. Have you heard of doing that for bonding?

The aggressiveness has calmed down from my female. She likes to sit near him, with the pen in between, and groom herself. He is honking at her a lot. Is this a good sign?

What about swapping them back and forth with the pens. So their smells intermingle? Would that be a good idea? I honestly had no idea she would be so upset! I thought since she missed Jack she would be happy to have company. Maybe she prefers to live alone afterall.

Well, I guess time will tell! ��

the chance is is that likely the shed will still smell of her, she views it as her territory. any bunny who isn't friend coming into that territory is seen as a threat, hence why she is trying to attack him. she is unhappy about having another rabbit in her shed.

rabbits are much happier in pairs, I highly doubt having been bonded before that she will prefer to live alone now. that isn't the issue. the issue is that the shed is her home, her territory, you're putting a threat in there. that is why they fought, she is defending her territory.

I'm not sure if it has been, but the entire shed will need to cleaned top to bottom and "neutralised" so it does not smell of either of them. in other words, entirely cleaned out with hot soapy water and left to dry, and then I clean with pet disinfectant one last time.

any bonding that takes place must be done on neutral ground. not in his carrier, not in her carrier, not on her side of the shed, not on his side of the shed. many people use a bath with a blanket for this reason, the space is small and they have never been there.

I always suggest scent swapping, whether that is pens, or blankets & litter trains between them. it helps them to get used to each others scent. having them side by side is also crucial.

the key to bonding is small sessions ending on a positive note, with not too much space. I have found the bigger the space, the more fights, the more room to chase, harder to intervene. have them in the bath together for 5 minutes for a week, then build it up to 10, 20, 40.. etc. bonding is often not quick and can take weeks or months. you'll want to end sessions on a positive note such as ignoring one another, or a sniff. of course if they fight and really want at it, leave it for a few days and try again.

driving in a car in a carrier is considered stress bonding. it can be a good tool, but it is frowned upon. keeping them in a carrier for multiple days as tonibun said one person did is extreme and I would reguard as cruel, keeping them in it together for 5 minutes before back to their pen? not so much. I have a bigger carrier that opens at the top, Catit Cabrio I think it is, I actually used that as a bonding space for Luna & Orion. Luna is a bit more of a special case being blind, the bath was far too large lunging when Orion was near. the smaller space allowed side by side contact, and easier to intervene.

some do bonding in huge pens with lots of hidey places. I don't like the idea so much as if a fight is to break out, they can run everywhere before you can grab them.

once bonded (grooming, laying side by side in the bath) you need to think about the next step, where they live. completely gut out everything, remove any and all bedding, hot soapy water completely cleaned out. no scent from either of them needs to be left behind.

if you give a newly bonded pair too much space, they often end up fighting. so I would suggest keeping it small-ish and extending the space over weeks. of course not so cramped that they can not move, but not so big that its too much at once.
 
Oh dear....you see my shed is basically a wood outbuilding. So washing it all out with soap and water is not a good idea. It has wooden floors that would just soak up the water and cause mold. And there is no where else they can live. So I feel I might be screwed. Because even if they bond in the tub, they have to end up living together in the shed. I have a video of todays attempt. Am I allowed to link it? Its my youtube account?
 
unfortunately you won't be able to put them back together in the shed, he will attack her as its his territory, she will attack him as its her territory. you'll have to find some sort of way to give it a deep clean so its completely neutral. you could always start a new thread and ask for ideas, as for me hot soapy water is the only thing that comes to mind unfortunately.
 
Oh dear....you see my shed is basically a wood outbuilding. So washing it all out with soap and water is not a good idea. It has wooden floors that would just soak up the water and cause mold. And there is no where else they can live. So I feel I might be screwed. Because even if they bond in the tub, they have to end up living together in the shed. I have a video of todays attempt. Am I allowed to link it? Its my youtube account?

I wouldn't bother with soap and water.. But vinegar and water 50/50 I think it's white wine vinegar..? I can check, you can buy huge bottles of it cheaply and a cheap sprayer, it neutralises things. Doesn't smell great.. But then it evaporates off very quickly (no need to soak the wood too much) just make sure you get everywhere! :)

I would never bond buns in a tub, heard too many horror stories tbh.

Also youtube links are fine :)

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Okay I can the vinegar thing for sure. I will move Henri into her outdoor enclosure and divide it in half for Duncan. So they will be side by side. Then I can neutralize the shed.

Then I will reintroduce them in a couple days in the yard away from the shed, etc. I will continue to do this at small incruments until they accept each other. At that point they will move into the neuralized area but I will pen off the shed so it is a smaller space. And gradually increase the space as time goes on. And as long as they are bonding. Does that sound good?
 
Okay I can the vinegar thing for sure. I will move Henri into her outdoor enclosure and divide it in half for Duncan. So they will be side by side. Then I can neutralize the shed.

Then I will reintroduce them in a couple days in the yard away from the shed, etc. I will continue to do this at small incruments until they accept each other. At that point they will move into the neuralized area but I will pen off the shed so it is a smaller space. And gradually increase the space as time goes on. And as long as they are bonding. Does that sound good?
Yea that sounds good :)

Make sure you're thorough with the vinegar, it's super effective though in my experience :)

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Graciee, OMG that was hard work! My shed is 10 x 12 feet and I washed all floors, walls, travel carriers, you name it with vinegar and water. I completely gutted the shed and sprayed everything down with vinegar plus vacuumed twice, washed all,the blankets. I even put up new curtains. Lol.

The buns are side by side in the outdoor enclosure now. And I will try again today or tomorrow to bond them in a pen I have at the end of my yard that I also washed and sprayed with vinegar. I got new litter boxes for the shed too. But of course they are using their old ones outside.

They won't be allowed into the shed until they stop fighting. So I figure slowly I will let them have sessions in the pen and try to separate on a happy note, and then back into the outdoor enclosure but still separated by the wire divider.

I honestly had no idea of the complexity of bunny bonding until now. I have always been so lucky in the past that my bunnies bonded easily. Lol good grief!

Thank you so much for your help. ☺☺☺
 
Graciee, OMG that was hard work! My shed is 10 x 12 feet and I washed all floors, walls, travel carriers, you name it with vinegar and water. I completely gutted the shed and sprayed everything down with vinegar plus vacuumed twice, washed all,the blankets. I even put up new curtains. Lol.

The buns are side by side in the outdoor enclosure now. And I will try again today or tomorrow to bond them in a pen I have at the end of my yard that I also washed and sprayed with vinegar. I got new litter boxes for the shed too. But of course they are using their old ones outside.

They won't be allowed into the shed until they stop fighting. So I figure slowly I will let them have sessions in the pen and try to separate on a happy note, and then back into the outdoor enclosure but still separated by the wire divider.

I honestly had no idea of the complexity of bunny bonding until now. I have always been so lucky in the past that my bunnies bonded easily. Lol good grief!

Thank you so much for your help. [emoji5][emoji5][emoji5]
Gosh I bet! Hopefully it helps and they have a nice neutral space to claim together now when they are bonded :)

I guess the last resort is if you can't bond yourself, get someone who bonds buns to try for you :) you'd have still needed to neutralise the space they'd go into after being bonded, so at least that's done now :) good luck! x

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Well, I don't know if it helps you but last year I successfully bonded a female (Willow) with a male (Charlie), breaking all the rules in the book - but it took five months.

Rules broken: the female was not spayed, the male was introduced into what was completely her territory, I did not try to stress bond them. My method was quite simple: let them interact but stop them fighting and hurting each other. So whenever I was able to supervise them, I let them out in the garden and whenever they squared up to each other, I stuck a boom in between them.

Their initial hostility died down gradually but it was an awfully slow process. I banked on the idea that (a) they probably preferred to live together than separately and (b) hating each other takes up too much energy. It worked, they have been together for a year now.

You may not have the time though - for me it was a sort of hobby, running around in the garden with a broom, supervising rabbits, so I didn't care how long it would take.
 
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