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Rebonding 2 rabbits after a fight

Meganb

New Kit
Hi everyone, our male rabbits were neutered about 5 weeks ago. A week after they had a substantial fight which resulted in a visit to the vets because of a scratched eye. We separated them as soon as it happened and they have been separated ever since, but have been able to sniff /see each other due to the baby gate we have put up. I want to try and rebond them gradually, which I know will be a slow process, but wondered if anyone had any tips? I was going to try this evening in a neutral territory and see how they get on initially. They had such a lovely bond before, even the morning of the fight they were grooming eachother and would always lie with eachother. Any tips would be gratefully received! Thank you
 
I am not an expert, but a beginner and hope you will get better advice from more experienced users. But my two bucks were neutered last Tuesday, and I was told to keep them separated for at least 6 weeks until all hormones have settled before trying to re-bond them. They grew up together, they live now in a room that is split in two halves and always lay down at the fence for being near each other and I feel utterly tempted to allow them together. But I won't. I was told if they fight, it is a bad start for re-bonding them, so I will be patient.

Good luck for your two boys!
 
Sounds like you were given the right advice, we weren't told to separate them after the neutering and I wish I'd looked more in to it so I could have prevented the fight! I am also a beginner but would definitely suggest keeping them separate for the suggested amount of time - ours were getting on so well as normal and the fight happened so suddenly out of nowhere
 
Firstly, good luck!
I had my two boys neutered at 20 weeks as they were starting to chase and hump constantly. They started fighting within hours of coming home resulting in my separating them. You can see details on this thread if you’re interested http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...Pickle-and-Beans-eventually-When-should-I-try
I’m planning on trying to reintroduce them either tomorrow or Sunday. They had a cage as a base (never locked in) which was still used by whichever rabbit was on that side of the room. I’ve thoroughly cleaned it and doused it in vinegar so it smells neutral and have put it in the lounge for the last couple of days so neither of them can access it. I plan to try and bond them in this, so it’s in the lounge where I can keep an eye on them. I’ve got some thick gardening gloves incase I need to seperate them to protect my hands. Have to confess I’m terrified of doing it, but am going to try and hold my nerve as I know there will be some fur pulling etc but will seperate them if it looks like they’re trying to lock on to each other, or if my gut tells me too. Hoping that everything goes well for your guys.
 
Update on the bonding:

We have tried to bond our two male rabbits twice since my last post and neither time has been much of a success. The first time they ignored each other for about a minute, then Ralph began to chase Reggie and bit a clump out of his fur. Reggie stomped his foot and went to attack Ralph, Ralph retaliated and a fight ensued which we instantly broke up and separated them again.

The second time was this morning. We set the area up with some pellets, some hay and some veggies and brought them both in at the same time. They ignored each other for about five minutes, Ralph was enjoying the pellets and reggie was sniffing around sussing out the new territory. Reggie went over to Ralph a few times and tried to sniff under his bum (if that makes sense?) like put his head under his tummy. Ralph didn't seem to mind this initially. Reggie also took a few nips at Ralph, who was still munching on the pellets so didn't seem to mind too much. The third time Reggie went to nip him Ralph had had enough and retaliated and a scrap broke out. There are no tell-tell signs such as circling or mounting as you might expect, it just turns straight into a fight where they are rolling around really quickly. We separated them and I checked them both over to check they were okay before putting them back down again to see if they just needed to work things out after one fight and they would be fine. They weren't. Reggie went straight back over to Ralph who got on the defense and the fighting started again. We decided to stop the bonding attempt and put them back in their areas.

I've watched so many videos and read so many articles on bonding but we're not having much luck. I was thinking of trying to get a professional in, either send them to a professional bonder or take them to someone to watch their bonding attempt to see if their bond was salvageable. Does anyone have any recommendations on people who do this sort of thing? Thanks in advance
 
Maybe add a location for where the bonder needs to be. Several forum members will have recommendations, but it depends where you are.
 
Ah that would be a good idea! We're in Manchester so anywhere within an hours drive would be ideal. Thanks :)
 
I'm sorry your boys aren't getting on - its quite scary when they tornado isn't it

Ah that would be a good idea! We're in Manchester so anywhere within an hours drive would be ideal. Thanks :)

I think Cuthbert&Dillon's bonder was in Leeds. Maybe drop her a message .
 
It is - I wish they understood that we just want them to be happy :( Do you have any contact details for her? Thank you
 
It is - I wish they understood that we just want them to be happy :( Do you have any contact details for her? Thank you

Send her a private message by clicking on the Notifications box at the top right of the screen. Go to Inbox, then Send new message, then select her user name.
 
We had the same story. To the letter almost. We sent them to a lady in Cambridge and she was EXCELLENT - Rabbit Rambles on Facebook but might be too far for you.

We kept them apart for months while waiting for availability, but they could see each other through the puppy pen and we swapped them over every 24hrs to avoid territory issues. She took them and kept them in a small space with no enrichment except hay to begin with to avoid territorial behaviour. They were fine, she kept them together 24/7 and gradually increased the space and added enrichment. They were fine! They’d fought EVERY TIME we’d tried to put them together in our flat and we thought it would be impossible to bond them!! Once home we had a few hiccups and had to keep decreasing the space they were in (smaller space stopped them chasing etc) but now they have run of the flat and are never far apart. It’s been 6 months since their neuter - so wasn’t a short process!!
 
Hi, thank you so much for your message its so nice to hear that you can salvage what seems to be an irreconcilable bond! I will have a look at the lady in Cambridge as we have family there so could combine the trip! When you say a few hiccups was that a fight? And did you have to keep them separate when they came back from Cambridge or did she recommend to keep them together? Thanks so much!
 
Also, we haven't switched ours round in their areas as we've just got one of our rabbits litter trained and didn't want to undo that! Do you think swapping them over is the right thing to do?
 
We swapped them so that they didn’t get any ideas about a particular bit of the living room being ‘theirs’, and to get them used to eachothers smell etc. We honestly thought there was NO WAY they’d be bonded - they used to fight through the bars that separated them, when we tried to put them together they’d full on, lock together, roll around the floor fighting (no injuries luckily), we had lined up a rescue that would do us a swap etc etc. But on the first day of bonding them Caroline had them living together without fighting, and now even in this heat they’re never far apart from each other.

When we picked them up they travelled back in the same carrier together and we had them in a small pen, and Caroline advised not to interact with them too much for a few days so they could focus on each other, and to slowly expand their space. I think we expanded it too quickly, and one morning after my sister’s bf went in and didn’t give them their breakfast, they had a full on, rolling around, fur everywhere fight 😔. I actually called in sick to work and spent the day with them in a small pen!! One kept going to try and apologise to the other, but the other was scared and ran, which made the other chase him and start another fight - so I was on hand with a dustpan!! After a few very tense hours they were cautiously sat next to each other, and after a few more they were ‘ok’. We put them back in a small pen and kept it that way for MUCH longer, but that was about 3 months ago and they are SUPER in love now. Never far away from each other! I’ll try and upload some pictures!!
 
Aww lovely to see them so loved up. :love: Are you sure you haven’t stolen Pickle and Beans though, they look so alike! I haven’t quite given up on bonding my two yet, so it’s lovely to hear of your success.
 
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