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To Bond or Not to Bond?

Bun4Life

Young Bun
Please help me to decide whether to bond my herd or not.

I have 4 rescue house buns, all have lived with me since they were babies but none are related. All are neutered/spayed and they live in pairs:

* Betty (F, 8yrs) & Walt (M, 4yrs)
* Bunny (F, 2yrs) & Pud (M, 6yrs)


Bun Background

Pair 1:

Betty & Walt live upstairs, they have the entire floor to themselves. They tend to stick to two rooms and aren’t terribly active. We used to take them out weekly for a garden play but it got to the point where chasing them about to get them downstairs was causing more stress than a garden play justified. They can do the stairs but choose not to so.

Although they’re toilet trained, they’ve destroyed many carpets/floors by peeing all over them.

Betty is very submissive, gets along with everyone. Walt is an unusual chap, very unpredictable as he seems frightened of everything but he’s a softy at heart.


Pair 2:

Bunny & Pud have all of downstairs, including a garden and barn. They have a set routine of sleeping in their beds in the lounge then playing out all day after breakfast. They’ll come in for their dinner and settle down for the evening.

They’re great at using their inside and outside toilets, don’t destroy anything and are generally very happy rabbits.

Pud is a ladies’ man, he loves any attention as long as it’s from a female. Bunny is a sweetheart and spends her days cleaning Pud and her hoomins but she’s also a control freak, she needs to know what everyone is up to at all times.

Pre-bonding Sessions:

This has consisted of pair 1 spending their weekend days in a neutral fenced section of the garden.

Pair 1 show no interest in pair 2. They’ll happily eat from the shared central hay holder and clean with their backs to pair 2.

Pud has zero interest in pair 1 but will sometimes takes a shine to Betty and they’ll lie along the fence next to each other.

Bunny on the other hand, turns into some sort of demon at the first sight of pair 1. She’ll charge at the fences, try to pull the fences down and attempt to nip them both through the fence, given the chance. Still, pair 1 remain unbothered by her behaviour and sometimes her aggression even makes Walt bink. On one occasion he did try to nip her back after she got his nose.

Bonding

Now that I have a lot of time off work, I thought it would be as good a time as any to bond them all. My reason for wanting to do so is purely selfish - having one herd downstairs means I’ll have a wee-free upstairs and can do one set of feeds/cleaning. I’m also concerned at the level of activity pair 1 have compared to pair 2. So the next step would be to set up camp in the neutral bathroom for a continuous bonding session.

Pros & cons for bonding:

Pro:
1. One group means upstairs stays clean.
2. Pair 1 will have access to regular outdoor exercise.
3. Currently I split my time between the two pairs so joining them would mean more time with them all.
4. Bunny and Betty are adventurous whereas Pud and Walt like to nap. This would allow the ladies to have extra playtime and the chaps to be left to their quiet time.
5. Betty loves to be cleaned but Walt isn’t very affectionate. Betty could get all of her cleaning needs fulfilled by clean-freak Bunny.
6. We’ll be moving house soon so it would be good to get them all bonded into one easily transportable herd.
7. Should anyone lose their partner, they’d have 2 other buns to occupy them.

Con:
1. Both pairs are happy as they are.
2. Betty is an older lady so I don’t want to put her through unnecessary stress.
3. Pair 2 love their routine, I’m afraid to disrupt it.
4. Pud has Bunny all to himself and is cleaned for most of the day - just the way he likes it.
5. Bunny is very sweet natured but turns into wolverine whenever she sees pair 1, I don’t want to upset her.
6. Bunny is a control freak and wouldn’t be keen on sharing her area with strangers.
7. Walt is unpredictable and has the potential to annoy other bunnies.
8. It could break up the existing pairs.



Wow I’m sorry that this has turned out to be so long. It’s something I’ve been going over and over for the past year and I’m no closer to an answer so would appreciate some opinions on what other bun parents would do.

So, would you bond or not bond?

Thank you for reading.
 
To B or not to B :lol: Personally I wouldn't but lots do. Bunny sounds very dominant and territorial so could be difficult. If you do decide to go ahead then maybe it would be better to wait until you have moved then everything will be neutral. The Rabbits will be confused with the change and maybe this might help with the bonding.
 
Welcome to Ru - I like your username. I also admire that you don't have bonding fear (yours) on your con list:lol:

These things are never straight forward are they - I understand your reservations but could also see it working really well if you bonded them together. Regardless your bunnies have got really nice lives. For me its a positive that although there are perks its not something that has to happen - so there'd be no need to force it if signs were not promosing. I spent all of last July trying to get my 4 bunnies together - it didn't happen in the end. People will often say behaviour with a barrier between them isn't indicative of how it will go face to face but it has been in my experience. Bunny is top bun of that pair?
 
Thank you both for the replies.

I had originally planned to wait until we move house but as I’ll be back at work then it might be tricky. I suppose I could always book some time off and give it a go though.

Thank you for the welcome, Joey&Boo. You have an incredibly beautiful brood.

I have 30 years experience in bunny bonding but definitely still have the fear :D

Absolutely, Bunny is the boss of Pud, me, the cats, visitors, garden birds etc you get the picture. She’s also the tiniest of them all and has the sweetest nature - until things don’t go her way, e.g. if I attempt to leave before she’s finished grooming me I’ll get growled at and nibbled.

Betty would definitely submit to Bunny. Walt would too eventually but the initial fright might make him volatile.

It’s a good point that it not working out isn’t the end of the world, they’ll still go back to owning more of the house than I do. I think I’ll wait until the big move and see how it goes. If it doesn’t work out, at least I can attempt to wee-proof the upstairs before it gets destroyed.

What would we do without them eh!
 
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