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Bonding Particularly Nervous Rabbits

Beapig

Mama Doe
Hi everyone,

I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to bonding, it has been a while. Since we lost our lovely Jellybean yesterday, we're going to have to start thinking about introducing Hamilton to Lily and Maple. Hammy boy does not do well on his own, when Beatrice passed away he got very depressed and got stasis. So we are wanting to try bonding them asap.

My only concern is that Lily and Maple are very nervous bunnies, particularly Lily. Hamilton doesn't have a nasty bone in his body, but he does get very excited around other rabbits, and at this time of year he gets more humpy than usual. When we first adopted the girls a couple of years ago, he did break into their side of the shed one time overnight, and in the morning they were all chilling together, as if they had bonded themselves! So I'm not hugely concerned that it won't work. I actually think Hamilton will be great for their self confidence.

I'm just wondering if there's anything that I can do to make it less stressful for the girls, and if Hamilton is very humpy/chasing a lot, how long do I let that behaviour play out before it should be deemed as 'too much'. We did attempt bonding them as a quad in the past, but Jellybean and Maple hated each other (too much personality in one room!) the dynamic will be different now. Old pic below of the first time we tried bonding them. Hamilton was more submissive because Jellybean was very much the matriarch.

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I can tell you what worked for us, although it went against all the normal bonding advice.

Tui is a REW and although weighing 4 1/2 kgs, she is a very nervous rabbit. Possibly because her eyesight is not perfect. We had to decide where to bond her with Froe. They are outside rabbits and we didn't have any neutral space.

So after having them side by side for a couple of days, we decided to give it a try bonding them in Tui's accommodation in the hope that she would not be too territorial and that it might give her more confidence in the bonding.

So we didn't give them a small, neutral space :shock: She had all of her accommodation to use to run away when she needed to. Froe only once had a half-hearted hump after about 24 hours, but he soon realised that it wasn't going to happen. He did chase though, but Tui had room to run away and when he caught up with her she just moved to another area. Importantly there was no aggression. Tui did thump a lot :lol: But I think she soon realised that he wasn't going to hurt her and they bonded OK.

From your past experience with Hamilton and the two ladies, I would think it should go fine :) Good luck :)
 
Fern was really nervous when she first came and was put in with Jake, I find pet remedy spray helps. I did what I'm used to which is small space 24/7 together and 24/7 monitoring. It took her almost 8 hours if I can remember to relax and start eating but then things progressed really well. Jake is super confident although is mean during bonding, he humps and nips a lot, but he's not persistent with it
 
Thank you Omi and Liz47 for your advice. We've decided to opt for the neutral territory indoors, as we feel Hamilton would be too confident in the shed area (which they share divided in half at the moment anyway, so it isn't neutral for any of them.

We've started bonding them and so far it's going okay. Hamilton hasn't done much because Lily is grunting a lot and being very defensive of her personal space. Should I worry about the grunting noises that she is too stressed, or is this normal? I'm pleased that he isn't chasing them around like crazy anyway.
 
Good luck. As a trio they (a confident boy with 2 more nervous girls) sound the ideal combo. Really hope it works out & doesn't take too long
 
I thought I'd post an update of how the bonding is going. It's been the easiest bond we've ever done - after 24 hours in the pen, they were very settled and we moved them back into the shed together. I think it has been good for Lily and Maple - they both seem to have grown in confidence in such a short amount of time. It is bittersweet - they're all getting along so well, but of course we miss Jellybean and wish she was still here with us. I'm relieved that Hamilton is too distracted by his new girlfriends to miss Jelly, but also so sad that he has forgotten about her so quickly. We just have to do what is best for our three remaining buns now.

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I’m glad the bonding is going well, the most important thing is that they are all happy. They look very comfortable together :love:I hope that the fact they are happy will give you some comfort xx
 
This is lovely news, they do look relaxed together. Putting their needs first is a lovely thing too, I'm sure Jellybean would approve xx
 
I'm so glad they are a happy trio. It's a much better outcome than having a sad, lonely bunny. You may inspire me to try the same - one very grumpy bun lost both his partners recently and isn't doing well on his own, but is fussy and doesn't seem to like the boy of the other pair...so I'm wavering over what to do for him.
 
ahhhh :love: I had a good feeling they would work well as a trio :love: so pleased they made it easy for you. i know it won't take your pain away but it must be a relief to know Hammy continues to live his best rabbity life
 
Thank you everyone for your kind words. I just wanted to pop over here to say that things are continuing to go well. Hamilton does seem to have bonded more strongly to Lily (which surprised me as she is the more nervous of the two) but I hope that in time, they will all be just as close to each other.
 
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