Bonding Bunnies

Please has anyone any ideas on how to get my bunnies to be friends? I've tried the car, neutral room , stange house and none of which has worked.

They are both neutered, 1 boy and 1 girl both about 2 yrs in age. Please help any suggestions I am happy to try.

Oh and any tips on litter training too?

Can you describe how your bunnies react to each other when they meet. The more details you can give us about how each behaves the easier it is to understand whats going on in their heads

Tam

BOO.. with reference to litter training.. watch where they go to the loo the most, usually a corner or wall.. Then place a litter tray there with newspaper in it or woodbased cat litter. If they do their business elsewhere sweep/wipe it up and put the poops or wet tissue into the tray. Keep doing this.. also if they look like they are about to squirt then put em in the tray quick. The wee wees are the easiest bit to get right.. they soon seem to learn where to wee.. the poos however are often scattered around. Think it took simba almost a year to become totally tidy with every single poop in his tray. Good luck :wink:
Good luck with the bonding too.. i dont have any advice in that area as im new to it aswell.

Trying to bond bunnies

Thanks for the replies so soon, only just finding out how to use this site so please bear with me.

My Bunnies are Benny who is a very laid back rabbit & Lolly who is not so laid back. I've had Benny for a year & Lolly for 3 months as thought it would be nice for Benny to have a friend. Benny doesn't seem to care either way if Lolly is there or not and Lolly just constantly attacks Benny.

I had to stop bonding efforts for a couple of weeks as Benny had a bad infection but now he is back to normal have tried again. I tricked him into grooming her yesterday and as soon as I stopped stroking them both she turned round and bit him then chased him round the front room. I dont know what to do as she instigates it all the time and can be quite vicious toward him biting him and pulling out hair and skin! I'm worried that they will never get on which means Lolly will have to rehomed as I don't have the room for 2 scrapping bunnies!

Thanks for any suggestions

Do you have any rescues near you that may be able to help with bonding?

Is it true fighting or just fur pulling?

When Athena and Zeus were bonding there was a lot of pulled fur and jumping/mounting, there were occasional scrapes where Athena would use her claws too. I split them up when that got too vicious but other than that there will be some scrapping while they work out who is dominant. The difficulty is telling when it is serious.

I tried to add Violet in as a trio but as soon as her and Zeus saw each other they went for the throat, hanging on and trying to claw each other in the belly. That was true fighting although luckily I got them seperated before any real damage was caused.

There are quite a few people on her who are experts on bonding - Adele has some pretty good advice usually - also you could do a search of previous threads to see what other tips have been suggested.

Caz

I can vouch for sending your bunnies away, I've just had mine bonded for me. I was very nervous doing it myself and broke them up too early (I think), so they neevr got past the fighting stage.

I think it's real fighting as Benny has suffered numerous bald patches with scratches and bites. Lolly bites him and hangs on while I try to make as much noise as possible to separate them!

I don't really want to send Benny away for bonding as all though he's laid back he is a sicky bunny and is at our vets, who know him very well , quite a lot and if things change too much he refuses to eat.

Any ideas??

Can they see each other when not bonding? It can help to have them together with just mesh inbetween so they can get used to each other without the threat of biting.

Try not to let Benny run as that can turn into chasing and get nasty.

You could also try tricking her into grooming again, then distract them by feeding and then seperate them again. Try to get them interacting for longer and longer periods always seperatinng before they can bite.

Has she been spayed? That can help calm a bun down.

You could also try a different neutral area like the bathroom or kitchen, an outside run, a chair... somewhere they feel less confident can help.

Tam

A silly question I'm sure, but are are both buns neutered? It has taken me a long time to get some buns together. Alice

So sorry Boo, have just been back, both neutered! It can take along time for some buns to bond. How long have you been trying? It has taken me up to six weeks to get some buns bonded.

Sorry to all for my very late reply, just finished a week of 12 hour days so very tired.
Yes both buns are neutered, they are in separate cages in the same room and I've been trying to bond them for 3 long months.
Things not looking too rosy either as Benny's been ill again with his third tooth spur and another mouth/ear infection. The vet thinks stress could be triggering his infections and now I'm wondering if Lolly is making him ill as it has been the last 3 months he has been bad. Is that possible??
Getting desperate now and upset as I wanted to give Lolly a nice permanant home .