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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BONDING Beautiful Bunny Boys Bonding Beautifully!

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    • Nora
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        Okay, now that I have taken the plunge and gotten a second bunny, I thought I would make a record of my bonding journey with them! This is my first time attempting a bonding.

        Background: I adopted Pippin in May. He is about 1 year 2 months old now, and is a very well-behaved, lazy, spoiled, wonderful bunny. I started a new job and he is alone during the day, so I started to seriously consider getting him a friend. Although he doesn’t seem too bothered by being alone, so I will admit it was more because I wanted a second bunny, too. I tried taking Pippin to the local HRS shelter, but I had a frustrating experience with their bonding expectations (long story short, they wouldn’t let me adopt a bunny that they didn’t think would be a good match and I missed out on a bunny I LOVED). And they were pretty against me trying to bond two boys in the first place, even though that is what I wanted. So then I decided to just find a second bunny and deal with all the bonding myself. After more searching and shelter visits in the area, I found a bunny who made my heart melt. His name is Merry, and I am not sure of his age, the shelter said 1 year 5 months, but one of the volunteers told me that was probably inaccurate and he is closer to 1 year. Anyway, he was just neutered a week before I adopted him.

        I do not want to introduce the boys before Merry’s system stabilizes from the neutering. I set up a spare cage in the living room and got Merry settled there. I take turns letting them out, and use temporary barriers around the other’s cage to keep them from attacking between the wires of the cage. When I am gone/at night they are both kept in the separate cages.

        Bunnies being bunnies, they have both found ways to get around the temporary barriers from time to time. Luckily, they only seem interested in sniffing each other through the wires, and I have been able to quickly intervene and get them separated again.

        Pippin has been annoyed about spending so much time in his cage (he is used to being free roam during the day) and has been pooping lots around the living room and peed around the edges of Merry’s cage a couple times. Merry has also been pooping a lot and peed outside his litter box, but I don’t know how much of that is trying to establish territory and how much is just reestablishing litter box habits after neutering and changing homes. But I haven’t seen any signs of aggression, just curiosity towards the other.

        My original plan was to keep on with the separate cages for 2 weeks, but things have been going so well that I decided to move up the timeline and start cage switching them last night. Pippin took some…persuasion to go into the (smaller) temporary cage, but Merry was quite excited to have the big condo, I think! It seems to have gone fine. I was expecting lots of pee everywhere, but it looks like they both stuck to the litter boxes.

        I still am not ready to introduce them (it’s only been 2 weeks since Merry’s neuter), but if things continue to go smoothly, I will probably have them officially meet in 1-2 weeks. I am very excited to have them interact, but I am also cognizant that rushing it could just extend the whole process. Luckily they are both sweet bunnies who haven’t shown any territorialness to me and don’t seem like they want to kill each other as soon as they get a chance, so I have hope that these two boys will be best friends sooner rather than later!!

        The bunnies in question:

        ^Pippin

        ^Merry


      • BumblesBounce
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          What beautiful boys they are!! Sounds like they have good heads on their adorable little shoulders. Keep us posted on your progress! I’ve got a girlfriend for our bun hopefully coming home a week from today, and he’s on a similar neuter timeline, so I may steal some of your methods!


        • Nora
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            Cage switching has been going great! Both bunnies are comfortable in both cages, sprawling out in classic lazy bunny mode. So today they had their FIRST DATE! So exciting.

            Here is the set-up I used for their first official encounter:

            I wanted a small space so that they wouldn’t chase each other. The oven mitt was to make sure I didn’t get bitten if I needed to separate them, and the pot/spoon were for making loud noises to scare them a bit.

            I got them both in there, which was a little tricky as Pippin HATES being picked up (Merry doesn’t love it but tolerates it). Merry immediately just started to chomp on some hay, while Pippin was very wary and staring.

            As you can see, Merry was all about the hay!

            After a couple minutes of staring/sniffing, Pippin decided to mount. I let him do that for a little while before pushing him off, and that was pretty much how we spent the rest of the time (I planned on a 15 minute session). I didn’t see any biting or real fighting, although judging by the occasional jump that Merry made, Pippin was nipping at least. I had to separate them a few times, but nothing serious, and Merry mostly tolerated Pippin’s persistence at mounting. 

            I tried using the pot/spoon clanging to startle them to break them apart when they weren’t being nice, but they mostly ignored it. Tried shaking the box but they ignored that too. Strange bunnies are more interesting, apparently!

            I ended the session when both of them decided to start munching on hay.

            Overall, I am encouraged. They didn’t try to kill each other, and it seems like Merry is going to accept Pippin’s dominance eventually. Long way to go, but I don’t think it’s going to be impossible!

            The plan for now is to do a daily bonding session, about 15-20 min, in the box until I feel like they are ready to move forward. I’ve also stopped blocking off the cages so that when one of them is out, they can sniff each other through the wires. I wouldn’t leave them like that while I wasn’t here, but they are so far doing fine with it.

            Someday my boys will be best friends, but for now I’ll settle with them not trying to kill each other!


          • Deleted User
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              I am SO happy for you Nora! Just wanted you to know that I will be watching your thread, I can’t think of anything better than having Pip and Merry become best buddies, I truly wish this for you all, I know how happy this will make you!
              I know I keep saying this, ha ha ha….. but your boys are SO beautiful!


            • BumblesBounce
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                Awesome, Nora! That’s some great progress, right there! I love your boys, they are such cuties. I’ll be watching as well.. the box is a great idea. Totally stealing it in a couple weeks when we start the Fluff and Fella bonding.


              • BinkyMom14
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                  They are so cute! Good luck with the bonding, together they would be Merry Pippins! Ha ha


                • Deleted User
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                    SO COOL BinkyMom14! How clever to notice that – I love it!!! Merry Pippins! I’d pay for that name….. Did you think of that Nora when you bought Merry home? I didn’t….. Priceless! I honestly love it! SO clever!


                  • Nora
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                      Ha, well I certainly hope they end up Merry Pippins!!

                      Dates have continued every day this week for 10-15 minutes. Second date went rather poorly and had me a little freaked out, but the third date yesterday was better and the fourth date (today) was the best yet! Pippin only mounted Merry a couple times, and I only had to push him off a couple times. I had put some banana on Pippin’s head, and Merry did lick it off a little bit (although not a lot, and now Pippin’s head is sticky…!). I did some stressing of them–jostling the box, banging the side of it a bit, and walking around carrying the box–which I think helped them be more comfortable with each other, but I really hate doing it. Makes me feel so bad to purposely stress my bunnies out!

                      For the next date, I am going to move from the box that I have been using into the bathtub in the guest bathroom. I am curious to see how they will interact given a bit more space. If they chase, I will go back to the box.


                    • MoveDiagonally
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                        Sounds like things are going awesome!


                      • Nora
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                          Thanks! Despite all the research I did, it is so different actually doing it. Am I intervening too soon, not enough, are they making progress, will they never be comfortable together?? Ha, it’s easy to be one worried mama!

                          This morning I brought them to the bathtub. I think that was good–they didn’t chase, and even with more space still chose to mostly interact with each other. Pippin is still mounting, but not as much, and Merry is sometimes putting up with it and sometimes kind of throwing him off. Pippin has been trying his little heart out to get Merry to groom him, but so far Merry is not accepting. But they still are not doing any real fighting, I rarely have to intervene (mostly just if Pippin reverse mounts or is mounting for too long). So I think things are still going well!

                          “What are we doing in here??”

                          Since it was morning time, I brought them their morning pellets to see if they would eat next to each other. And they did, no problem! Pellets trump everything, after all. At one point Pippin did decide he wanted to eat out of Merry’s dish, but Merry didn’t seem to care and Pippin went back to his own eventually.

                          So yay, still think we are on track. Of course I would like to see them be more friendly, but I’ll settle for tolerant for now!


                        • JackRabbit
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                            Merry is turning out to be such a cool bunny!


                          • Nora
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                              Merry is indeed awesome–except when he’s not, of course, because he’s a bunny! 

                              We had big progress today!! After two bathtub dates that went well, I decided to put them into the whole bathroom (it’s a tiny bathroom, but still more space than they’ve had). They both were interested in exploring the space and ignoring each other at first, but once they had the space down, they turned their attentions towards each other.

                              A bit wary, unsure…

                              The silent bunny struggle for dominance (“Groom me!” “No, you groom me!”)

                              And at last:

                              “FINE, I’ll groom you!”

                              Yup, Merry capitulated and spent a good minute or so grooming Pippin. I ended the date right after, put them back in their cages with a treat and did a little happy dance. Things are going smoother than I could have hoped! There was NO mounting today, mostly just sniffing and the silent whose-head-goes-underneath posturing.

                              I think everything is going quite well! Probably will put them in the bathroom a couple more times before moving to the other (bigger) bathroom. So pleased!!


                            • Nora
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                                Moved up to the bigger bathroom today! They behaved wonderfully. No mounting, Merry groomed Pippin several times, and they both seemed more comfortable (although still wary). The one bad note is that I wasn’t quick enough when changing a litter box today and they both ended up in the cage together–which they did NOT enjoy and Pippin mounted Merry, though then Pippin ended up being the one leaving (it happened fast enough that I couldn’t tell what exactly happened). Hopefully that did not damage the progress we have made!

                                Tomorrow I will do another bathroom date and possibly a short, supervised play time out in the common area.


                              • Nora
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                                  Tried a playtime in the main area. Went okay for about a minute, and then there was some chasing involved. Ended up moving them back to the bathroom and then the bathtub. Pippin mounted a couple times and I had to separate them twice when they started circle-chasing in the tub. So then I moved them to the box and walked around with it (which they hate) and gave them some lettuce to eat together and they were behaving. So a bit of a setback, but nothing too terrible. Going to keep going with the bathroom dates for a little longer until I think they are ready to try the common area again!


                                • Nora
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                                    So after the little setback last week, things are going pretty well again. The boys are being tolerant of each other on the bathroom dates–Merry will groom Pippin occasionally but no matter how hard he tries, Pippin is NOT interested in reciprocating. Poor guy! Maybe someday. I’ve also started giving them their meals together. Today is the second day of that, and it’s actually going really well. And since I am doing it in the temporary cage, I hope it’s helping them get used to sharing territory besides the bathroom.

                                    I don’t want to go too fast, but I also want to keep them progressing towards an actual bond, so I try to find new ways for them to interact. Not sure what is going to be next yet!

                                    Here they are having dinner together:


                                  • Nora
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                                      Things are rapidly progressing with my bunny boys! I wouldn’t quite call them totally bonded, not yet, but they no longer have “dates”–whenever I am home, they are both out in the main area together. They still go into separate cages at night, but I think in another few days I will get rid of the temporary cage. There hasn’t been any mounting or aggression in days, unless they are hiding it very well, and while they don’t quite flop together, I have caught them lying down in each other’s vicinity. Merry is pretty regularly grooming Pippin (so adorable when he goes under the floppy ears), although Pippin is still refusing to groom Merry. Poor Merry. He’s so loving and just wants to share love, but Pippin is a grumpy old man! Technically I believe Pippin is a month or two younger (hard to be sure with the shelter buns), but still.

                                      I am very pleased with the ease that these two have gotten along. I think between Merry’s loving, outgoing personality and Pippin’s laziness, it was too much effort to be enemies! For now, they’re still just tolerable acquaintances, but I am sure that true love and friendship is coming.

                                      Here are the two of them hanging out together, taken about 4 hours apart (sorry it’s so dark):


                                    • JackRabbit
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                                        This is great news!


                                      • Kyrkogrimr
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                                          Thank you so much for putting this up, Nora; my SO and I are planning to get a friend for Puck in the next couple of months and I’m bricking a little at the thought of trying to bond them, so this thread is really encouraging and has given me some ideas for how I might approach it It was great to see that even when you had a bit of a set back, it didn’t cause irreparable damage to the progress you’d made. I’ve read plenty about difficult bonds, so it’s nice to see something that seems to be going so smoothly
                                          I was abnormally tickled when I noticed that your boys have exactly the same green tunnel as Puck XD


                                        • Nora
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                                            I meant to post a while ago, but I haven’t been able to get a good picture! Well, this one will have to do.

                                            So basically the boys are bonded now!! About 1-2 weeks ago, I started putting them in together in the main cage, and it went really well. Then I started leaving them both out while I was at work, and when I came home and saw them cuddling, I knew it was time. So last weekend, I packed up the temporary cage, gave the main cage a good thorough cleaning, and they have been living together 24/7 ever since!

                                            I have seen a couple times that they annoy each other and one of them will thump and run away, but they haven’t been fighting or had any real problems together. So yup, bonded bunnies!

                                            I did get this picture of them, they tend to jump up whenever I try to get the camera close enough to take a picture.

                                            I am glad that it was a relatively quick and easy process with them. Boy/boy bonding is not impossible!! 


                                          • JackRabbit
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                                              Congrats!


                                            • grumpytilly
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                                                Isn’t it the best feeling in the world when you see them so happy together and seeking out each other’s company?
                                                Your rabbits are beautiful and I’m so happy to hear that two boys does work.

                                                Pippin Looks so much like my Tilly. She’s a Japanese harlequin mini lop. Is that what he is?


                                              • Nora
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                                                  Thanks, guys! It is a great feeling, especially when I am at work for >9 hours, knowing they have each other.

                                                  Tilly, I’m not sure what kind of bunny either of them are, they are both shelter rabbits. I think Pippin is a mini lop, but I’m not sure. I usually call his coloring blue tortoiseshell. In any case, he is gorgeous and I am so happy I got him!


                                                • theshrew24
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                                                    Hello! First, I would like to let you know that I love  the names of your buns! LotR, right? What am amazing find with Merry!

                                                    I recently got a second rabbit (young male, neutered) and am trying to bond him with my first bun (adult male, neutered). I had hit a bit of a rut in bonding them, as neutral space is very rare in my apartment and all the warnings online about trying to bond same-sex pairs. Reading your thread not only encouraged me to try again (I had given up and was struggling with having to get rid of my second guy) but also to register with this forum. So thank you for showing me that it is possible.

                                                    I do have some questions though. How long did it take for Pippin and Merry to bond? How did you handle the humping situation? I got very nervous about the humping initially, and now any time Wally (second rabbit) tries to hump Albus (first rabbit), a fight ensues. I had a rather successful bonding session yesterday, but thing did get heated after 16min. Do you have any advice about when to break up the hump-for-dominance play?


                                                  • Nora
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                                                      Hi! I am glad that my little thread is helpful for you. I am definitely not an expert, but I can try to offer some advice.

                                                      It took about a month for Merry and Pippin to bond. I think this was much faster than I would expect for a boy/boy bonding, but their personalities ended up matching pretty well.

                                                      The humping can be very nerve-wracking for sure. If they are always fighting as soon as the humping starts, I would recommend not letting them hump for now. A little humping is fine, but if it causes fighting or goes too long (more than 5-10 sec), I intervened. The easiest way I found to intervene in the humping was just to reach in and push Pippin off. I used an oven mitt on my hand just in case there was biting/scratching, although it ended up being an unnecessary precaution I would still recommend it.

                                                      Also I would recommend trying to make sure you end the bonding sessions on a positive note. It is tempting to end when they start fighting, but that can make it harder the next time. You said they made it 16 minutes last time–maybe try 10 minute sessions until they can handle those consistently? And if neutral space is hard to come by, try finding some cardboard boxes, starting smaller and working up to larger ones.

                                                      Hope that helps a little. Good luck.


                                                    • Kaydeedemetrious
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                                                        This is amazing, I had two boys at first, part of the same litter and they were bonded like this for a long time and even after neutering (since they were born together they were together before the procedure). However at about 8 months, i found one pinning the other down viciously and had to separate them. I tried to bond them several times and nothing was working. They were ok some parts of the time but others there was blood drawn. It was awful to see it so I had to give one of them away after 3 months of solid bonding attempts. I’m so happy to see that someone is having a positive experience!! So cute.


                                                      • Emillie
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                                                          Iv been thinking about getting honey a friemd and this has encouraged me since iv seen a lot of horror stories. Also i love the names lf your bunnies i think the horror stories are all linked with how they approached bonding so iv been taking notes from stories like this and hopefully i will know exactlh what to do maybe this summer when i look for a friend for honey.

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                                                      Forum BONDING Beautiful Bunny Boys Bonding Beautifully!