Hi there, I’ve been trying my hand at bonding my two rabbits (info to follow shortly), and I feel like I’m making a complete mess of the experience. I read the bonding information from the sticky topic in this forum, as well as a few other general guides online, but I still feel as if I’m kind of stumbling around in the dark.
The two rabbits I’m attempting to bond are Jinglebell (roughly 8-9 months old male flemish giant, 9 lbs and still growing) and Jolie (female fluffy little lop mix, 3.5 lbs, best guess for age is 1.5-2 years). Both are altered, Jingle having been neutered in November, and Jolie having been spayed in early January. I started introducing them to each other face to face (after having their cages in the same room for the past month or so) as soon as Jolie seemed to have healed from her operation. I wasn’t worried about her hormones because she seems to be a very timid and submissive rabbit.
My bonding sessions take place in my bathroom, neutral territory for both of them. I’ve just been letting them roam around on the floor, but I see a few posts on here mentioning putting a litter box in with them- is that something I should be doing?
My issues stem from Jinglebell being an aggressive little bully. He’s never shown any signs of being aggressive or territorial towards me or my cat, but he just loves to lunge and chase Jolie. She’s terrified of him by this point. So far I’ve been breaking up their “fights” (which mostly consist of him trying to bite her and her running for dear life) after the first few seconds, but I’ve read some posts on here saying I should just let them have it out. Is this correct? I’m very confused, some articles say not to let them fight at all, some say let them fight.
They will sometimes huddle against each other in the bathroom, which I count as a small victory. I tried a bit of stress bonding, putting them both in a good sized carrier and then sticking them on top of my dryer, and they stuck close to each other but as soon as I got them back into their regular bonding sessions Jingle went right back to biting.
Also there’s one other thing I’m not sure if I should be concerned about- mounting. Namely, there’s been none of it at all. Jinglebell has never showed the slightest interest in mounting anything ever, even before he was neutered, and he hasn’t attempted it once to assert his dominance. I’ve seen him try and stick his head out for grooming once or twice, but Jolie was too busy cowering in fear to be very affectionate.
All in all, if you could give me as many tips/tricks/ect that are relevant to my situation, please do. I’d also love some concrete time amounts for how long and often I should be putting them in the bathroom, once again I see a lot of variations on the articles and blogs I’ve been reading.