Bonding Three Un-Bonded Buns (rabbit not eating after 1st session)

[HitchcockDT]

Hello everyone!

 I am completely new to bonding. I’ve read through several articles and watched some YouTube videos on bonding rabbits, but I’m still quite nervous about sticking my buns together. I can’t help but think that I have the rabbits that will eat other. I thought if I posted on here where there’s a bunch rabbit-savvy people that someone would be able to help walk me through it or give me tips about the process. First I’ll tell you a bit about my rabbits.

HITCHCOCK is a two-year-old spayed Holland Lop doe that’s approximately 3lbs. I’ve had her the longest (since she was a kit). She is very attached to me (she sleeps on my bed with me). The easiest way to describe her personality is that she’s the spoiled oldest sibling that hates any one and any thing that takes her time away from me. Once I brought her home, she had never seen another rabbit until I brought home the other two. I’ve tried to house her in a pen next to each of the other rabbits in turn, but she’ll run up and down the fence line, growling and stomping her feet. It subsides after many hours, but she doesn’t really seem to enjoy neighbors at all. I’m most nervous about bonding her. 

DIGDUG is a ten-month-old spayed Holland doe. She’s just under 3 lbs. I’ve had her for approximately 6 months. I haven’t really figured out her personality. She’s kind of a…goofball. I think she may have some fear aggression issues. She seems to okay with me, but she tends to attack anything that comes into her domain even before she knows what it is. I could toss her in a leaf of kale or lettuce and she’ll grunt and lunge at it. Then she’ll figure out what it is and start nibbling it. She’s currently housed in a pen that’s next to the pen with my buck. She doesn’t seem to have any issues with him being there. When I let her lose for playtime, she’ll interact some with my buck through the bars, but they seem be sniffing each other. Otherwise she seems to ignore him.

TOLKIEN is a seven-month-old neutered Holland Lop buck. He is my largest at 4lbs 6 oz. I’ve had him since he was 6 weeks. He is the most mellow out of my rabbits. He seems to be very personable and will most likely to be a cuddlebug. Before he was neutered he was very interested in DigDug when he was free. He wouldn’t leave the front of pen. He’d pace back and forth in front of the pen, stomp his feet in frustration, and hump the air. He’s been neutered two weeks and now he actually goes exploring and hops around my apartment when I let him loose for playtime. He seems to have mellowed out even more. He doesn’t seem to mind DigDug being next door.

 

None of my rabbits at this point are bond to any of the other ones. The all live in separates pens. Two of the pens are next to one another while the last one is in my bedroom, away from the other two.

I was hoping that I could get some advice on how to prepare, things to expect, and how actually to go through the bonding process, especially with three rabbits. If any more information is needed, please let me know!

 

Thank you!

 

[LittlePuffyTail]

I don’t have much experience bonding but there are a few members here who have successfully bonded groups. Hopefully, someone will by soon to help you out.

Check out these articles written by BB’s own Tanlover who has had success bonding several rabbits.

http://www.thebunnychick.com/category/bonding/

[HitchcockDT]

Thank you for the link! It provided some useful info. I was wondering about whether I should bond them in pairs or put all three of them together. After reading through some of the information, I decided to break it down into pairs: Tolkien and DigDug, Tolkien and Hitchy, and Hitchy and DigDug.

Last night I did the first session between Tolkien and DigDug. I decided to put them in smallish cardboard box. When lifted the divider (the top of a large plastic tub), Tolkien went straight for DigDug, mounted her and humped her. DigDug just hunched down and sort of waited until he was finished. Tolkien proceeded to do a lot of mounting and DigDug didn’t really seem to care. She did attempt to get away from him a few times and start digging at the corner of the box. Tolkien attempted to mount her head a few times, but I discouraged that. After about 10 minutes, Tolkien calmed down with the mounting and would circle her, trying to (what looked like to me) position his head down to be groomed. When she continued to dig, he’d sometimes stomp his feet and then try to shove his head in her face from another angle. The entire session lasted about 15 minutes and I think it went fairly well.

I do have one concern, though. After the bonding session, I fed everyone their dinner salads and grain. After about an hour, I noticed Tolkien was loafing in the corner of his pen and hadn’t touch any of his food. Meanwhile, the girls had eaten pretty much all of their food. This is fairly unusual for Tolkien. I let him be for a little longer, but he still hadn’t eaten anything. There was two things that came to mind 1) he managed to hurt himself during the bonding session or 2) he maybe had a gas bubble or something. So, I went into his pen and lifted his hindquarters over his head and massaged his belly some. It couldn’t hurt, right? He started nibbling on food once I started shoving it in his face. Once he had eaten a few pieces of salad, I left him alone to eat some more.

He seems to be doing okay now and has returned to eating. Has anyone else experienced their rabbit refusing food after a bonding session?

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