Bonding Time

[deadneonflies]

How long did it take for your buns to bond?  So far I am working on 1.5 weeks.  I know I have a long way to go.  

[Jadeo09]

Can you buy pet remedy apparently it works well to relax rabbits and helps with bonding
It’s a spray

[vanessa]

I’ve been at it since beginning July. They are on a 4-week break. I’ll pick it up again while I’m on work travel. So – 3 months. Still working it. He needed a break.

[Paradigm]

Cautiously bonded due to potential hormone spikes and took a slower pace than they probably would have needed if they were in top form because I started the day after their neuters, but 5 days. Just under two weeks if you included sniffing through bars – but again because I wouldn’t let them be together.

[deadneonflies]

So its now been about 3 weeks for mine I guess. My bun, Zee doesn’t seem to mind the new rabbit (Ripley) and is usually the one who bows to Ripley. Ripley doesn’t PICK fights with Zee, they can exist pretty well together in the neutral zone with no problems, but Ripley is always the one who starts the nipping, going for Zee’s butt usually. It seems like Ripley is the bully in the relationship.

I don’t know if this was a stupid move or not, I know a lot of people would be against this, but because I don’t have a lot of patience, one night I let them both out to roam the apartment. They didn’t fight, they only nipped a few times, Zee did not get teritorial and Ripley was exploring her new home for the first time. Zee was mostly just cautious. Ripley did a few binkies and laid down at one point. Zee when to sniff her foot and then Ripley tried to nip Zee. There was a little bit of chasing, but ears were not down and head was not down, so it felt like it was more of a play run with eachother. I don’t know, I am no expert at bunny behavior.

So I want to say that the playtime togehter went well, but they are still not able to go a whole day or night without nipping, and I still don’t trust them together without supervision. But they don’t SUPERFIGHT, so thats good right?

[Jadeo09]

Here’s a link to pet remedy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pet-Remedy-Natural-De-Stress-Diffuser/dp/B0043QPL4W

[Jadeo09]

You probably have already read this but these are great people to take advise from if you haven’t already.
The article is about tough bonding/bonding rabbits that fight
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-4/tough-bonding.html

[vanessa]

Guin bonded with her stuffed bunny in about 2 days 🙂

[deadneonflies]

Update:  As of today, it has been exactly 1 month since we brought Ripley home.  The last time I cleaned their cage (seperated for each one) I switched up their sides.  For example, before cleaning, Ripley was near wall, Zee was near bookshelf.  After cleaning, Ripley was near bookshelf and Zee was near wall.  As soon as I put Ripley in her new side, she started doing binkies in her cage (hasn’t happened before).  So that was good news.  Every 2 or 3 days I’ve been switching out their litter boxes without cleaning them in hopes they can get used to their smells and stuff.  

Nothing has changed in their behavior or bonding.  They still can exist together, but whenever Zee sniffs Ripley or whatever, Ripley tends to nip Zee.  I haven’t left them in their neutral area for more than a couple hours (no overnights yet).  

I want to look into that calming stuff posted on this thread and just keep plugging away with them.  

[deadneonflies]

Also I forgot to mention, then they are in their cage in the evenings, we spy on them a lot.  Sometimes I notice that they like to sit near eachother, but not lying down next to eachother.  They also do things together, like when one is grooming themselves, the other grooms themselves.  When one is drinking water, the other drinks water.  Kinda interesting.

[Jadeo09]

Aww sounds lovely at least they are stimulating each other. Slowly seems to work better than getting bad results fast.
Love to hear when they do their first overnight together.

[deadneonflies]

Zee & Ripley Update:

Since Zee was injured and I was on vacation, the bonding sessions had come to a halt. When I got back from vacation, Zee’s foot was completely healed, but a lot of still going on as to unpacking and settling back in that I didn’t want to get right back into bonding again (its takes a lot of my free time).

Ripley has still been super shy and skiddish with us as well. So… in the meantime, I have been letting them both out of their cages seperately for exercise in the apartment for about an hour or so, then switch. I know this is not recommended for bonding due to the buns getting territorial…. but it seems to be working actually. Ripley has definitely been coming out of her shell a lot since we’ve been letting her out of her cage to play. Shes been more responsive to us and letting us pet her more instead of running off, and even been doing binkies in the apartment and bunny flops too. We try not to let the buns out together, though the few times we have, they seems to stay in their own corners, sometimes chase each other, but in a playful manner. They seems to usually nip eachother maybe once in entire sessions together.

I also bought them special hay infused with chamomile for bonding sessions only. They also only get special toys during bonding too to help with the process. It still feels like we have a long road ahead of us, but right now I want to focus on making sure Ripley feels more comfterable with us. I am happy if they never bond, so long as Ripley feels like this is her home, I will be satisfyed.

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