First time trying to bond two bunnies – a turn for the worse

[Noora]

Hello everyone  My live-in bf and I are currently trying to bond our boy Nacho (Holland Lop, 7 months old) with the new girl Vivi (English Spot, also 7 months old). Nacho was castrated 4 weeks ago and Vivi arrived 2 weeks ago. We live in a one bedroom apartment, Nacho currently lives in the living room and Vivi in the kitchen and they are separated by a pet gate. Besides our very small bathroom, the bedroom is the only neutral area in the apartment but we would prefer not to use it with the bunnies because we can’t reach under the bed to break up a potential fight 

With that background info out of the way, here’s where we are right now: a week ago Vivi managed to escape from the kitchen so the buns met face to face and since there was no fighting, we decided to let them have daily sessions together in the kitchen (Nacho seems a bit territorial about the living room). Most of the time Vivi either ignores Nacho or tries to nip his ears/face/butt but it doesn’t seem aggressive to me. She seems relaxed and has done the dead bunny flop on several occasions during the sessions. Nacho on the other hand seems tense, he always keeps a watchful eye on Vivi and even stares at her 24/7 through the pet gate (also tries to bite his way through the gate which makes a lot of noise and is slowly driving us crazy ). Nacho often tries to mount Vivi (unsuccessfully) and when they eat together, he puts his head under her chin and just stays there waiting to be groomed. There hasn’t been any fighting but a couple of times I’ve separated them when Nacho started chasing Vivi.

Do you guys have any tips on how to proceed with these two? I think they will get along eventually but since it’s my first time bonding bunnies, I’m just not sure how to take it to the next level.

(P.S. Sorry for any errors, English is not my first language )

UPDATE: November 23rd, 2015

Four days ago we moved Vivi’s cage next to Nacho’s in the living room. No more chewing on the pet gate and making noise, thank heavens! Even though they were not bonded, they were coexisting peacefully when we let them both out of their cages at the same time (I even saw Vivi grooming Nacho once!)…. until last night. They fought and there was fur everywhere but no skin was broken. Even after we separated them Nacho remained very angry and frustrated and even tried to bite my hand, which he would normally NEVER do  It seems to me that Nacho is still hormonal, constantly grunting and trying to mount Vivi. Vivi is patient up to a point but when Nacho goes too far, she nips at him and then Nacho goes for the attack. The same thing happened this morning so obviously we need to try something different now. Any advice? We are currently keeping the kitchen as a neutral area so I think we will start by doing sessions in there and see where it takes us…

[cinnybun2015]

Is Nacho neutered?
If so, I would say that there is one tip I have learned somewhere… “close enough to see but not touch.” In this case, I would put up two X-pens in neutral territory and put both Nacho and Vivi each in one X-pen. That way, they can see each other and smell each other but not fight.
Or, sometimes a stressful situation helps bond bunnies, like a car trip. In some cases, the bunnies will turn around and start grooming each other because they are stressed!
I hope you have luck with the bonding.

[tobyluv]

You didn’t mention if Vivi had been spayed. Even though she can’t get pregnant since Nacho has been neutered, it is always advised to have all bunnies spayed or neutered before bonding is attempted. Vivi still has those hormones and they could cause her to be aggressive or have an attitude, which might cause problems and fighting. Plus, it is advised that females get spayed due to the high incidence of uterine cancer in unspayed rabbits. If she hasn’t been spayed, the first step will be to have that done, then after a few weeks of recuperation, you can try bonding.

If you get an x-pen, you could put it in your bedroom and get in it with the rabbits. They would be in neutral territory and you would be right there with them to break up any fighting. Some scuffling and humping is normal, but you don’t want it escalating to actual fighting. Rabbits can severely injure each other when fighting. I have found the x-pen method to be very good for bonding. They are confined to a rather small space – you can make it whatever size you want, but you are able to be with them, and stop any violent behavior if it occurs.

Some people take their bunnies for a ride in the car to bond them, in a cage together. It would be good to have someone beside them to break up any fighting, though. Or just sit in the car with them. Some people put their rabbits in a small, confined space like a closet or an even smaller space like a carrier to bond them.

[Noora]

Thank you for the advice! Neither one of us has a driving licence (in the city it’s not a necessity), so there goes that. I think next we will try our luck in the bedroom with an x-pen, let’s hope it works because they have started to fight straight away when they see each other and the fights are getting worse. Both bunnies are currently living in cages right next to each other and we let them out separately so both their smells are everywhere. We have also switched their cages a few times, maybe we should do it more often?

Vivi is not spayed because if everything goes well, she will make a few baby buns for the breeder we got her from. I don’t know the English word for this kind of thing, sorry. It’s not an ideal situation but it was very hard to find a new bunny where we live so we thought we would give it a go. The good thing is that if we continue to have bad problems after every effort to bond them, Vivi can always go back to the breeder… but don’t worry, it’s very small scale and part of a petting zoo so the bunnies have good lives there

[vanessa]

I’m afraid it might be difficult to impossible to bond them with her unspayed. Intact females can be hormonal, aggressive, and very territorial. I feel sad for bunnies at petting zoos. I remember how my bunnies reacted when the neighbors wanted to pet them. They know who is a stranger, and are scared of strangers. I truly believe that if you want to bond a pair, they should both be fixed, or it will just be too much fighting. Some bunnies can also be happy as singles.

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