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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
A friend from a different forum can’t keep her bunnies so I might take them if SO says yes, it’s a boy and a girl bunnies. They’re 2 years old and both are fixed, I’ve only successfully bonded Caleb and Gamgee together. Adding Ryuk in is proving difficult but I’ve heard when you try to bond more than 3 bunnies together it makes things kinda easier. (Just want everyone to know this is not the reason I want to get the other bunnies). How should I go about doing this, I know I’m going to start bonding immediately and probably over the weekend as a power bonding marathon.
I’ve heard you can feed them in a semi-neutral area together and they will be bonded soon after that? Or should I still start in the neutral area for power bonding? Again it’s not a definite that we are getting the bunnies but my SO might say yes so I like to be prepared.
Always start neutral. I wouldnt try to bond more than one into the mix at once so theres less buns to remove should there be a gang up
If I need to remove bunnies fast my BF will help me, I’m not going to be by myself bonding the bunnies.
Help or not, that wouldnt prevent a gang up or multiple bun vs bun brawls. Its always best to do all bonded with 1 unbonded bunny at a time. It also causes a lot less stress on the rabbits as its one new friend at a time, rather than a bunch of new friends all at once like a free for all
Mikey, that’s actually not true with rabbits. Bonding multiples (over 5 seems to be the best number I’ve found) is actually typically quite easy. It’s the main reason that bunny romps work so well. Rabbits aren’t forced to focus on those they dislike and will typically focus on whomever they find to be their “bestie”. Margo – President of HRS – as well as most of the people I work with on bonding typically always encourage the more the merrier. Most of them have large groups where 1 was not added in at a time. Most of us “pro bonders” actually much prefer to bond larger groups as opposed to duos and trios.
PS. You shouldn’t need to remove the rabbits during bonding – even during a brawl – you should have a set-up that allows you to control the situation. Removing rabbits that are bickering will actually make the issue worse, not help. You should have a bonding set-up that allows you to quickly break them up. Kind of like turning on a vacuum or banging on a pot and pan. If you interfere by taking the rabbits apart then you’re going to be fighting the same battle over and over. If you instead work them through it by creating a stressful situation, you’re helping them through their issues instead. Much better option and much more likely to help cement a bond rather than creating a situation that will ultimately set them up for failure (they will never work out their issues that way).
Tan, should I still start in neutral zone? Any tips?
SO said yes so I’ll be up to 5 bunnies April 15th hopefully
What an adventure!!! Am so looking forward to hearing more about it! And pics *hoping*!
I can never figure out how to post pictures on here, I added attachments but I’m not sure they’re gonna work. I tried to add them but they aren’t showing up
Hi kcomstoc (and tanlover)!!! *waves*
I agree with tanlover. Bonding in a group-setting allows bunnies to gravitate toward the bunnies they like first. From what I understand though, if you find that two bunnies are constantly having difficulties with each other, it’s okay to mix things up by doing some smaller subgroup sessions. Sometimes the change in group composition and setting are enough to make difficult bonds become more tolerant with each other. As tanlover said though, you want the situation to be stressful enough to make them turn to each other for support and work through whatever issues they may have with each other.
Hey LBJ can anyone make my pictures work? I mean they’re attached to that one comment but I don’t really know how to make it work
We should be getting the bunnies next week Friday hopefully Also since the cage we have now has pee smell *most of the smell is gone but the stains are still kinda there* (won’t mention any names……Gamgee) but anyway it’ll probably be nice to have a new cage for all the bunnies to enjoy. It’s going to be 7 feet long and 2 levels but the top level will be the size of 2 levels if that makes sense?
The new bunnies are here and are already getting into trouble, we will start bonding today and bond all day if we can. The new names are Lurr (from Futurama but spelled different for the sanity of making vet appointments lol) and Dahlia. Hopefully they will enjoy it here and everyone will be bonded quickly they are really adorable I wish pictures would work on here for me.
Good luck Kcomstoc! I only have 2 now but hope to have a threesome by next year!
So bonding went pretty well today we bonded for 4 hours because they were really starting to get out of hand everyone was humping everyone else except for the girl bunny trying to stay out of everything lol, the humping was ok at first but that started a nipping fight and then chasing and so when everyone calmed down we ended the bonding session for everyone’s sanity. Gamgee is still being a big meanie while bonding but isn’t as bad with 2 other new bunnies being there so that’s good.
Sounds pretty good so far, would love to see pics when you get a chance
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209620730940308&set=pcb.1061790567227164&type=3&theater let me know if that works…..more bonding tonight just 3 hours and they were kinda worse than yesterday but not too bad. We stressed bonded and they all got close together from the scary noises. Caleb was unaffected by the noise but he isn’t the problem anyway. So there was kinda an incident that didn’t result in any harm. Lurr (which is the new name for the gray bunny) got to the bottom level of the cage (even though we blocked it off) so he was down there with Caleb and Gamgee and nobody was fighting. As soon as we realized what had happened we moved him back to his area with Dahlia (the new girl bunny) since they’re already bonded and moved them to another area altogether so they couldn’t get to each other at all.
^It does not, probably facebook privacy settings. But that’s alright
We had a breakthrough with bonding last night Gamgee actually groomed Ryuk (these 2 were the ones with the most problems when we were trying to bond just Ryuk in when we first got him) it was like a miracle seriously!! hopefully they keep that up tonight while bonding they’ve actually been doing really good and it’s only been a few days of bonding so far. Super proud of my bunnies
Woohoo, that’s awesome So glad it’s developing well.
It always starts the same though, when I take them out for the first hour they’re all nipping each other then Caleb grooms everyone then he humps everyone and then the second hour they kinda get closer and then they’re flopped out next to each other. Then we end the session because ending on a good note and by then it’s usually kinda late at night and time to go to bed. Then the next time we take them out (trying to do it everyday) it starts the same way again.
So… my scientific logic says don’t separate them
Start a morning session and last until bedtime… LOL.
Sleep next to them (just in case over night things change), but it seems the separation sets things off again…
That’s true, I’ll do that tonight and see how it goes, I’m gonna take them out now and keep them out all day lol I know my common sense is like well duh don’t separate them then but my sleepy brain is like I just wanna go to bed >.>
Pretty sure Gamgee is half herder He likes being by his lonesome and then any bunnies that leave the litter box get herded/nipped back into it….jerk bunny things are good and then he starts doing this or someone else starts nipping. getting there…slowly. We have Dahlia grooming (the only girl bunny) she’s been so shy that I thought she would just kinda stay out of everything but she’s grooming. Ryuk was doing some grooming earlier too. Andre (which is Lurr but we changed it to Andre) is laying down next to Gamgee all relaxed things are good now
How do you know when one of your bunnies wants to to be a single bunny? Gamgee is actually being really good about bonding but Ryuk is being such a jerk. He’s nipping anyone that comes near him (with or without litter boxes in the pen). Should he just be a single bunny and the rest of the bunnies be bonded together? After stressing him with the other bunnies he gets along for a little while and then starts things again.
I think Ryuk might be a people bunny not a bunny bunny, I think he likes people more than bunnies. He is making bonding extremely difficult and even bit one of the other bunnies in the eye…took him to the vet and he’s fine with antibiotics. He’s really sweet with us though…giving me kisses as I type this but he’s causing problems with the bonding of the other bunnies. I took him out of the bonding and things are going well. Should I just keep him separate from the other bunnies and give him time with us instead?
Well, sounds as if that may be the best option…. if the other buns are in view then that’s ok too I reckon… he’ll feel their presence but not stress out with them. and if they are nice and cosy in a foursome, then that’s great too ! Maybe he can’t cope with 4 others… could he get on with just one other one… a 6th?! LOL
LOL I think my BF and I agree that we are at our bunny limit….actually he was at his bunny limit at 3 >.> so probably not a 6th one in the future. I think I’ll keep him as a singleton and maybe try to add him later after these guys are more bonded and less “I’m the dominant one” “no I am” kinda thing
Alright so after taking Ryuk out of the mix, Dahlia and Gamgee are having a problem actually it’s mostly Dahlia. She’s chasing all of the bunnies but not humping them and she’s nipping them. She seems to want to be top bunny but when any of the other bunnies try to hump her she tries to run but other than that doesn’t do anything about it. IDK it’s hard to know what exactly is the right thing to do, they seem to do ok in a small space but then when I make it a little bigger than it’s a problem. She’s also territoriality spraying the bunny room so it smells like her. Not appreciating that at all. I think if she wasn’t part of the group then Andre/Caleb/Gamgee would be happy together. But Andre and Dahlia are already bonded together….I just don’t know what I should be thinking about this or what to do. Bonding 4 is def a lot harder than bonding Caleb/Gamgee but they got to pick each other out. This is like forcing 4 strangers to suck it up and just be nice to each other. I really need advice.