I have been following along with this site and a few others to help with the process of bonding my two new female rabbits.
This is a bit of a story, but I suppose the situation is pretty unique. You can skip to the bottom for my main inquiry if you wish to skip the story aspect. I think
(A bit of history before this pair:
I never realized how hard it was going to be! I actually had an unspayed female Holland Lop (Butterscotch) for about two years before and then took in another that needed a home. Back then I had NO idea about bonding rabbits or spaying and I put the new unspayed female (not sure the type, was a chocolate brown rabbit which I renamed Chocolate) in with my older one without any clue and by what must have been a miracle, they got along fine and I never had an issue. This was a few years ago and I did have to give up the pair eventually after my living situation became difficult.)
My fiancial situation had improved leaps and bounds this year and I adopted a Sable (Maki) from the Shelter. I was still just renting a room at the time, but had enough room for her to run and a nice large cage as well to put her in when needed. (it also is home to her litter box).
She ended up acting strangely hyper at night when I was trying to sleep she would nip me awake. I read up on the issue and saw that it was likely due to boredom (since I worked for much of the day) and that they do better in pairs.
I DID end up buying a separate hutch for the rabbit (Mochi) and I had difficulties having them “get along”. I did have her cage in the same room as it was my only room and the rest of the house was a shared area with other roomates. I did let them take turns to run in the whole house as the roomates did not mind this, but only supervised for safety reasons.
I did not introduce them in that room, but rather the bathroom. Things did not go so well. It was not terrible, but Maki was trying to “top” Mochi and Mochi got annoyed with it. The fighting did not get so bad at that point, but I ended up looking up for help on my situation since it was not was I was expecting.
I found a number of HUGE flaws in how I introduced them. And Maki was not hyper at night from boredom, she was in her terrible teens. She fell into each category of it and I thought it was just boredom.
I did spay Maki and she has been a lovey bunny ever since.
After she healed I have occasionally tried to bond them, but things got even more terrible when my landlord wanted me to keep them in cages all of the time. It was terrible how much she would berate me on them being “rats” and they should be outside in cages. She even It really stressed me out and I am sure the rabbits felt it. I immediately knew I had to move as soon as possible, not just for the rabbits, but for myself as well.
I have now moved to a new two bedroom apartment and I would like to try rebonding them. I feel like things took a huge set back at the last place. They each have their own room for the time being. I do swap out their fleece blankets so they can get used to each other’s smells again and I pet them while near it. They are both shedding so sometimes I “steal” some fur for petting times.
This is the third day of the apartment and I tried two techniques so far. One I did was in the bathtub with water. It is shallow so they ended up jumping out and Maki chased on the bathroom floor. Today, I tried putting them in a covered bin and moving around to simulate a bumpy ride. I was pleased to see them huddled side by side…and Maki had her head tucked under Mochi’s.
I was wondering if anyone could help give me a few ideas for helping them bond or any tips?
Should I keep doing the same process with the same bin? (I do not have a pen)