First time BONDER

[DorothyTheMiniSatinBun]

I am trying to find a friend for my 1 year old bun Dorothy. I have had her for about 8, 9 months now. I love all the attention I get from her, but I noticed in the past month her behavior has changed, and I am worried that it is because she is getting a bit bored and lonely. I don’t know anything about bonding, can you guys offer some tips for a first timer? What do you wish someone told you before you started the bonding process? How much of an expense did this add to you monthly? Does personality of the buns really matter? Does breed and size matter? How important is gender?

Some info about her and her set up:

She is 1 year old, spayed, small mixed breed (satin/dutch).

She is very strong-willed, intelligent, and affectionate.

She is in a 5×5 ex pen, and she gets about 4 hours outside of the pen each day. She has 2 litterboxes, one in the pen and one outside of the pen. Under supervision she has full range of the apartment to run around and play.

[Luna]

What is she doing that has you suspect she is getting bored/lonely?

[BanditCamp]

I have to agree with Luna, she might just be content. Alot of rabbits calm down when they get older maybe changr up something in your routine first? Introducing a new rabbit can be stressful for everyone and even more so with your bun as shells feel her space is being invaded.

But there are tons of bonding videos and training here on the resources page if your 100% on doing it. I also might suggest watching Stormy rabbits and 101rabbits on YouTube on bonding as well each has some really good tips

[deekedo]

We have a rescue female Holland Lop, she is about 1 1/2 years old. We decided that we wanted to get another rabbit as a friend for her. So, Saturday, we bought a four month old mini lop and have them in side by side cages. They would stand and put their noses together quite a bit and we thought they were bonding. We wanted to wait awhile before we let them out together but Ron forget that Nutmeg was out last night and let the new little girl Pepper out. WOW big mistake. Pepper immediately went after Nutmeg, fur was flying everywhere and Nutmeg was trying to get away. Is there any hope that they will eventually get along or should we see about re homing Pepper?

[Luna]

deekedo – They could still end up being bonded. Bonding takes a long time, and their reaction isn’t surprising since they met only a day ago. You’re right to want to wait a while until they are out together. It’s good that their cages are right next to each other, but I might put a gap in between them so that they cannot touch each other through the bars. Nose-to-nose today could end up being teeth-to-nose tomorrow.

[DorothyTheMiniSatinBun]

She has always been a bit rebellious and I love that about her, but lately she has been doing things she has never done before like digging deep in her litterbox specifically to eat her bedding (wood pellets, which she has had even in the shelter before we adopted her so I know it’s something she has been used to having – nothing new or exciting for her; we also give her different things to eat all the time), digging incessantly at the carpet and the flooring in her pen and nothing discourages her from doing so (I give her things to dig at like books, old blankets, wood blocks, cardboard boxes), and she has damaged our bedroom door trying to get in every day no matter what we do to try to distract her or discourage her. 

She also “boxed” at me twice for the first time the other night when I tried to shoo her away from the bedroom door. We give her tons of attention, but she seems to have lost interest in the things that used to make her happy, like just scampering around, jumping on furniture and her cottage and hutch, and remodeling her cardboard boxes. She also seems to be losing a bit of interest in being pet by us She is still very affectionate, but she doesn’t seek out being pet as much as she used to.

[DorothyTheMiniSatinBun]

Also I am starting my masters program, so I am a bit more busy now, and I’m concerned that I won’t have as much time for her anymore.

[Luna]

That is puzzling. I’ve heard of buns losing interest in some things or changing behavior for short periods of time, but I don’t know about a month. I know she’s spayed, but can buns maybe have a change in personality unrelated to hormones when they are 1 year old? Not sure.

Just saw your last post: If you will be busier because of your Master’s, I don’t know if a second bun would be good or not. On the one hand, if Dorothy bonds with another bun then that’s good, but two buns mean double the work. And there’s always a chance she won’t bond.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By deekedo on 4/03/2017 12:11 PM

We have a rescue female Holland Lop, she is about 1 1/2 years old. We decided that we wanted to get another rabbit as a friend for her. So, Saturday, we bought a four month old mini lop and have them in side by side cages. They would stand and put their noses together quite a bit and we thought they were bonding. We wanted to wait awhile before we let them out together but Ron forget that Nutmeg was out last night and let the new little girl Pepper out. WOW big mistake. Pepper immediately went after Nutmeg, fur was flying everywhere and Nutmeg was trying to get away. Is there any hope that they will eventually get along or should we see about re homing Pepper?

I think you need to research bonding properly. They can’t bond via cage bars for a start . You have to actually go through a proper bonding process. And that involves pre-bonding. You can’t just put them side by side for a day or two and expect them to bond immediately. It takes preparation. You need to do pre-bonding for a few weeks and then introduce them on neutral ground. Before all this tho, you need to wait for the new bun to settle in. I can’t believe you automatically jump to the option of re homing  Plus both buns need to be neutered and spayed. 

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