Bonding

[Ffionwillsx]

My neutered male house rabbit Oscar is 8/9 months old and I have had him since he was 8 weeks. He is a very sweet and mischievous bunny and we have a very good bond.

Oscar is completely free home he does have his own room in my flat but only uses it for the littler box, and food etc.

I adopted Lola from a local bunny recuse on Monday (31st of July). She is a tiny little bunny and has been housed with both males and females in the past – she is spayed and is 7months old. Lola is a hermaphrodite bunny. I adopted her because both her sisters had long been adopted and nobody wanted her she is a sweet and timid girl. Unfortunately the rescue could provide a bunny dating service due to lack of room at the time. She did offer a binding service which I have since asked about as I am completely new to rabbit bonding.

I have an xpen and so Lola was set up there in the kitchen initially. They sniffed eachother through the bars and seemed curious. I then tried a bonding session in the bathtub which did not go well at all. Oscar mounted Lola which she let happen initially then he tried the second time and she hopped away, he attempted again and she nipped this resulted in a fight with fur flying everywhere. I separated them and oscar jumped out. Having read that a session should never end on a bad not I attempted again placing oscar in and they fought again and he jumped out. When Lola was back in the pen they tried to fight through and so I had to put carboard around the bottom.

I decided to go stay with my parents over summer as I have time off being a teacher and the house is a lot more neutral. On the attemp in the pen together Oscar hopped over and Lola lashed out again so they were separated.

We went on a car ride yesterday and both took a while to settle so the ride lasted 45minutes to give them time to settle come together. That was all I did yesterday. Since Wednesday I have swapped their living environments every day only emptying litter trays. Marking with poo has calmed down a lot since then.

Today we went on a 40 minute car ride and their comforting eachother improved massively. I then put them in a pen together in the kitchen (neutral) they lasted an hour. There were several occasions where oscar went over to Lola and nipped her which she that ran away from and he chased her – I squirted him with water each time and he each time and he stopped he often stopped with a “no” Towards the end he did calm down and would go over to sniff her which she allowed but this would often turn to a little nip and a chase. Lola would occasionally nip back. During the house they both groomed themselves (Oscar on many occasions) Oscar also lay down conpkeyely relaxed and both ate some hay (from different piles) we then put them back in their respective rooms for the evening.

I am just wondering whether this is going in the right direction – Lola is very timid, of people and a little apprehensive of oscar too but is such a sweetie.

Providing it goes well tomorrow I wanted to try a longer session. I realise that they may need to establish a dominant bunny in the pair.

Do you think this is going well so far? Should I carry on myself or should I take them to the rescue to be bonded? I have relaxed a lot more with since yesterday’s car journey but am concerned they may not like eachother?

Any advice and feedback would be much appreciated. I have read many posts on here already as well as how to bond. I’m just a nervous momma.

[Deleted User]

Honestly, you could be stressing Lola out. She’s not even adjusted to her new home, you’re already trying to bond her, and then you want to go away and have her figure out more bew surroundings.
Instead of bonding right away you should have let her settle in for a bit and adjust to her new surroundings (also why she is probably timid). In my opinion, you should stop trying to bond, let her settle, then try prebonding exercises. Switch out litter boxes, change their cages so they go between each other’s, switch food and water dishes, you could even get a stuffie and make sure Lola’s scent is on one and Oscar’s scent is on the other, then switch and watch their reactions. I think with Lola not stressed amd more settled in, then you can try to bond a lot better.

[DanaNM]

It sounds like you have made some progress, and they are sorting out their dominance issues…. but I agree that you are probably stressing Lola too much. 

But, you should let Lola settle in for at least a week, longer if she is shy, and then do pre-bonding for at least two weeks before really doing bonding sessions. 

If Lola is still very unsure of her environment, they may not properly sort out their dominance, and then they could resort it out later, resulting in fighting once you think they are bonded. 

So, things sounds OK, but you are definitely rushing them. Let Lola settle in, then do more prebonding (which helps A LOT with mounting attempts, as the male gets a chance to get used to her smell), then resume. 

40 minutes is also a very long car-ride and is a long time to stress a bunny that much. You can try doing a 15 min car ride, followed more time in a less stressful environment. 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Ffionwillsx]

Oh I see – I followed the advice of the lady from the rescue, she said to start straight away ( she even suggested I put both in the same carrier for the journey but as they had never met before and I was alone I didn’t do it).

My thoughts on staying with parents came because oscar goes everywhere in my home. He follows me to the bathroom in the morning while I’m getting ready and so it wasn’t neutral. On asking advice as it was going to be a 6 week relocation that is whybi decided to do it.

Last night Lola was a lot more social – and she has been a very curious little girl since day one and loves exploring even areas humans are occupying.

I have been swapping out living areas daily dining room and living room wheee both bunnies are also ensuring that they have a decent amount of socialisation (dining room is rarely used) they like to chill out in the same areas of the free space so I think this is good as there is no excessive chiming or marking so hopefully accepting each others scent?

I will cool it down a little however I am keen to make progress due to when school term starts back I will be living alone again and of course it’s much easier to have someone with me durin sessions.

Thank you for your quick replies x

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