Should I give up? I’ve lost hope….

[Buster]

I apologize for this being so long. 

I have a male neutered rabbit named Buster, and I recently adopted Lola a female spayed rabbit from the shelter in early October.

Buster and Lola sort of chose each other during their rabbit speed date, and the volunteer advised that Lola would probably be the easiest rabbit for him to bond with. She did warn me that Lola is a bit cage protective but that behavior would go away very quickly, but unfortunately she still is till this day. Lola is very cage and food aggressive, (she boxes, bites, growls when I feed her). I’ve tried scatter feeding her, showing my dominance, but nothing works sadly. She has gotten a bit better, but it’s a very up and down process. 

So I started with the bonding sessions and was advised to start out very very slowly: 2 minutes a session for a week, then increase to 5, 10, 15 minutes. By the end of two weeks I increased the sessions to an hour.  The first hour session went pretty well, Lola started grooming Buster (but would then lunge and nip at him). However the next hour session, I moved them to another location because the volunteer at the shelter told me that the tub is not the best place for their feet. I moved them to another location, and that was when they had their first major fight (no blood, but lots of fur pulling). I separated them for a week and started again in the tub, very slowly. I did 5 minute sessions for a week, then 10 minutes, and increased very slowly to 30 minutes after two weeks. They were doing well mostly sleeping in front of one another, however I noticed that Buster’s bumped his nail and started bleeding during a session in the tub so I decided to find another location in my house. 

I moved them to another neutral location in the house that is slightly smaller than the tub, but that’s when they recently had their 2nd major fight (it was so bad that Lola started screaming). It was terrifying and at this point I don’t think it would make sense to try again. I checked each for bites and bleeding, both of them are ok, except Lola has a small patch of hair missing. on her head. 

The most frustrating part of all this is,is that even with the major fights, Lola seems to be the aggressor in every scuffle. Buster would attempt to get close to her, and she would lunge at him, sometimes nip him. Every session would start out with Lola lunging at Buster, never vice versa, and during every session whether they were 2 minutes or 20 minutes, Buster would be get kind of annoyed at her lunging and attack her back. When she started grooming him, she would then lunge at him, and they would start scuffling and grunting at each other. I’ve tried pre-bonding by switching their living quarters, rubbing a shirt on Buster and giving it to Lola, feeding them together as they face each other through the barrier. Everything. 

TLDR: Aggressive female rabbit, trying to bond with more docile male rabbit. Took bonding very slowly but they had two major fights. Feel like giving up, any advice would be helpful. Again, sorry for the length. 

[Mikey]

A rabbit only screams if they fear for their life. To me, it sounds a lot like she is fighting more out of fear at this point.

How long did you wait for Lola to settle into her new home with you, before bonding? How long did you bond with her yourself, before bonding her with Buster? How long did you prebond for?

[Buster]

I waited for a few days for her to settle in before I started the process at the advice of the rabbit volunteer at the shelter, I started switching their litter boxes every couple of days, and then after a week I started putting them in each other’s pens. I’ve been reading that it’s best to wait for a month until the new rabbit is used to its new surroundings, I wish I did that 

[Mikey]

A month or two is usually best, but its not too late I would recommend going back to having them housed next to one another, but not switching anything yet, for about one month. It will allow Lola time to calm down again, allow you to learn about her 1 on 1 (her and you), and will allow Buster a break from it all. After this month, start swapping their litter boxes, toys, bowls, etc. Youll swap things around for a month or two.

After the month or two of swapping, start only in a small neutral space. If you want to use your bath tub (recommended), you can add a fleece blanket beforehand. Fleece is safe for rabbits and will be better on their feets. Thankfully, a fleece blanket should only cost a few dollars and theyre super easy to wash if there are any accidents or marking Only progress to a larger space once they can go 4 to 8+ hours together in the tub with no aggression, for atleast 3 days in a row.

Then youll progress onto moving them to a semi neutral space. Many people set up pens in the area they will share/in front of their cages. Itll be the same process here of start with many short sessions and slowly progress until they can go 8+ hours together with no aggression. After they can do this in the semi neutral space, you can start bonding them in their future shared cage

[Buster]

Thank you so much for your advice Mikey. I felt like crying yesterday but today I feel better. I will follow your advice and let Lola get better acquainted with her living quarters/me. I’m hopeful that they will eventually get along, and I hope her aggressive behavior goes away as well.

[Mikey]

I am hopeful for you as well! Please keep us updated when you start to bond them again in the future. They sound like a promising pair once Lola calms down some more

[Giorgia L]

Well, I have the same problem here at home. Bought a friend for my rabbit, and little did we know she did not want to be his girl. They live a zoned life now, where through their pen bars they are very civil. Coming out at different times a day. Which is hilarious because my male does not provoke any of this, only defends himself. I have stopped trying to bond them alltogether because everyone is just getting hurt with no progress. They also seem to enjoy keeping eachother at a distance since the female is very bossy and territorial and the male thinks shes insane. I mean I did everything possible; giving them breaks, changing bonding locations, feeding together, the vacumm ofcourse. They are around the same age, etc. I had to come to terms with it and chalk it up to sometimes there is just severe miscommunication between animals (like people) and since they can’t avoid that individual they fight.

[Mikey]

GeorgiaPeach, although it is true that not all animals will always get along with one another, you shouldnt stop trying until youve tried everything or they make it obvious (going for the kill). There are so many different ways to bond rabbits outside of the mandatory first steps (everyone spayed/neutered, prebond for atleast a month). There is still a lot of hope for Buster and Lola

[Author]

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