Planning to Bond Bunny in Summer

[CinnamonPearl]

Hello, hello everyone! I’m back again with a quick question! I currently have plans to try to find my boy Clover a mate over the summer while I’m home from school. He’s a very happy bunny, but I always worry that he could be lonely when I’m off at class or have other things to do, and I think having another bun around here would brighten things up for both of us. I just have one question!

Clover and I move back and forth between two homes- our apartment at school, and our actual home at home. I plan to do bonding at home over summer cause I’ve got more space to house him and the new bunny separately, and the apartment doesn’t have any good neutral territory. But here’s my question- Say that we go home, bond him to a lil girl bun over the summer, and then go back to the apartment in fall. Is there a chance that the bond could break and they’ll start fighting at the apartment? I’m just nervous about moving them to a new location so soon after their bond could be formed, but there’s really no way I have around it. The other option could potentially be trying to bond them at school, as I’d at least have more than a couple months to get things done, but then we’ve still got the same problem of the bond potentially breaking when we go home. So just wondering if anyone has any advice on that?

And one more question. Clover is a free-range bunny. He has full range of the apartment at school (though he keeps out of the kitchen, weirdly enough), and he’s got full range of my bedroom, bathroom, and adjacent TV room at home. I also would like to have his future bunwife be free range, though I’ll probably pen her at first just as I’m getting to know her and her habits, how much bunny-proofing she needs, et cetera. I know that a lot of bonding websites recommend housing the bunnies side by side before starting bonding, and I thought of a potential way to do this at home. Could I possibly put a baby gate (double layered, to stop biting through the gate) between the TV room and the bathroom, so that they could interact with each other at the door without meeting? Clover’s scent is all over the TV room, but I could scrub it down and shampoo the carpet before bringing home the new girl. But any advice on what the best way to do housing pre-bonding would be?

I think that’s all the questions I have for now. If you’re willing to give advice, thank you!

[Sirius&Luna]

It’s unlikely that their bond would break if they were bonded and you moved them but it does happen. I would advise thoroughly cleaning the apartment and maybe rearranging some furniture so that Clover doesn’t feel too territorial over it when he goes back. You should also keep them to a smaller space when you first move them, and gradually increase their space – some bonded bunnies will fight when given too large a new space.

I don’t think you necessarily need to house them side by side, but it’s important to swap litter trays/toys etc to get each others scents, and it’s also nice to feed them near each other so that they associate each other with positive things. I think the gate could work, but it would also be good to swap their areas entirely, as you don’t want to end up with one feeling territorial about the bedroom, and one feeling territorial about everywhere else.

[CinnamonPearl]

Thank you for the advice! I can definitely go back to the apartment head of time to spend a few days power-cleaning the apartment. I know that a vinegar solution is good for cleaning bunny scent off of floors and hard furniture, but what about carpets and soft furniture like beds and sofas? What’s a good, bunny-safe way to clean those? And yes, I can certainly confine them to the bedroom when we first get back.

So then a good plan would be to have the gate and swap which room each bun is in every 24/48 hours or so? Along with breakfast and dinner being provided at the gate. Clover eats hay at his litter box, and I think I’ll refrain from moving its spot. He’s very good about going in the box, but I don’t wanna tempt him to fall off his good habits by moving the litter box close to the other bunny.

Just one more question, if you don’t mind. Clover and I, as we are now, are really, really close. He’s always grooming me, I’m always petting and snuggling him. We have a strong connection and can read each other well, and we love to lay together on the floor and such. I’m pretty determined to get him another bunny, cause I don’t feel like his emotional needs are being 100% met with how things currently are, but I’ve always heard that bunnies become far more interested in their mates and a lot less interested in their humans once they have a mate. I’d just be really sad to see our good friendship go away. ;-; Is there any truth to that? Should I be worried about it?

EDITED TO ADD: Just one more question! I was looking through the forums, and people seem to be suggesting that a new bunny needs a month to settle in and a month of pre-bonding before any interaction between the two bunnies can start? Isn’t that a bit excessive? For me, since at the moment I was thinking about adopting the new girl early in my summer vacation, it’d really make it crunch time to get them bonded before moving back to school, since I’d only have a month to do get them bonded at that point.

[Sirius&Luna]

With beds, clean sheets is probably enough. Sofas, you probably just have to accept that everything can’t be totally neutral!

Yes, swapping should usually happen every other day or so. There’s no need to move litter boxes if there’s already an established place, but feeding veg/treats nearby is nice

The thing with letting the new bunny settle in is that often when you first bring a bunny home, and into another bunny’s territory, they feel overwhelmed and act very submissive so you don’t see their true personality. Then, when suddenly a month later when they feel at home, fights will suddenly break out when new bun decides they don’t like their place in the pecking order anymore. That said, I think you can give new bun a couple of weeks to settle in alone, and then do a month of prebonding if that helps? I honestly think prebonding is THE MOST important part of bonding and is crucial to an easy and successful bond. I really don’t recommend skipping it.

Of course when bunnies have a bunny best friend, they spend a lot of time with them, but a bunny that was friendly before isn’t going to suddenly lose all interest in you.

[CinnamonPearl]

Okay, yeah! A couple weeks to settle in and a month of pre-bonding sounds a lot more manageable. And okay, glad to hear its unlikely Clover wont wanna be friends anymore. ;u;

I think thats all the questions I have for now. Thank you so much for your help, Sirius! Your advice has been wonderful!

[Sirius&Luna]

Happy to help I recommend starting a thread a few days before you start bonding so people can help you along the journey

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