best way to bond bunnys

I have 3 buns, 2 are brother and sister, who were just seperated about 3 weeks ago, and Charlie who is about 8 months old, he is a sweet heart and not nasty to anyone, will have a playfull nip tho if he gets carried away, but he doesnt like the little girl bunny, he seems fine with the boy but hates rosie, my friend said I shoud have just put the cage in with charlie at the start but it didnt fit under the shelf, and would have had to seperate them anyway as werent both girls. I need some advice. I dont want to have to keep the 3 of them apart, but the 2 little ones started to have a fight last night thats the 1st time they have done this, it seems to be her mood that starts it off tho, she's more confident than he is and runs about happy, she ran up to charlie thats why he went for her, so she then began to annoy smokey and started to attack him, I planned on having them in the play house together (once he is done) then have the outer run connect the 2 houses together (starting with a mesh barrier till they got used to each others smells) but worried this wont work, dont want to have to give 1 up any advice.

They all need to be neutered before you can bond them. Then you need to leave it a few weeks for hormones to settle.

Then it's best to start off with a small area of neutral territory (the bath is ideal, with an old towel in the bottom so they can't slip) and constant supervision to see how they get on.

There's lots of info on here already about bonding, but there's really no point trying until they are all neutered. If they have a full-on fight now, you might never be able to bond them....

Charlies done, been done about 8 + weeks ago, he has no more urges the feather duster is no longer is buddy. Smokey is to young to be done yet, checked him and nothing out yet so cant have him done yet, dont need to rush with her vet says as long as boys are done. I could bond charlie with her but smokey would be left on his own. He is his own the now anyway, they are in 2 rabbit cages in the shed, want them out it asap as they cant really have a good run about, so bring them in for wee while now.
Dont have a bath, thats why do it in the living room its our space not theres.

I have never bonded buns before but I've read a lot about it here and in other places and I totally agree with Sparky and disagree with your vet.

All 3 should be neutered before attempting to bond. Why your vet has said just the boys, I have no idea. The benefit is not only on temperament, you MUST get her spayed or she WILL end up with uterine cancer.

If you bond them AND THEN get her done, you might not be able to get that bond back. Look what is happening with Rosie and Murphy, but in that case it had to be done as it was a life saving operation.

She will also likely turn into a proper stroppy madam anyway if you do not neuter her

I should think it would be ok for you to use your shower tray instead of the bath

Please remember that any serious scraps between them now can damage the chances of a potential future bond, these buns are smart and will remember.

He never said not get her done, just not rush into it have the boys done 1st, he agrees get her done to prevent cancer, I want her done so shes no a wee madam too our last girl years ago was a right nasty madam. What might have to do is keep 1 in the cage in the play house on a shelf and the other one on the bottom, figure it out, as the smaller cage is going to get far to small for her to stretch her legs. I open it and sit beside her so she can stretch her back up she sometimes climbs out onto my knee, or I bring her in for little while to binky like mad in the living room. I will let them in the garden one at a time once the weather has stayed dry for a day or to so can tidy it again, mini tornodo seemed to hit the garden lately.

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???? confused wee bit lol jack

dizzylynn wrote:Dont have a bath, thats why do it in the living room its our space not theres.

But if each of them have been in there at different times and left their scents, it's not neutral territory. It really needs to be somewhere none of them have been before, and a small space so they can't just avoid each other.

Will get a pen later on, once they all been done and do it in the dining room none of them have been in there.

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Best plan is a small neutral area and lots of patience. Put both buns in at the same time and just sit with them. There may be lots of chasing and nipping, but if the buns start to circle each other, be careful because this can be a precurser to a locked-on fight and they are very dangerous.

There will possibly be lots of mounting and this is normal, but be wary of a bun head-mounting. If this happens, move the bun because there is the possibility of the humpee taking a bite of a delicate area.

Other than that, just lots of patience and fingers crossed.

The fight last night with rosie and smokey was almost full on, but it was all her doing it, she bit me when we grabbed him away from her, broke the skin but not deep.

Make sure you wear gloves when you have to separate them. When they get agitated they will bite you if you try to separate them.

I dont think they were doing the circling, but she was rubbing herself off him (her brother) so he rubbed back, she nipped, he nipped back, then she went daft on him. He tried to run away to me, she was having none of it. So bit me aiming for him. After that she ran about all chuffed with herself, while he snuggled into my hubby hiding from her. Boys are deffo more loving lol, now I know why my girl was nasty, years ago, I thought it was due to her being from a farm and possible half wild. I knew very little then, I know alot more now, and space was an issue, she did have a 2 level hutch and she got to run about the garden, but getting her back in the hutch was a fight.

Yeah in the bunny world, does are definitely the more fiestier! She sounds like a right wee madam.

The circling happens when one bun tried to sniff the other's bits and the one being sniffed, turns around and tries to do the same to the first one. It can develop into biting and if both lock on then it gets very nasty and serious wounds can be sustained.

Bonding requires the establishment of hierarchy. One bun may attempt to be dominant and it depends on whether the other one agrees or doesn't. Sometimes neither bun is explicitly dominant and dominance can change too. But if one bun starts chasing and mounting, then you need to watch for the other's response. If it accepts being mounted, then it may be accepting being subservient.

Sometimes buns can completely ignore one another and this is another good sign because it means neither buns sees the other as a threat. You might see this after a flurry of mounting if the mountee didn't make a fuss. Also they may sit near each other and groom themselves. Again, this is a way of showing they don't feel threatened.

Charlie didnt care about them till she ran up to them, he was happy doing his usual wandering then sit beside hubby on sofa, he likes to go on back of sofa so can cuddle into hubbys head, but hubby was with smokey and charlie was not having it, he started to dig where stu usually sits his head as if to say hey get your head here your my daddy lol. So we put him back out in his house, I had a play with him later on after the wee ones had there exercise.

I, and I know a lot of others who do regular bondings, usually keep a broom or mop handy for splitting up fighting rabbits (just put it between them and gently push one away from the other). A pair of oven gloves are another useful tool.

You need to be so careful going in with bare arms, I still have a scar on my arm from splitting up a fight and consequently lost the use of two of my fingers for a few days after it was so deep.

Ouch, I have garden gloves, but for now till they been done wont put them near each other again, had them in the living room for there play for half hour each, take one out swap them, they seem to enjoy this time, do it regularly through the day, charlie doesnt need out his house so much we can go out to him he has loads of space.

I would echo what Sooz has written. I, too have been bitten and the bites are deep and the rabbit's reactions are lightning fast when they are angry. Definitely wear gloves and long sleeves.

Also, be careful of handling Charlie and the other buns without washing your hands in between. Sometimes they can smell the other rabbit's scent on you and if they are cross, may bite you. Gloria once got me on the thumb after I had stroked Felix. It was so fast I didn't know it had happened until the blood dripped off the end!

He smells them from my arms, can tell he is like ok who have you been holding, I am not impressed so always ware extra layer of clothing to pick him up just incase.
I have to move the wee buns into the house today, hope the cages fit, the damn wind burst the shed door.

Sparky wrote:

dizzylynn wrote:Dont have a bath, thats why do it in the living room its our space not theres.

But if each of them have been in there at different times and left their scents, it's not neutral territory. It really needs to be somewhere none of them have been before, and a small space so they can't just avoid each other.

I bonded my trio in my room, all 3 of them had previously been in there and a few weeks before the bond, i had my friends buns living in there for a week too. I think bonding in a room which they have previously been in is fine as long as you neutralise the room properly. I spent a good few days changing linnen, cleaning carpets, disinfecting surfaces, skirting boards etc. I used a 2x2 pen to start with, put bin liners and newspaper on the floor and covered it with hay. It can work if your vigilent in cleaning the place.

Ive skimmed over the thread. I gather youve started or tried bonding one of the males to a female? - correct me if im wrong! My 2 were a M/F pair and a single F. I tried introducing them before the young female was spayed and all hell broke loose. I was concerned about the bond between the pair breaking and i was concerned that they would never get on as a trio so decided to leave any introductions until after little Skye was spayed. I suppose you can swap blankets and litter trays between all 3 of them until theyre all neutered, since theyre single it shouldnt harm.
I would then start the bonding all over again once everybuns hormones have completely settled down.

I know its really difficult, but i wouldnt seperate under any circumstances other than a serious fight breaks out and they lock on to each other and refuse to let go. It sounds really brutal, but in my experience too much intefering doesnt help. Even sitting by the pen caused some problems in the ealry stages. I had to watch from the other side of the room.

Its brother and sister, only seperated them about 3 - 4 weeks ago just incase he started mounting her, not entirely sure of age, they were approx 8 weeks when I got them but lass says older, I may be wrong due to there size they looked so small but are crossed with 2 small buns. He hasnt shown any sign of them dropping yet like charlie did at 5 months, so they may be less than 16 weeks old. Charlie is about 10 months old now 9 at least, he was done as soon as he was 6 months, its was actually her who started to be a smitty girl, the boys werent interested in her, charlie wasnt caring till she charged for him, think he remembers when she got hold of his chin through the bars and wouldnt let go, so he says to her dont come near me again. Smokey was fine till she started to nudge him and push him with her body he went to push back and she started going ladly at him.