bonding advice needed

[black_jack]

as some of u know last week ibought a 3-4 week old baby rabbit from a farm.

The baby rabbit is beingkept in the indoor hutch in jack and hetti's room with a fence aroundit so that they cannot get to her but they know she isthere.

Today I removed the fencebut the second i did this Jack and Hetti turned on eachother andstarted acting crazy.

Please help... the fencepanel is now back up again and the rabbits are no longerfighting.

 

[black_jack]

anybody? i have checked the bonding websitebut there doesnt seem to be mention of what this couldbe?

 

[ayglnu13]

Weird....I reallyhave no idea what this could be....I wish I could say something helpful:shock:

I assume they are both fixed? Maybe theyare fighting over who gets to baby thebaby

~Amy

 

[Kricket]

Hey BlackJack, how old are Jack &Hetti? Are they spayed & neutered? Are Jack& Hetti bonded? Have they acted aggressive towardsthe new baby?

 

[Buck Jones]

My bonded pairs get crazy when another rabbit is in the vicinity of their hutch.The bucks seem to "attack" the does in a frenzy of displaced aggression toward the "intruder," whom they are unable to get to.

Rarely, does anybun get hurt and I chase the "intruder(s)" away because they are hanging beneath the hutches just to be pesty anyway.

I don't know how to deal with your specific situation.Others, here, have successfully bonded trios.We, unfortunately, are not included in that group, but they may have more and better information for you.

Buck

 

[black_jack]

both Jack and Hetti are bonded and are 8-10months old. I say bonded its not really all that stableanyway but they are both neutered and spayed.

Im not sure that they havebeen agressive but Jack did make an action that looked like he tried tonip the baby and hetti then jumped over him so jack went afterhetti?

Hetti and the new bun look alike.

Jack is the nicer of thetwo buns he is normally less agressive so i dont think he could havetried to bite the baby but maybe hetti misinterpretted it?Hetti normally doesnt need an excuse to fight she seems to thrive offit bless her she is definately the bully.

Is it best for me to tryagain and monitor what happens closely.

I was thinking i could doit when i take there food in that way they may be distracted enough tojust get on with it?

Thanks for the help Igot, Buck it is always a pleasure to here from youand i am glad you are back with us.

 

[black_jack]

Itried the food trick and was able to remove the protective fence fromaround the cage.

I let them get used to this for a couple of days,

Tonight I put a fence upto seperate jack and hetti from the baby bunny and let him out for arun.

Hetti was really franticshe put her head down by the bars and when baby came to sniff shescratched at her and tried to bite.

Jack did the same except he waited longer before biting.

I put another couple offence panels in between them so that when they bit and scratched theycouldnt reach...

Have I done the wrong thing here?

Baby rabbit seems to wantto play but doesnt seem to realise that jack and hetti are beinghostile.

I have put baby back in herhutch and taken down the panels, with a bit of luck they should be ableto smell the baby where it has been runnin around?

Could really use some help figuring my two buns out.

 

[Kricket]

Hey Black Jack...I am rather new to this bunnybonding process, but, I have been SO lucky bonding my babies.While they were separated, I would rotate toys from cage tocage. I heard that rabbits have a keen sense ofsmell. I had also heard that rabbits will leave messages foreach other using scent glands (chinning). As crazy as Iproably sound, I thought that if they could smell each other they wouldrespond to each other much better. Perhaps my bunny bondingwould have gone fine without that, but thought it might be worth amention. I also had them in separate playpens side by sideeveryday for playtime. I would rotate their playpens, mostlyso they could 'explore' each other's scents.

And yes, they definately can smell where that baby bunny hasbeen! Have you tried handling the baby, then handling Jack orHetti? They need to know that the new baby is valued by Mom(I am assuming you are a woman...) and smell his scent onyou. Also handle Jack & Hetti, then handle thebaby. Get them used to each other's scents...hoping thatmight help. Sorry, I tend to get wordy...:?

Good luck and keep us posted

Hugs!

 

[black_jack]

Thanks cricket.

Well this morning having leftthe room as i had last night i went in and the yellow tray that babystood in yesterday whilst he was enclosed has been weed in by jack orhetti and there are territorial droppings concentrated in that areatoo.

They are obvioulsy marking there territory what do i do now?

I have tried stroking babyand then the other buns but jack and hetti dont let me pick them up sothey are probably not getting totally covered...

 

[Kricket]

Oh, yeah they are marking theirterritory. I think that is very normal. My bunsthat I recently bonded (with NO problems ) ALWAYS mark.Well, just with droppings, not urine. Sometimes I see a fewdobbles in their pellet or hay dish.

What about petting and loving Jack, then Hetti, then thebaby? Then start the cycle over again. Have youtried holding the baby while sitting in front of their cage and talkinglovingly to them? Tell Jack & Hetti in your sweetmamma voice..."I love this bunny (pet and stroke him). Thisis our new bunny." That sounds crazy, but that is how Iintroduced my dog and cats to the bunnies. It took forever,but I think they finally understood that these furry little things arepart ofour 'herd' so to speak.

I would hold one bunny while kneeling down, while my mom was RIGHTthere to restrain them (incase a cat or the dog lunged at thebun). I would look at my dog, Chloe and say..."AW!Chloe, we love these bunnies. This is my sweet bunny,Shorty. Maybe someday you can play with him too,Chloe. He is so sweet and we LOVE him." (Somethingalong those lines) Eventually Chloe calmed down and becamegentle and curious. It got to the point where she would justlay next to their run outside and bark like CRAZY if a cat or bird gotnear them . It's kinda hard to put into words, but theother members of the pet family need to be showed how much YOU love andvalue the 'new' member. I think it is the same with dogs orcats...Jack & Hetti will eventually understand how special thislittle guy is and hopefully accept him.

What is the new bunnies name? And how old are Jack &Hetti? Jack & Hetti are male & female,right?

 

[dootsmom]

Hi Jack, I have a bonded trio (originally 4).

This started out with a neutered male, bonding to another neuteredmale. Both are very mellow guys so, there was no tensionbetween them.....hense, no fighting. Along came Ginger (shewas about 2 month old) and she leapt over her 2 foot high enclosure toget to them. I added another foot for additional height, toher enclosure. No problem, she jumped that, too. Iadded another foot !!!! The little bugger jumped that,too!!!! I realized, at that point, that there was nothing toworry about. They got along fine. About 6 monthslater, I came home with Buttons (a baby). Ginger, thematriach, accepted him right away. The boys were not as quickto accept him but, because SHE accepted him, they did. Theyare in my computer room.

I have a bonded pair, male & female, spayed &neutered. Oreo (the female) and Frenchie are "joined at thehip". Oreo sounds very much like your Hettie. Jackis like Frenchie. Oreo will not allow the "computerroom" guys out of the room when she is around. Frenchie willback her up and chase them back, also. He does what shesays! They can only come out when she is either in the yardor sleeping. Occassionally, blood is drawn when Oreobites. Fortunately, this doesn't happen too often.Oreo draws more blood from the cats than the other rabbits. Ithink she hates them more and, they are afraid of her (I have 25 poundcats!!!).

I would not, at this time, try to bond the baby with Hettie &Jack. First of all, the baby is too young to defend itself,should something happen and you are not fast enough to intercede.

Keeping them apart is the wisest thing to do. They caninter-act through the enclosure without much injury to thebaby. Cinnabun is sporting a "flappy" nose because Oreo bitehim through the gate. This happened on a Saturday night& we didn't get to the Vets until Monday morning. Bythen, the flap had begun to heal & my Vet didn't feel thatre-opening the wound was the thing to do.

All you can do right now is wait & see whathappens. When licks are exchanged, instead ofbiting & scratching at each other, and they lay nextto each other through the fence you can begin putting them together.

Charlotte

 

[black_jack]

Hettidid lay next to the cage last night but she also kept stressing out andbiting and scratching at one point i grabbed a bit of her furr whilstshe was doing it and it stunned her a little bit so she sat on herhunches and then lay down everytime she got up to stress i stroked herand she stayed down but she isnt happy.

Jack seems to do what hetti says too but i think thats cos female bunsseem to be the boss. I would not let them have free rangetogether though as the little one is too young to defend herself and icertainly wouldnt let them both on her in one go will keep it slow fornow.

Does it sound like im getting there though?

 

[dootsmom]

It sounds as though things are working out. Time &
patience, is the key. Charlotte

 

[black_jack]

thankslotte will give it another go tonight and just perserverexx

 

[black_jack]

Kricket wrote:

Oh, yeah they are marking their territory. I thinkthat is very normal. My buns that I recently bonded (with NOproblems ) ALWAYS mark. Well, just with droppings, noturine. Sometimes I see a few dobbles in their pellet or haydish.

What about petting and loving Jack, then Hetti, then thebaby? Then start the cycle over again. Have youtried holding the baby while sitting in front of their cage and talkinglovingly to them? Tell Jack & Hetti in your sweetmamma voice..."I love this bunny (pet and stroke him). Thisis our new bunny." That sounds crazy, but that is how Iintroduced my dog and cats to the bunnies. It took forever,but I think they finally understood that these furry little things arepart ofour 'herd' so to speak.

I would hold one bunny while kneeling down, while my mom was RIGHTthere to restrain them (incase a cat or the dog lunged at thebun). I would look at my dog, Chloe and say..."AW!Chloe, we love these bunnies. This is my sweet bunny,Shorty. Maybe someday you can play with him too,Chloe. He is so sweet and we LOVE him." (Somethingalong those lines) Eventually Chloe calmed down and becamegentle and curious. It got to the point where she would justlay next to their run outside and bark like CRAZY if a cat or bird gotnear them . It's kinda hard to put into words, but theother members of the pet family need to be showed how much YOU love andvalue the 'new' member. I think it is the same with dogs orcats...Jack & Hetti will eventually understand how special thislittle guy is and hopefully accept him.

What is the new bunnies name? And how old are Jack &Hetti? Jack & Hetti are male & female,right?

Baby hasn't really got a nameas we are not sure of the sex i keeptrying out names but not gettingvery far..

We bought jack on the 7thDecember and he was five months then so he is about 11 months old, whenhe was 9 months we got hetti.. she was younger than jack when we boughther i'd say she was about 4 months so is about 6 months oldnow?

Hetti = 6 month old female(neutered 3 weeks ago)

jack = 11 month old male(neutered 6 months ago)

baby = 5-6 weeks, not sure ofage or sex, not been neutered as too young.

I have stroked baby infrontof jack and hetti but they didnt pay anyattention.

They do not attack her whenshe is in the hutch but when we create her a run they attack betweenbars.

 

[black_jack]

jackand hetti no longer attack between the bars and have taken up lyingnext to it now

 

[naturestee]

Yay! It's only a matter of time now!

 

[black_jack]

thanksnaturestree have to keep them seperated until she is oldenough but hoefuly when she is it will go smoothxx

 

[Kricket]

OH!!! Black-Jack!! This is GREAT news!! :wink:Keep us posted!

 

[black_jack]

wentinto see the buns this morning and noticed that the fur on scams facelooked a bit weird on closer inspection it looks like the fur on thebridge of her nose has been pulled clean out there is now a white scabbut looks healed we were doing so well untillnow. dont know what to do as they are seperated by a fencepanel to stop fights...scam is so freightened of me at the moment