bonding my four bunnies :) ?

[emileemason]

so i have four bunnies

3 females - oscar, bella, benny
and 1 male - mojo

oscar and bella are bonded and live together happily.

mojo lives on his own (maxi - his bonded pair recently passed )

benny lives with her baby, due to leave in less than a week and then will be alone. she used to live with mojo and maxi before having her bubs as i thought she was a boy :expressionless

so i am going to get them desexed before this bonding begins, i was only going to get mojo done at first but from what ive looked up, bonding tends to work better with everyone desexed?

well anyways, has anyone succesfully bonded four? or am i just better off leaving the two bonded females together and rebonding the other two together??

thanks in advance

 

[LakeCondo]

It sounds like it would be difficult, but not impossible. Are all 4 in cages or pens in the same room? If not, doing this [after neutering] might give you an indication of how they might react. Then move the enclosures closer & closer together. Put used litter in different litter boxes.

 

[MiniLopHop]

I am in the process of trying to bond my two pairs together. It is a SLOW process. I have two males and two females (all fixed). I started by moving Becky and Gary upstairs into the same room as Sophie and Houdini. They have fencing splitting the room in half and about a foot of "no bun's land" in the middle. They take turns running around free with supervision. Their food is next to the fence so they look at each other when munching.

At first they would fuss with each other through the fence as soon as I let them out to run. I would put them right back. They quickly caught on that fence fighting = loss of running priviledge. It took a week or two, but then they would leave the room to run and ignore each other. After a couple months of this they are stopping to look at each other through the fence, but not fighting. I praise this and give them a treat for good behavior.

Gary has a bad habbit of letting himself out and has done this occasionally when it was not his turn. Unless he goes into their home territory they get along fine (livingroom, hall, bathroom etc.) but Sophie and Becky really don't like eachother. My poor baby Becky got a bloody nose and a bite to her side when Gary opened the gate and the girls met. It's going to take a very long time, if ever, for the girls to live in the same area. I'm patient, and they don't seem stressed by the efforts, so time will tell.

Now I just have to get Gary to stop opening his own gate!

Good luck with your bonding. Just take your time.

 

[LakeCondo]

Brandy, maybe a padlock with a combination lock would stop Gary.

 

[emileemason]

Yeah all of the cages are in the same room and the rabbits can see each other. I also let each cage out at a time and they go up to the other cages and check it out but sometimes one of the rabbits (the one who is alone at the moment) get into little fights through the cage when she is let out or when others come near her cage.

Should i swap the litter trays completely or just move some of the contents into the other trays?

And MiniLopHop, how long would you wait until you tried letting them out together?

Thanks!!

 

[Samara]

I'm working towards the same goal. I have 4 buns now, 2 (male) of which are desexed, one (also male) will be old enough next month, and one female. My goal is to have all of them bonded.

It's slow but keep working at it!

 

[emileemason]

well atleast others are trying to bond four rabbits as well, which makes me feel a little better! kinda seems more achievable!

i think all my rabbits will be fine except benny, she seems so territorial when others go near her cage, she like scratches at them. and oscar doesnt make it easy, she runs and plays under bennys hutch and its like shes trying to stir benny up :expressionless

oscars a bit of a cheeky girl.
rabbits have such personalities :surrender

 

[emileemason]

well atleast others are trying to bond four rabbits as well, which makes me feel a little better! kinda seems more achievable!

i think all my rabbits will be fine except benny, she seems so territorial when others go near her cage, she like scratches at them. and oscar doesnt make it easy, she runs and plays under bennys hutch and its like shes trying to stir benny up :expressionless

oscars a bit of a cheeky girl.
rabbits have such personalities :surrender

 

[cocorabbit]

Hi! I'm also considering bonding 4! So I'm happy you posted this and others comments.

I've done some research, and so far what I've found is "IT AIN'T GONNA BE EASY." :sigh:

Right now I have two bonded females that are not fixed yet.

The other two are new (boy and girl) and they aren't old enough to get fixed. So right now they are in the same area as my other rabbits but live on the top floor of our NIC bunny condo. And they aren't allowed to go down.

I read blog online, a girl was able to bond FIVE rabbits! :toast:
She did this with A LOT of time and patience. But she tried introducing them all in a NO SMELL area, with no cages, toys, food dishes or anything that would have an prior bunny scent. She said it was in her garage.
Then she sat and watched them with a water spray bottle and if any got into a serious fight she was squirt them, or use a broom to break it up. And she did this for several days for a few hours at a time. The key was if they got in a fight, waiting until all was peaceful until she put them back in their own cages. So they left on a "good note".

Also, she recommends cleaning the area with vinegar water and letting it be bunny free for a few days so their is no ones scent there.

I've also read you can take them for a car ride in the same cage will make them bond together and forget about fighting (cuz they are scared in the car). But that can make them nervous and should be used with caution, if at all.

I haven't tried any of this yet... and am thinking just keeping two bonded pairs in separate cages may be easier than bonding all four!!

 

[MiniLopHop]

I take my kids to the park in a stroller on a weekly basis, so a car ride to them is a good thing. The carrier parts hold a pair each and I push the mesh sides together so they are right next to each other in the car.

I'm thinking of using the back of our van as a meeting place. We havn't had any confrontations of any sort for two weeks. If all is clear by the weekend I think I'm going to give an introduction a try. I caught Houdini and Gary (the two boys) laying against the fence together. They got lots of bananna for that! (ok, lots is a relative term, two slices)

I'm more worried about the girls. Rebecca may be disabled but she's feisty and Sophie is twice her size. I may try just the two girls in the bath tub first so I can more easily get my hands on them should it go poorly.

It is great to know that I'm not the only one trying to bond so many. I just know they will be so happy to have full house run all the time if this is successful. My goal is to let them run like the cats. They can come back to their room to potty and rest as needed.

 

[scissors]

OH BOY..My ear is going to be "bonded" to this discussion. I too..am only trying to bond two girls..One fixed 4 mo. The other is not fixed at 2 Months..separate cages in the same room for now..but I am listening here!ray: Nancee

 

[emileemason]

i might just try and let mine out into the room they are in and see how that goes, its fairly neutral, they might be able to smell the cages but i could block them off maybe. they dont like to be picked up so its hard to move them around to other neutral areas around the house. but the house im building for them will be all fresh and neutral so hopefully that helps.

i guess when i take them to the vet to get fixed soon then they will be in the car for a ride together so i can try the whole comforting in the car thing.

who knew getting rabbits to like each other would be so hard! but it will be worth it in the end if they all warm up to each other! !

 

[Little_LongEared_Lover2931]

As soon as my bunnys get fixed I am doing to try bonding all four-two males and two girls. They grew up as babys and are all freindly when playing around each others cages. It might be easier since two are already bonded but from what I've heard four rabbits arent easy to bond.