Bonding went wrong... =(

[Mika]

Help!!!!!

I have 1 holland spayed girl (2 weeks ago), Mika, who is over 1year old. Yesterday I got a 5 week old holland boy, Joey.

When I got home, I put Joey in a pet carrier and I let Mika sniff him through the wire door. They sniffed for a few seconds then Mika bit Joey on the nose!!! After that, I put Mika back in her cage!

Does this mean my bonding is ruined now??!!

I won't put them together again for a long time...but i'm really scared now!

How can I get my bunnies to meet? Mika is in a large dog crate cage and gets the run of the house when i am home, and Joey is in a large plastic cage. I know that bunnies should be put side by side for a couple of weeks so they can see each other...but does that work if: 1. Mika has had the whole run of the house (so she probably thinks it's her territory) and 2. Joey is in a plastic cage.

Please help!! I really want my bunnies to get along!!

Thanks!

 

[Mika]

Here's a picture of Joey and Mika

 

[Mika]

Joey:

 

[bbgrl20]

Its always best to have the their bonding sessions in a neutral territory, so Mika doesn't fell like she has to protect her territory and attack your little guy.

And be careful when you put them side by side because they can still do a lot of damage if they fight. give it some time though let mika get used to the fact that there is another bun she is going to have to share her space with and her human!

Good luck

 

[Mika]

Thanks!

Should I wash my hands after playing with Joey before I play with Mika? Right now I haven't been and I notice that Mika is sniffing me like crazy....but I also have Joey up against my clothes too and Mika can smell him on my clothes too.

I'm not sure what the scent of another bunny is doing to Mika - is it making her mad? Will she attack Joey more because she recognizes the scent??

Thanks again!

 

[bbgrl20]

I think its a good idea to leave his scent on you, it makes mika get used to his smell and know that he is there to stick around

 

[bbgrl20]

BTW, your bunnys are adorable:inlove:

 

[TrixieRabbit]

Awwww. Sorry to hear about the bunny bite! I don't know anything about bonding from first hand experience, only what I have read on this board. I think that the most common piece of advice is to go slow and start on neutral ground. If Mike has the run of the entire house, then that might be difficult.

Your bunnies are so cute!

 

[naturestee]

Did the bite break the skin? If it did, put some Neosporin (not the Plus that has painkiller!) on it and keep a close eye on it.

Mika is probably still hormonal because her spay was only two weeks ago. It takes a long time for hormones to decrease, sometimes at least a month to start seeing changes. So give her some time to calm down and keep them separate.

Also, Joey is awfully young for bonding. Baby rabbits tend to love everybody, until they hit puberty. So you can bond them to a certain point, but I really don't recommend trying to house them together until after he's been neutered. Puberty sometimes causes them to do a complete 180 in their opinion of the other bunny and it has caused bad fights before.

For now, keep a double wall between them. That way they can't fight through the bars. Here's an example of Fey and Sprite's cage while they were unbonded. They did fight through the bars but I was still able to bond them back together again.

 

[HoneyPot]

Hi Mika - you're not alone with this problem!

I'm trying to bond Misty (9 month old spayed female) with my new bun Charlie (9 week old male) and I have the same issue. Misty sniffed Charlie through the bars, then tried to bite his face off.

She was also attacking me when I smelt like Charlie (the heavy sniffing, then a nice big chomp).

I tried the neutral territory and Misty didn't care, she explored for 2 mins, then went back to trying to trying to attack Charlie.

What I've been doing - at the suggestion to others with experience, is keeping Charlie in Misty's territory (she also has free run of our whole house). He is in his cage (2x2 NIC) and surrounding the cage is an X-Pen. I have shoes and weights keeping the X-Pen about 3 inches from Charlie's cage, so Misty can't reach Charlie through the bars.

At first Misty spent all her time running in circles around the cage and trying to get in to attack - lots of charging and growling. Now, 3 weeks later, she still runs around the pen, but goes and does her own thing after a few minutes. So she's making progress. I was told that Misty is an "alpha female"... Mika sounds the same.

I would suggest trying the same thing to get Mika used to Joey being in her territory. I also let Charlie out in Misty's play area so he can play and get his scent on her things. It's working - Misty is a lot calmer now when she smells Charlie - although the two of them are having a poop/pee war in my living room which is suck y.

Good luck.

_____________
Nadia
Misty & Charlie

 

[naturestee]

Charlie's so cute! When did you get him?

 

[HoneyPot]

(minor thread hijack)

Naturestee - I got him about a month ago. I'll update my home thread with some pictures.

__________
Nadia

 

[Mika]

Thanks!

I'm just wondering when I can get Joey neutered....the vet is going to get back to me on that...

...but if i get him neutered early, will he still go through the 'teen/adolescent" phase?



Joey did have a tiny bit of bleeding...just a tiny tiny spot of blood in 2 places which dried up really quickly...I can't even find it now.

Is it normal for bunnies to bite (and BLEED!!) during bonding??

Thanks!

BTW, Charlie is VERY cute!

 

[HoneyPot]

Thanks. Joey is a sweetie pie too! Baby hollands are so cute.

A little nipping is normal I think, but you don't really want them to bite each other or fight. Biting hard enough to bleed is too much - you should keep them out of each other's reach until Mika is a little calmer around him. Look at her tail and ears - Tail up and ears back at 45 degrees means she's on the attack and you shouldn't trust her not to attack him.

Maybe someone who has been succesful at bonding can give tips - I'm just a beginner!

__________
Nadia

 

[manda]

im also bonding two bunnies. ages 2 yrs and 7 months.

try taking them outside (in a secure pen made of nic cubes!) and set in there with them with a glove on and break up any fighting before it happens! and just do it for about 10 mintues a day. thats what i have been doing, and its been working.

give them specail treats when they are together too. my bunnies love crasins but they only get them when they are out together having a bonding session

 

[Bunni]

I see, i see. Bonding of coruse doesn't always go well. If i buy a rabbit i make sure it has a pal it can grow up with. If you do this later sometimes they will hate each other. Its always good to buy two rabbits if you think that the other one will need a playmate. I bought 2 rabbits first then later a third and they dont really like the third. See what i mean.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I have the same carrier as you. Same color too.

The picture of the two with Joey in the carrier scares me, as rabbits can bite through cages. As Naturestee says, keep a distance in the barrier between the two. Some members here, just had their bunnies ears bit or ripped by other rabbits. Having fur pulled is as far as I would go, but if it continues for a while, then I would hold back on the bonding. If the bite draws blood or scarring, then I would separate the two immediately.

Another member here is bonding her Holland ( 6 months?) to a 2 year old rabbit. She waited until she had her Holland spayed before she attempted the bonding.

Are you sure Joey is a male? Sometimes rabbits will know immediately that they arethe same sex, and prove that bonding can be difficult.

Rainbows!

 

[Bunni]

Bunni wrote:

I see, i see. Bonding of coruse doesn't always go well. If i buy a rabbit i make sure it has a pal it can grow up with. If you do this later sometimes they will hate each other. Its always good to buy two rabbits if you think that the other one will need a playmate. I bought 2 rabbits first then later a third and they dont really like the third. See what i mean.

Here, try giving them food together.If that doesn't work hold them both on your lap. If one tries to fight clap loudly or yell no. You could also get two seperate cages and put them side by side. then see what happens.

Sometimes male and female rabbits don't bond well.... i read that most of the time same sexes (as long as they are girls) get along. If they are both boys then that's wrong. Two males wont get along. (Territorial issues)

 

[naturestee]

Bunni wrote:

I see, i see. Bonding of coruse doesn't always go well. If i buy a rabbit i make sure it has a pal it can grow up with. If you do this later sometimes they will hate each other. Its always good to buy two rabbits if you think that the other one will need a playmate. I bought 2 rabbits first then later a third and they dont really like the third. See what i mean.

Unfortunately that doesn't always work. Just because they've known each other since they were born or from a very young age does not mean that they'll like each other after they hit puberty. One of our other members tried this and they fought while she was gone... and one bunny didn't make it. And if you read MyBunnyBoy's recent threads, she had two boys who were great together until they were nearly a year old, and now it's impossible to keep them together. And they were neutered. So introducing rabbits at a young age does not guarantee that they will bond permanently.

 

[Bunni]

That is true, but it worked for me so I was just giving some advice. And it wasn't exactly from birth we just bought 2 rabbits put them in the same cage and they did just fine.