bunny bonding approach

[manda]

just as i seen some progress i am seeing increased agression. sometimes they can barely go 20 mintues without niping. not fighting, just nipping. i have been getting them out 20 minutes a day a few times a day for a couple of days now, and came to the conlusion that the longer i leave them together the better they get along.

do you think the wear them down methood would work. for those unfamiluar its just having your rabbits out allllllll day and be right there to break up any fights. they supposly get tired of fighting and will snuggle, etc. and i have seen them do this in the past when i used to keep them out 4 hours at a time. i was thinking tomorrow have them out from about 8:00am to 8:00pm. i have made so many mistakes already i hope it doesnt hurt.

what do you think?

 

[megandawn]

That is similar to my approach. I have a yard the is all three rabbits common area. After opening one cage and letting them get to know each other through the cages I put them all out together. They will hop up to each other sniff, rub and sometimes nip but them lose interest and go off and do their own thing. My two females are mostly protective of their own hutches....the neutered male gets along well with both. I think it has alot to do with just getting used to each other and the longer they are together the sooner that will happen. It seems like I just kept repeated the same progress over and over until I left them out together for longer period of time and got past that point. They will still occasionally chase each other and get a mouthful of fur but for the most part they are getting along well. Sometimes they just need to figure out how to co-exist on their own. Who knows what is going on in those little bunny brains. My only suggestion would be to make it a neutral place so they don't feel like the other is trying to invade their personal space and they need to protect it.

Good luck!

Megan

 

[manda]

thanks for the incouragement. i usually have there bonding sessions outside, or in the spare bed room. when i do the all day thing will probably have them in the bedroom, unless its a very nice day outside. they both live in my bedroom, so neither of those places are clamied territory.

 

[rubysmom]

I understand your frustration since I just went through it with my Hazel (neutered male) and Ellie (spayed female). I have always started out with short sessions but gradually work my way up in time. If they don't have the opportunity to move to the next stage of getting to know each other, it can be difficult to get them bonded. It seems like they always have to go through the same intitial stuff and then the session is over usually because they start fighting. But as I let them stay together longer and let their fights escalate a bit (obviously not to the point where they hurt one another) I saw a change in their relationship. Finally, when I saw that they were spending less time fighting and more time ignoring each other while together I put them together for a long session. I stayed present with my spray bottle and just let them go about their business. There would be occasional fights but more often than not they seemed to decide it wasn't worth it. My last long bonding session turned into permanent living together although I suffered a sleepless night from checking on them Hang in there and I definitely recommend letting them move onto longer periods of time together.

 

[manda]

i think i will gradually work them up to where i was (4 hrs) and keep going until its all day. i raised the time by 30-45 mintues depending on how well they did