Bunny Dating

[ZRabbits]

I understand the reasoning of bonding bunnies. Especially using the shelter bunnies so that they get a "forever" home. I understand why you want your bunny to choose, because they are so picky with partners. I understand the "bunny dates" so that you can get your bunny used to a new partner, but what happens when the game changes, and it does happen when you bring this new bunny into your bunny's territory or home.

I think someone should put some kind of guidelines here to help people with that transition. Though the bunnies like each other on the 'bunny dates", it's a whole new ballgame when the bunnies get home. What happens if all is going well and then when the new bunny settles in, things change?

I'm not trying to be a "Debby Downer" or "Negative Nate" when it comes to bonding bunnies, but this information should be readily available or explained when "bunny dating" starts.

Bad enough the stress level is up for all (bunnies and humans) but it does make the humans who wanted a "bunny partner" feel bad when it doesn't work. And the new bunny ends up back at the shelter because of lack of info.

Lots of people here have been very successful bonding bunnies. If you want to help the shelters find "forever homes" and people find "bunny partners" for their bunnies, lets try to put something together. I would, but I failed in "Bunny Bonding 101". It happens but don't regret them Not being bonded though. Some people really take it hard and I'm just trying to help.

K

 

[1234bunnies777]

I have done this about three times not sure if I was lucky but it seemed to work I will try to put something together

 

[ZRabbits]

1234bunnies777 wrote:

I have done this about three times not sure if I was lucky but it seemed to work I will try to put something together

I think "bunny bonding" is all due to luck. Bunnies aren't the "social butterflies" that some thing they are. As a prey animal the only time you see bunnies together is when mating season is here. They are so much more independent than anyone wants to give them credit for.

What I have observed is, they can be friendly to many, but only really bond to one. And I think that "one bonding" should be the person taking care of them. The Pet Parent. Then friends can be brought in. I think you really need to gain their trust and know them before introducing an outsider. The stress level of "bunny bonding" hits both bunnies and their Bunny Parents.

But reading other people's experiences could help those who want to have two bunnies, or more together. Just trying to see if the level of stress can be relieved if there is some kind of guideline to help.

Can't wait to see what you put together. I hope others come on here and discuss their experiences of bunny bonding.

K

 

[MiniLopHop]

I have a sorted history with bonding, so you asked for it

I got Becky first and then started to read more and decided she needed a friend. I took her for bunny speed dating to pick out a mate. She didn't have the first clue what to do with another rabbit. We tried a couple different buns and Cinderella seemed to be the best interaction. Now that I know how to read buns better, I should have seen it coming, but the girls hated eachother when they got home. Basically Cinderella was so lonely she was willing to groom anyone, but when Becky was on her home turf, there was not going to be any sharing. The big clue was when we went to put them into the same carrier to go home Becky growled and boxed Cinderella so she had to go in a different carrier. Lights should have gone off, but I didn't know better. Intensive bonding efforts left them able to tollerate each other for short times in neutral territory, but they had a couple big fights so they never could live together.

I hoped that introducing another rabbit would help bond the girls together better. I took them both on a date and they met Houdini. He was an instant hit, both girls loved him. We got home and he went right into their space. Cinderella was like glue to him and she started to fuss with Becky out of jealousy. Cinderella started to chase Becky away from to food as well, so I had to seperate Becky.

That left me with a very happy pair of Cinderella and Houdini and poor Becky on her own. Indiana Buns became available. He had serious health issues and major emotional baggage from being neglected. I brought him home and Becky loved him instantly. My two special mini lops. She helped him navegate (he was blind) and let him know when someone came in the room (he was deaf too). He cleaned her face (she has neurological issues that make her one eye water). They were so cute together and very happy. Unfortunately Indiana Bunns passed due to his health issues. Becky was very sad.

I was not really ready for another rabbit, but I went to a rabbit show just to see what it was like. A breeder there was going to kill a bun that just DQ for a color fault because he "isn't worth the feed to take him home". :shocked: Needless to say, he came home with me. Again I lucked out that as soon as they met they were in love. Granted, Becky really wanted another mate and was lonely. Ghirardelli was just 5 months old so very malliable. I guess my girl is just a cougar. LOL

Several weeks ago Cinderella got very sick. She ended up passing from uncontrollable seizures. Houdini was with her as she crossed the rainbow bridge, but he was so very sad. Days of refusing to eat or groom himself. My happy boy just laid in their burrow with his chin on the floor. I had to get him a mate or we were going to lose him too. We went to a rescue and tried a couple girls. The first one didn't work, no interest. As soon as Sophie came in he started to groom himself and came right up next to her. She slept in his area that night. They were sharing their burrow by the next day.

Now that the two of them as solidly bonded it is time to introduce Becky and Gary to Sophie. She is a bit more territorial than Gary, who was easy to integrate. I miss being able to have all four buns play together supervised. Plus is makes for great photos. So, now all four are living in my office with the room split in half. They are settling in well and we will gradually introduce them in the weeks to come. My hope is that they will all get along well enough to have whole house roaming priveleges. I couldn't get there before because Cindi held a grudge from Becky beating her up once. Now we have a clean slate for the little warren.

 

[ZRabbits]

Thanks so much Brandy for putting down your experiences. Showing how you went from not really knowing all the details and bunny "language" to learning so much to help your new little warren. Wishing you success on bringing them all together!

Hope more post their experience. Let's help shed some light to bring more "bunny dates" and bonding to a new level. One with less stress and heartache for both bunnies and their Bunny Parents.

K

 

[BunMommaD]

Yah! Awesome thread Karen!

I'm very interested in reading about this, as we may be going down this road this summer! And I know nothing about bunny language between more than one bun lol we are still on the fence about whether or not to get cookie a friend as he is really bonded to us and since his neuter has really bonded to our little dog Charlie... They groom each other and sleep together but we may get him a wifey at some point and reading everyone's experiences will prepare me for it!

 

[LaylaLop]

When in highschool I had 4 bunnies that got along. They didn't live full time together but I had 2 unspayed females and 2 neutered males. They never fought.

As for Layla and Mumford, I knew Layla was bored with me being gone a lot and seemed to always try to play with my dog so I figured she might be lonely. I found Mumford on petfinder and fell in love. From his description he was skittish, nervous, and wary. Layla was the complete opposite and I knew bunnies kind of feed off the vibes of others around them.

I set up a "bunny date" in the rabbit rescuer's basement and Layla kept doing full out binky-500's and Mumford kept looking for places to hide. After a while he started leaning his ears towards her and walking/slow hopping to be closer to her. She was freaked out and sprinted away whenever he'd even MOVE.. I decided there was no aggression and he was friendly enough towards humans (ok with handling and pets, but not a huge fan, just mellow).

I brought him home and put him in a pen and her in her NIC side by side. I'd let them both out and they'd often spend the first week in the other's cage sniffing and pooping. When they'd encounter one another face to face outside the cages, Layla would sprint off and Mumford would try to follow curiously.

After a while Layla started her pursuit of his attention and would cram her head under him to demand groomings. He wanted nothing of it but would just sit there and ignore her. I knew this was a good sign since he was tolerant of her bossiness and tolerated her being close even when in his cage.

Over time I'd catch glimpses of them grooming each other but they'd stop when I came into the room. I gradually increased the time I left them out together and was no more than a room away. At night I'd put them back in separate cages to be safe. Mumford would often thump almost all night when they were separated and Layla would get destructive.

I decided that a closer split cage would be best and split the xpen in half with NIC panels. Shortly after, Layla jumped over or dug under them and I found them cuddling asleep. I decided that they could stay together and they have been up until Layla's spay surgery.

Mumford tries to groom her through the bars, so I know I'll have to go through a short re-introduction but they seem to not have had any un-bonding with her being gone.

 

[ZRabbits]

Thanks Kim for taking the time to put your experience in "bunny bonding". I think it will definitely help others.

Layla and Mumford look so cute together! And the pic of Mumford's reaction to having Layla back shows that bond.

Any more? Come on, I'm the skeptic here about bunny bonding, remember. Share your experiences good or bad. It does help others reading experience and can give some light on what to and what not to do.

K

 

[Nela]

First time bonding experience:

I tried to bond my heartbun, Wiggles, with another girl. I attemped this in the bathroom, in neutral territory but that got out of hand quick! I tried most of the bonding techniques but all failed, Dahlia wanted nothing to do with my girl.

Second time bonding experience:

I really felt that Wiggles needed a buddy so I decided to go to the local shelter to have a look. Bam-Bam caught my eye immediately as he ran to me immediately to play. However, there was something about his eyes... Somehow, I just felt he had tobe the one.I knew to look out for him anyway because I contacted the shelter and told them I would be coming and asked if they had any particularly hard to rehome bunnies that I could look into adopting. My poor little guy had been at the shelter for so long and everyone loved him, he was the sweetest thing, so the volunteers really wanted him to find a home. They were thrilled when I took him home.

As for Wiggles and Bam-Bam bonding? It was instantaneous. They were inseparable from the moment they met. They did absolutely everything together and there was never anything I needed to get involved in. They were mad for each other.

Third Time experience:

I got a new boy, Ashton. I thought maybe he would like Dahlia. Since she was older, and he was young, I thought I would see what she thought of him. Plus, she hadn'tmet a boy... Yeah. No. She hated his guts from the moment she saw him. :expressionless

Fourth time:

When Wiggles passed away, I was left with a heartbroken Bam-Bam. I also had Dahlia, Ashton, and a new girl Ariella. They were all kept separately. One night, Bam-Bam was looking particularly miserable and I was quite discouraged and decided to let them all out on the floor and see what would happen because I had heard that larger groups were apparently easier to deal with. Well, surprise surprise. No one fought, not even my extremely feisty lil Dahlia. Instead, I ended up with the buns pairing themselves off and going their separate ways. I ended up with a pair of boys and a pair of girls. :confused2:They were tightly bonded and after a few tests, they were cagemates as well. Heh!!! I was so surprised. I found that to be quite the learning experience!

Years later, after moving to a new country and getting buns again:

1:

I got two babies, Smores and Maybelle. I let them play together just a few times under supervision just to get them to know each other before separating them until Smores was neutered. It was all fine, until the one day Smores tried to mount Maybelle. Now, if there is one thing you don't do, is try to boss Maybelle around. All heck broke out and she hates his guts ever since. :expressionless

2:

Smores is an extremely social bun and he just wasn't doing well outside on his own. This made me feel really guilty and as much as I would have loved to bring him in, I just could not. The only thing I could thinnk of was to try and find him a mate, in the hopes that that would make him happy.I was surfing local ads one day when thistiny mini-rex caught my eye. She had that look in her eyes...It was that very samelook that I had only ever seen in my babyWiggles. With Smores being almost an exact replica of Bam-Bam, I knew.I just knew I had to bring her home. The instant I met her, I knew I was right abouther beingspecial.I allowed Smores and Giggles to interact only indirectly (divided playpens)and it was love at first sight. They were absolutely in love. So much so that they outsmarted us and made a baby (our Rolo) before we could stop them. Unfortunately, Smores still hated the outdoors and I felt the only right thing to do was rehome him with family, 5mins down the road. He was neutered and when he was healed, I took Giggles and put them together to bond. There was more chasing and having to figure who ruled over whom than there had been with my Wiggles and Bam-Bam, but they were bonded and became cagemates within hours. They are still madly in love but they are a bit more like an old married couple

__________________________

Now I know that this thread is about 'bunny dates' and my experience involved no dates. So why did I share? I share because I very highly recommend the bunny dating. If there is one thing I have learnt with the buns, is that they are really picky about whom they like. The strength of the bond is also different, depending on how much they love each other. For me, I would definitely want to bring my bun to a shelter to meet as many bunnies as they can, to see if we can find that ultimate match, the one as close to what my Wiggles and Bam-Bam had.

There is no guarantee. Even pairs that have been bonded for years can decide to fight and unbond. However, from their first contact, you can tell a lot about the energy between them. It is much more likely that a good visit at the shelter will result in a good result at home but it can certainly happen that it goes all wrong at home. I do recommend using a totally new setup to ease the bond and eliminate the "no this is MY home" attitude from the get-go when possible. I think it is easier to have a pair settle together who will run what and where, rather than trying to introduce a new bun into a pre-existing setup where the other bun is less likely to accept sharing. Also, with a shelter, most are willing to allow you to foster the bun and/or help you bond them at home before you actually adopt them. It sucks if it doesn't work, but sometimes it just isn't the right match. That's why, with a shelter, your bun is much more likely to find that ideal mate that they'll be willing to negotiate and share with.

It's quite a bit easier to deal like this, than to go out and buy a bun and it not work. Too many people do that, expecting it to work, and when it doesn't they abandon them at the shelter, rehome them, etc.

The safest bet is to expect the worse but hope for the best. If you expect and accept the worse, you'll know that perhaps the bond will never happen and you will need to keep them separate. If that is something you are willing to do, it takes a load of pressure off yourself and the buns. You should expect this for all bunnies, bonded or not, again simply because it's not unheard of that bunnies will unbond. Personally, I think people shouldn't get more bunnies if theyare notbe willing to acceptkeeping them separately in the event that it becomes necessary. Again, the advantage of the bunny dating is that you'll find the perfect match to make it much more unlikely to happen. That's how I feel at least!

 

[ZRabbits]

Thanks so much Nela.

Thanks so much for taking the time and sharing your expierence.

Definitely some good advise!

There is no guarantee. Even pairs that have been bonded for years can decide to fight and unbond. However, from their first contact, you can tell a lot about the energy between them. It is much more likely that a good visit at the shelter will result in a good result at home but it can certainly happen that it goes all wrong at home. I do recommend using a totally new setup to ease the bond and eliminate the "no this is MY home" attitude from the get-go when possible. I think it is easier to have a pair settle together who will run what and where, rather than trying to introduce a new bun into a pre-existing setup where the other bun is less likely to accept sharing. Also, with a shelter, most are willing to allow you to foster the bun and/or help you bond them at home before you actually adopt them. It sucks if it doesn't work, but sometimes it just isn't the right match. That's why, with a shelter, your bun is much more likely to find that ideal mate that they'll be willing to negotiate and share with.

It's quite a bit easier to deal like this, than to go out and buy a bun and it not work. Too many people do that, expecting it to work, and when it doesn't they abandon them at the shelter, rehome them, etc.

The safest bet is to expect the worse but hope for the best. If you expect and accept the worse, you'll know that perhaps the bond will never happen and you will need to keep them separate. If that is something you are willing to do, it takes a load of pressure off yourself and the buns. You should expect this for all bunnies, bonded or not, again simply because it's not unheard of that bunnies will unbond. Personally, I think people shouldn't get more bunnies if theyare notbe willing to acceptkeeping them separately in the event that it becomes necessary. Again, the advantage of the bunny dating is that you'll find the perfect match to make it much more unlikely to happen. That's how I feel at least!



K