I would like to bond a pair of my bunnies....

[gentle giants]

I would like to bond a couple of my rabbits, and I know this sounds silly, but i didn't have a specific pair in mind. I have tried about four different bunny dates so far, and all were, at least to me, disasters.

I guess my main question is this: I have heard you aren't supposed to end the date on a bad note. But what do you do if they start to fight? I haven't had anyone get injured, but they all end with the dominant bunny sort of running over the top of the other one and kicking, or just pulling hair and chasing each other. How do you stop them from geting hurt without ending it during a fight? And how do you avoid getting yourself hurt while separating them???

I'm feeling frustrated here. I don't know if I am doing this all wrong, or if I have just tried the wrong couples together. BTW, all the pairs I have tried have been male/female and both spayed/nuetered.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I don't know. I tried to bond Bo and Clover and they used to play together. Then she started biting bo and now they can't even do that!

 

[Flashy]

It can be hard to find the right pairings that work. It doesn't necessarily have to be male/female, the only thing I shouldn't be is male/female with both not fixed (for obvious reasons).

Are you trying them in a neutral place? Are you providing lots of interesting things in the area, and their favourite foods too?

When you get them out, its important that you are feeling relaxed because they will pick up on any tension. Take a few deep breaths before you pick up any bunnies, and keep yourself calm when they are together, even if they fight, don't get stressed, just intervene.

I'd suggest going through all the combinations of possible pairings again, even f/f and m/m ones. I worked my way through my buns giving them bunny dates with each bunny and found a beautiful little trio that worked so well together. I started bonding them last Wednesday, and they are pretty much fully bonded, they just can't live together yet. They are a m/m/f where the female is not spayed, so diverse groupings are possible.

When you go through them all again, try to look at those that are dominant and those that are submissive because if you can engineer a pair with a dominant and submissive bun then you stand a better chance than with a dominant dominant pair.

I also found it's easier to bond groups more than pairs, so if that is an option, maybe consider that too.

There are some definite pairs that don't work though, no matter how much we want them to, that's not any ones fault, their personalities just don't click.

Hope this helps a bit.

Good luck!