Nibbles' and Junie's Bonding Adventures

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mdith4him

mdith4him

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As I posted here, we are attempting to bond our bunnies, Nibbles and Junie. Since we're no longer in a "pre-bonding" stage, I thought I'd start a new thread to continue updates on this pair. Any advice, comments, thoughts, concerns will be so appreciated! These are our first two rabbits and the first time we've ever experienced rabbit bonding.

A few minutes ago we put the two bunnies together for the first time in the bathtub. I put a towel down and put a few small toys and some hay on top. I was really nervous that Nibbles would bite Junie hard or be really rough since all he does is nip at her from between the bars in their cages (their cages are side-by-side). We put Junie in the tub first, then brought Nibbles in. For the first few minutes he totally ignored her and was hopping around the tub and seeing if he could get out. Within a minute he had peed in the corner! :rollseyes She was instantly at his side when we put him in the tub--she put her nose down to the ground and half closed her eyes. She kept trying to get as close as she could to him and a couple times managed to get her nose under his belly a bit. He sniffed at her a couple times, then scurried after her and nipped her. My husband had thick gloves on so he put his hand over Nibbles' head and gently pushed his head to the ground. After a moment, he let him up again. A minute later, Nibbles tried again to get after Junie and nipped her. This time, I spayed him with a squirt bottle. That stopped him fast and he looked pretty confused! He had pulled out a few small tufts of her hair, but he hadn't actually bitten her enough to leave a scratch mark or draw blood (thankfully!). At the very end, he had his head over hers and was sniffing (and maybe licked?? couldn't quite tell...) on and around her ears. Either way, it looked like a more peaceful interaction, so we took her back to her cage after that. We wanted to end things on a good note.

I'm so glad that things seemed to go relatively well. We're planning another bathtub date tomorrow morning and evening and again on Sunday. Depending on how those go, we may move the dates somewhere else like the hallway or office by Monday. We're hoping for a quick bond (of course), but we know it could take longer. At least Junie seems interested in a friend! We just need to convince Nibbles ;)
 
First times are generally nerve-wrecking. Luckily, it's over with now. =)

Ignoring each other is not a bad thing. If that happens, take that as a good thing.
 
Hi, I'm watching this thread like a hawk bc I'm trying the same with Humma and Faith.

What is with these boys?!?! Humma did the EXACT same thing to Faith! She submitted like Junie did and he chomped her face! No marks, no blood either. We also ended the date on a good note, but geez...

So I just stopped by to say I'm right there with ya! Here's to some love connections soon! :D
 
So thrilled it went well. Excellent idea BTW starting in the bathtub.

I'm cheering you both on. Hopefully Nibbles calms down and allows sweet Junie close.

It's a start. Please keep us posted. Hoping the next encounter goes well.

K :)
 
OK, Bunny Date #2 is over!

We put them back in the tub together for about the same amount of time as the first date. At first, Nibbles just lay down. Junie hopped over and tried to stick her nose under him again and both of them just lay there fairly quiet for a few minutes. Junie seemed more awake than Nibbles and after awhile she moved away and was exploring the tub a bit more. He scampered after her and nipped at her (at least that's what it looked like), but I don't think he pulled any hair like last night. We squirted him and covered his head for a moment to make him stop. He sniffed her a couple times, but then would go in for more nipping. He thumped a couple times and she did, too, mainly after he had been chasing her. We ended their time after he had sniffed her and moved away.

The beginning seemed to go well, but by the end, I think Nibbles was just done with being in this weird, new place with a new bunny. Juniper just seems like she wants so desperately to play and have a friend! We'll try another time tonight. Do you think we should have another go in the tub or try another spot?
 
I'd try another spot. Giving them a variety of different areas to interact could be a good thing. Maybe a bit bigger than the bathtub?

I'm definitely not an expert in bonding, but wishing you all the best,

K :)
 
Date #3:

We decided to move the action to a small section of the hallway this time (about 3' wide and 6' long). Nibbles immediately went in for nipping and this time he was able to chase her around since they were in a bigger space. Junie went over to him at first and put her nose and head down on the ground. Every time he would nip at her and pulled out a couple tufts of fur. After a few times plus the chasing she started thumping at him. She would try to hide behind one of us and he played with the toys we had out for them. At the very end we got both of them to lie down nose to nose as we pet them for a few minutes. We figured that was about as positive as it was going to get for this go-round, so we put them back in their cages at that point.

It all looked pretty normal to me, from what I've read (the nipping, chasing, etc.). I feel bad for Junie--she just wants a friend! We're trying to let Nibbles show his dominance so he feels comfortable and "in control" and she looks like she's more than happy to let him be the dominant one. But we don't want it to get out of control (of course).

We'll do another date or two tomorrow. If you have more advice or ideas for us, we're all ears!
 
Bunny Date #4:

We returned to the hallway this morning. There was a lot of chasing and nipping at first from Nibbles, but no hair was pulled (that we could see). He cornered her a couple times and each time he was jamming his nose really hard into her side and/or up under her belly. He wasn't biting (or she would've bolted), but we're not really sure what this nose pushing means or what he was trying to do. Twice, he sniffed up near her head and around her ears and he licked her a bunch! We were so excited! They never lay down together and she hasn't licked him yet, but we're taking his licking her as a good sign. The problem is, she seems to be scared of him now since all he's done in the past is nip her. Any time he approaches her (whether he's running toward her or just walking toward her), she runs away. Hopefully next time he'll continue the grooming he was doing today and be a little more gentle toward her.

I'll be back tonight with an update on date #5!


Edit: Meant to add this...
I read earlier that the nose to the ground thing that Junie's been doing is apparently a request for grooming/petting, which is something the dominant bunny usually gets. Maybe this is why Nibbles is so aggressive toward her? He wants to be the dominant bunny?
 
I'm glad your bonding sounds like it is going better than mine :biggrin2:
Looking forward to the next post and hoping for bunny kisses!:wink
 
Bunny Date #5 in the hallway went about the same as #4. Junie ran away from Nibbles a lot, even the couple times that he came toward he a little more quietly and gently (instead of rushing at her). There was more rough head nudging from Nibbles on a couple occasions and Junie would take it for awhile, but when he got too rough (not sure if he was nipping her or what), she jumped away. At the end we sort of half-forced him to lay down while we were petting him and corralled her over to lay next to him. They stayed like that for several minutes as we pet both of them. She buried her nose under his chin, but he didn't lick her this time.

She seems really nervous and scared almost the whole time. Nibbles was grooming himself, lay down several times, ate the hay we put down, and seemed generally at ease. She didn't groom herself and looked wide-eyed most of the time. She only ate a few pieces of hay and only when we offered them to her. Hopefully as he continues to get a little less rough she'll see him as a friend instead of as a big, scary bunny.

More to come tomorrow!
 
Glad to see it's going well :biggrin:
 
For Date #6, we moved them to the office within an xpen. They've been in the office before, but not for a long time and not within an xpen. This date went fairly similar to the last two, although Nibbles pulled out a bunch more fur than the last two times. She seems very scared of him now. Lucky for her, she's much faster than him and can usually get away pretty quickly. We kept them there for about an hour. They shared a water bowl (cautiously) and we put both their litter boxes in with them. Nibbles peed in her box and we put the fur he had pulled out of her in his box. We got them to lay down close to each other once, but that ended when he lunged at her and she dashed away. The couple times he managed to corner her, he kept doing that weird nose-nudging/rough grooming (?) that he's done the last couple times. She tolerates it until he nips her hard or she can jump away (usually less than 30 seconds). Most of the date she was just going behind me to get out of his way and hide.

We'll have another go tonight. For bonding that takes awhile (as it seems this one might), is this the type of behavior that will continue for the near future? Should we try something like smearing banana on his nose to encourage her to groom him?
 
It's early and it's only the first few dates. Since nipping is a little bit more than expected, you may want to reduce the bunny date times. And re-up the times gradually again. (Perhaps three minutes the first week, four minutes the next week depending on how well the dates go, etc.)

Why not slow down the bunny dates? It may be going too fast for them. Perhaps have them meet every other day?

You can also try the banana smearing on top of their heads; that sounds good to me. Put out a fresh plate of greens, fresh hay, and/or handful of dried flowers (chamomile is pretty cheap) each time for the greens to distract Nibbles from nipping. Once Junie notices that Nibbles is preoccupied with eating the greens, she'll probably come over to join him with the nomming. (Why would she want to miss out on the tasty greens?)
 
Thanks for the helpful ideas :)

I'll reduce the time for the dates. We did start out with just 5-10 minutes, but maybe we're increasing the time too quickly.

I had read to have one or two dates per day was good, but we'll have to reduce how often starting tomorrow. We were able to do two a day over the three day weekend, but once we get back to regular work days, we'll just have time for one in the evening.

I'll try putting out more food for them to munch next time. We've tried giving Junie tiny pieces of romaine and cilantro before, but she doesn't seem interested in it! She half-heartedly ate the cilantro, but she wouldn't touch the romaine. She's too little for veggies on a regular basis (she's just 3 months), so we were just giving her tiny pieces each time. She may be more willing to approach him if he seems preoccupied.
 
We decided to take a break from the dates yesterday. Sunday night I switched the two of them so that they spent the night and most of Monday in the other one's cage. Neither seemed too upset. Nibbles seemed a bit uncomfortable on the small shelf we have in Junie's NIC cage (her cage is way smaller than his, but still adequate). Junie seemed confused about how to use the enormous amount of space there was in his cage! She kept plopping down to sleep in different areas about every 10-30 minutes! Monday night we switched them back. Nibbles was happy with his space again. There was lots of running and jumping!

Anyway, tonight we went back to the bathtub for date #7. We made it short compared with the last several, only about 10 minutes. Nibbles ignored her at first, but then ran at her and got a nice tuft of fur out of her back. She had her head lowered practically the whole time. After he ran at her and nipped her once or twice more she hid in a little plastic house we put in the tub for them. He munched on some of the hay, groomed himself, and occasionally lay down. She watched him closely and hunkered down if he came close. She still seems eager to have a friend, but she's much more cautious and wary now. We got them to lay down next to each other for a minute or two while we pet them, but once we stopped Nibbles only lay there for another 5-10 seconds before turning and nipping her again. We ended it after they had been laying together for a minute and put them back in their cages.

There were several times where she could've licked/groomed him if she had tried, but she won't do anything but offer herself for grooming! Next time we're going to try the smeared banana and see if that convinces her to lick a bit.

I've read about people doing car rides with the bunnies in the same car carrier. Do you think it's too soon for that? I don't know if we could get them in the same carrier and get it down to the car without him getting at her. Or are you supposed to wait until you're in the moving car before putting them together?
 
Also, I meant to note that besides Junie lowering her head, neither one has shown any of the 'dominance' actions that I've read about. Neither has tried to mount the other and Nibbles hasn't lowered his head toward her. When would you expect this type of activity to happen?
 
I think the two of them are both waiting for the other to groom them right now. That will take a little bit longer before one of them gives in. Then, I'm guessing that will be probably the time you will see the dominance behaviour.

For my Missypants and Bighead, it was a few months of the two of them shoving each other's heads against each other waiting to be groomed before Bighead eventually side-mounted her.

Also, like you said, Junie is only three months, so the bonding process may be harder. I would save the car ride (if necessary) after she is spayed, because depending on how hormonal she is, some of the progress you gain in the meantime may be lost. (There is a risk either way that the bond may or may not hold.)
 
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