Rabbit Bonding Advice Needed!!

[charlie98]

I am trying to bond two male rabbits that are neutered. One lost his brother who he was bonded to a few months ago and after he seemed to have gotten over the loss of his brother I began looking for a new friend for him and after a while found what I thought would be a good match. My rabbit is 8 months old and the new rabbit is a year and 11 months. He comes from a home with three small children and is VERY tame. At first, I tried stress bonding and the new rabbit groomed my rabbit for a few seconds about three times. After a few more stress bonding sessions in a small cube I moved them to my bath tub and almost immediately I had a bunny tornado. I have since done more research online while swapping their cages with no dates for the past week or so and found some conflicting advice. Some websites say stress bonding works the best and to work from a small space to a large space. While other sites say to start in a large space and increase the size of the space if any issues are encountered during the dates and that stress bonding can create fake bonds. My question is for the people who have bonded a pair/multiple pairs of rabbits. What method(s) did you use and what worked/works best for you? Stress bonding and starting in small spaces or starting them in large spaces?

-Too Long; Don't Read: Does stress bonding or working in large open neutral spaces work best for you when bonding rabbits?

 

[Blue eyes]

"Stress bonding" means different things to different people. As a general guide, I don't like the idea of stress bonding at all. I think that rabbits who are already inclined to bond will bond with or without the stress bonding. BUT for those rabbits that are more difficult to bond, the stress bonding can lull one into a false sense of progress. Once the stress is removed, the rabbits remember they don't like each other.

Here is a good read on stress bonding from Cottontails.
https://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/stress-bonding-what-does-it-mean/

They also have great info on the bonding process that includes various videos showing bondings in progress -- some easy, some difficult, and some that won't work.
https://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/

 

[Penelly]

I am trying to bond two male rabbits that are neutered. One lost his brother who he was bonded to a few months ago and after he seemed to have gotten over the loss of his brother I began looking for a new friend for him and after a while found what I thought would be a good match. My rabbit is 8 months old and the new rabbit is a year and 11 months. He comes from a home with three small children and is VERY tame. At first, I tried stress bonding and the new rabbit groomed my rabbit for a few seconds about three times. After a few more stress bonding sessions in a small cube I moved them to my bath tub and almost immediately I had a bunny tornado. I have since done more research online while swapping their cages with no dates for the past week or so and found some conflicting advice. Some websites say stress bonding works the best and to work from a small space to a large space. While other sites say to start in a large space and increase the size of the space if any issues are encountered during the dates and that stress bonding can create fake bonds. My question is for the people who have bonded a pair/multiple pairs of rabbits. What method(s) did you use and what worked/works best for you? Stress bonding and starting in small spaces or starting them in large spaces?

-Too Long; Don't Read: Does stress bonding or working in large open neutral spaces work best for you when bonding rabbits?

"Stress bonding" means different things to different people. As a general guide, I don't like the idea of stress bonding at all. I think that rabbits who are already inclined to bond will bond with or without the stress bonding. BUT for those rabbits that are more difficult to bond, the stress bonding can lull one into a false sense of progress. Once the stress is removed, the rabbits remember they don't like each other.

Here is a good read on stress bonding from Cottontails.
https://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/stress-bonding-what-does-it-mean/

They also have great info on the bonding process that includes various videos showing bondings in progress -- some easy, some difficult, and some that won't work.
https://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/

I am trying to bond two male rabbits that are neutered. One lost his brother who he was bonded to a few months ago and after he seemed to have gotten over the loss of his brother I began looking for a new friend for him and after a while found what I thought would be a good match. My rabbit is 8 months old and the new rabbit is a year and 11 months. He comes from a home with three small children and is VERY tame. At first, I tried stress bonding and the new rabbit groomed my rabbit for a few seconds about three times. After a few more stress bonding sessions in a small cube I moved them to my bath tub and almost immediately I had a bunny tornado. I have since done more research online while swapping their cages with no dates for the past week or so and found some conflicting advice. Some websites say stress bonding works the best and to work from a small space to a large space. While other sites say to start in a large space and increase the size of the space if any issues are encountered during the dates and that stress bonding can create fake bonds. My question is for the people who have bonded a pair/multiple pairs of rabbits. What method(s) did you use and what worked/works best for you? Stress bonding and starting in small spaces or starting them in large spaces?

-Too Long; Don't Read: Does stress bonding or working in large open neutral spaces work best for you when bonding rabbits?

I am trying to bond two male rabbits that are neutered. One lost his brother who he was bonded to a few months ago and after he seemed to have gotten over the loss of his brother I began looking for a new friend for him and after a while found what I thought would be a good match. My rabbit is 8 months old and the new rabbit is a year and 11 months. He comes from a home with three small children and is VERY tame. At first, I tried stress bonding and the new rabbit groomed my rabbit for a few seconds about three times. After a few more stress bonding sessions in a small cube I moved them to my bath tub and almost immediately I had a bunny tornado. I have since done more research online while swapping their cages with no dates for the past week or so and found some conflicting advice. Some websites say stress bonding works the best and to work from a small space to a large space. While other sites say to start in a large space and increase the size of the space if any issues are encountered during the dates and that stress bonding can create fake bonds. My question is for the people who have bonded a pair/multiple pairs of rabbits. What method(s) did you use and what worked/works best for you? Stress bonding and starting in small spaces or starting them in large spaces?

-Too Long; Don't Read: Does stress bonding or working in large open neutral spaces work best for you when bonding rabbits?

I struggled with stress bonding but found the most success when outing them in a laundry basket and walking around with them. The bathtub method had very little effect personally, one of my bunnies is terrified of hardwood and wouldn’t even move in the tub. After stress bonding daily for a week I let them in a pen together. I decided to stay up all night and observe to make sure nothing happened. In total the bonding session lasted 8 hours. But by the end of it they were inseparable, constantly grooming each other and snuggling. This method worked for me but was very taxing, not for the faint of heart. If you have any more concerns let me know!