re-introducing bunnies after major fight

[mynameisjeff]

Hello everyone. I just joined the forum today and find it very useful!!

The week of Katrina our two bunnies started fighting. Just togive you a little background: we adopted the boys (Simon &Austin) in May, and were told that they had been bonded since at leastDecember of last year. Two altered male rabbits, about a yearold. Their fights were very fierce (as bunny fightscan be), so we separated them and they remain in separate spaces,although right next to each other.

We have been re-introducing them in a neutral space, about 3 times aweek, until a fight or some agression begins. Usually thefight starts with Austin tries to mount Simon. Once theystart circling each other we break them apart.

Is there a common length of time for this process? It's beena month now, although we are inconsistent with the "bunnydates". Perhaps we need a new space?Perhaps the bathtub or the kitchen table?

The boys still nap next to each other, on opposite sides of the cage,which is so adorable. Before the fights began these two werebest buddies, grooming each other all the time, andsnuggling. SO cute. These are our firstrabbits, so we're learning a lot very quickly!

Thanks for all the info on this forum - it looks like it will be a fantastic resource.

jeff

 

[Lissa]

First of all, welcome to the board. Let me share with you my story and maybe it willhelp. I have two bunnies, Iszy and Pristine. Iszyis a very dominant bunny. No matter how hard we've tried tobond her with her adopted sister, nothing has ever worked. Even in thepast with Lenci (my bunny who passed), there would be furflying. Iszy will never get along with any otherbunnies. We keep her separate from her sister at alltimes.

 

Youmight want to read this story.http://corkyscave.net/Corky's%20Story.htm

 

[CorkysMom]

Male/Male combos are the hardest to bond....mostlikely they were young, my 2 did fine when they were young...til oneday a nice lil thing called hormones came a calling. It canbe done, but its alot of work.

You can read the link that was posted above, thats a true story of whatI went thru, most likely as a result of when hormones came into thepicture.

Good luck with things and take it slowly and be beyond 100% sure theyare doing well before you leave them alone without supervision.

 

[jordiwes]

A lot of people have found success by puttingthe two bunnies in a stressful situation together (like a car ride, oron top of an active washing machine). They will turn to each other forcomfort and sometimes that gets the ball rolling.

I'm still chuckling over Carolyn's story about how her two bunnies bonded together inthe face of the crab net!

 

[naturestee]

Welcome to the forum!

Have you seen this site?http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htmIt helped me a lot when I bonded Mocha and Loki. Mocha hatesall new bunnies and is extremely territorial. It took over amonth to bond them, much of that with daily "dates" involving frequentseparation from fights. One thing I found that helped withthese two is a bigger space. We started in the bathtub butthey couldn't get away from each other when they were upset.I also found that putting the rabbits near each other and petting themand cooing over them helped, too. Now they snuggle togetherwhen they want to get petted- two bunnies, one hand needed!Oh, and stressing via vacuum cleaner, etc. did nothing for them, but ithas helped others.

Many rabbits hit a "teenage" stage around the end of their firstyear. This is in addition to the "joys" of puberty thatusually start around 3-4 months of age. That's probably whathappened for your boys to make them start fighting.

I want to encourage you to stick with it. You have to be very vigilantthough. You also need to let them work out their dominanceissues- so let them mount for a little and then push the aggressoroff. It can be a lot of hard work, but if you're willing togo through it all then it can work.

Oh, and this site has several more articles that I foundhelpful:http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html

If you stick around for a month or so, you'll get to watch thefireworks as I introduce Mocha and Loki (bonded male/female pair) to abonded pair of girls after they are spayed. This garantees tobe trouble.

As a little encouragement, this is what Mocha and Loki look like now:

 

""""""""The week of Katrina our two bunniesstarted fighting. Just to give you a little background: weadopted the boys (Simon & Austin) in May, and were told thatthey had been bonded since at least December of last year.Two altered male rabbits, about a year old """""""""""

This is KEY here .

There was a Major Storm brewing , theywere bonded , and both arealtered , which is a good thing ,Stresses such as hurricanes ,earthquakes and floods allknock the snot out of senses , bothAnimal and humans . As traumatic asKatrina was they may not rebondfor quite some time , Patience is the keyword and patience , dont tryand rush them , keep them at seperate play timesfor now and let them reintorducethrough cage bars for now ,with luck they will come back around .

 

[mynameisjeff]

Thank you all so much for your knowledge& encouragement! Part of what gives mefaith in this process is knowing how close the bunnies were prior tothe fights. Wish me luck - I'll let you know howthings turn out!

I'm attaching a photo of the fellas from last May. Simon LeBun is the one on the left, and Austin is the handsome devil on theright.

Thanks again!!

JEFF

 

[CorkysMom]

They sure are handsome!! Good luck, I hope you can pull it off!

 

[HoneyPot]

Good luck with the re-bonding! Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Lissa]

Good luck! Be patient.

 

[mygrl2k3]

This almost looks like two bunnies stuck together.

 

[naturestee]

No, this looks like two bunnies stuck together!

 

[mygrl2k3]

Shame on you for glueing those babies together

Cristy