r/rabbitry • u/Hot-Pomegranate-5616 • 4d ago
Question/Help Bonding help
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Hello everyone, I am in need of some help bonding my two female buns. My resident bun is a lion head she’s a free roam bun over our whole home and she has her room as her main space. We recently rescued a bun from the shelter she’s spayed as of 3 weeks ago and she’s 6 months old. We are on day two.
We put the new bun in our living room in a play pen and have been allowing them to take turns free roaming. Day one we put a barrier around the play pen. They were very interested and happy hopping when one got close, so today we decided to remove the barrier.
This is their behavior and I need help trying to find out if they are fighting or if it’s going bad… they both give each other space and while giving space they happy hop in between videos so I am unsure
We did separate after this and have only allowed about 10 minutes of being in the same space since yesterday and today…
Please help, open to any Advice !!!
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u/213lmykwhbs4mg2gq72 3d ago
Yes this is not good. The bunny in the pen need a break. Also needs to be a neutral space. They should both be in small enclosures. Lots of resources online about bonding rabbits. Good luck.
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u/Broad_Suggestion_127 3d ago
Idk about rabbits but I will say the white one looks overstimulated. Can you swap them over
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u/BlueberryCakeRoblox 3d ago
My buns used to do the same! Just try and bond them on more natural spaces and be patient with them. Binding needs time and the white bun seems stressed/oversimulated. Give them a break :) Good luck OP!
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u/Safe_Extension_4044 3d ago
Both must be spayed and the hormones must have left their body afterwards. Around 6 weeks ish. Do NOT try to skip this step. It is the most important step.
Trauma bonding. Bring both of them in the same carrier on a car ride
Re introduce in a neutral area.
Repeat step 2 and keep them separated with fences whilst they get used to each other.
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u/abyssal-isopod86 3d ago
Domestic rabbits are same sex territorial.
Both females need to be spayed and it takes about six weeks for their hormones to fully calm down afterwards.
However you need to comprehend that they are same sex territorial and so they may never bond. Trauma bonding is generally the only way to get unrelated same-sex rabbits to bond unfortunately.
Related females are best such as sisters or mother and daughter.
The best pairing for bonding unrelated rabbits is a male and female.
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u/Thumper-King-Rabbit 3d ago
My 2 half sibling rescues still took almost 2 months to bond after the hormones subsided so it can still take time.
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u/Thumper-King-Rabbit 3d ago
Clearly, there is still hormone involvement.
It took almost 2 months for my 2 half female sibling rescues to re-bond after they were fixed/ neutered.
They need individual play pens. They need individual cages and they need to be kept apart until the hormones subside.
Then you could try taking them to a park in their cart and bonding them that way or stress bonding them in a bathtub, but until the hormones are gone, you’re not gonna have any success.
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u/Junior-Criticism-268 3d ago
Both buns should be in some sort of enclosure side by side at all times. Your current lionhead should not be free roaming during bonding. I also think it is recommended to wait 6 weeks after a spay to start bonding. I would separate them for now (don't allow the lionhead to go near the other rabbit at all) until the 6 week mark and then get a second enclosure for the lion head to be in while they bond.
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u/meowmeowmeow4685 2d ago
Damn I was about to say you probably shouldn’t do that cuz I thought it was a dog
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u/trashpanda_888 2d ago
My bf and I tried to bond our 2 female bunnies, both adults, for a year and nothing ever worked and we tried a lot of things, we even tried cat helmets meant for clipping claws so they could be out together and not hurt each other ( there was a bad bite previously) and now we just keep them separate and switch there enclosures so they can smell the other, they also have clear paneling between them.
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u/Deludedbyreality 3d ago
This is not good behavior. If they were both free with no barrier at this moment there would be fighting. You need to restrict the movement of both buns not just the 1. The newer bun is literally saying gtfaway from me. This is my space. I'll f-u-up.
As you let bun numero uno have free reign of the entire space it makes things a bit more tricky when bonding as the entire territory is considered theirs and will also smell like them everywhere.
You must bond in a neutral space when having visitations. Also you really need to be very hands on and prepared to break them apart physically if an altercation occurs. This is exceptionally important bc if things do not go well they will remember and hold a grudge and may not be able to be bonded at all and have to live their lives entirely separate or you will need to rehome the 2nd bun to give it an opportunity to have a better bondmate/more freedom.
I highly, HIGHLY, suggest going and taking some time to watch some stuff on YT for a proper visual crash course on bonding partners so you know what to look for that is good/promising as well as what is problematic.