bonding

Pancake's guide to

bonding bunnies

Not all bondings work

Unfortunately, some bondings just do not work! I know that for quite a while BOING was attempting to bond Dingle
with Gus. After months of trying, Dingle let Gus share her room but she lay down the rules. When you really looked
at them, it wasn't ever a match made in heaven but resembled two unhappy siblings sharing a room. There was too
much fighting and in the end it was safer to separate them than force them to be friends. Dingle has always become
aggressive to even her human friends when a new bunny comes to live here. She settles down after one day but we
figure she's just suited to being an only bun!

Now I'm certainly no expert in bonding bunnies as I love everyone and
everything!

Personality

I think bonding your bunnies has a lot to do with personality. Not
every bunny is going to be suitable as a pair. Take Dingle if you will...
(no, please take her!!). Only kidding, but she is one aggressive
bunny! For some reason she only likes people. She seems quite
jealous of the rest of us - whether it's because she was the first bunny
at BOING or that she was raised as a spoilt baby by K & N it's hard
to say.

Heads turn when I arrive, I'm the cutest bun alive!

I get away with stuff, As they think my head's all fluff,

But I'm one bright spark, Coz I think it's a lark,

I just show them my tummy, And my bunny mummy,

Turns to jelly and rubs my belly!

Best bondings

In our experience, the best bondings will be with a desexed male
and a desexed female. Putting two of the same sex together could
be a problem if they have not grown up together. Females are
particularly feisty so watch out if you intend to bond two girls
together. All bondings will be greatly improved if both bunnies are
desexed. We haven't yet had any successes bonding more than
two bunnies but I know it can be done with lots of patience and
friendly personalities.

Lavender & Peanut

Peanut is now out and about with his girlfriend Lavender. It was a slow
process as Peanut was a bit too friendly at the start which spooked poor
Lavender. A funny thing thing happened though... when Peanut was left
to run around on a longer time span, Lavender turned the tables and
became quite dominant towards Peanut. In fact she left a few nasty
bites on his back after humping the poor little guy over the first few days
but little Peanut was okay and now they've settled down to being
snuggle bunnies. Lavender gets jealous if Peanut gets pats from K & N
and quickly lets him know he's hers so I think little Peanut is being left
alone by his human friends for a while so Lavender gets over her
jealousy.

Gus & Annabelle

Annabelle & Gus were a wonderful & happy couple. They originally
spent around 6 months living next to each other and seemed very
content but every time they met in person, Annabelle would lunge at
Gus. A great opportunity arose when they both needed their
vaccinations. They were both separately bundled into the car in their
own carry case, travelled to the vet and were transferred into one carry
case in the car, then spent the rest of the time together. After that trip
they were inseparable, grooming each other constantly and were totally
in bunny love!

Bereavement

When Gussy suddenly passed away in October 2006, we were
devastated. However, we were more concerned about Annabelle and
how she would cope losing her best friend. Luckily we have lots of
bunnies at our house so she was not lonely for company. We
immediately moved her from her couple home in the kitchen to the dining
room where we put up a barrier between her and Pumpkin. Pumpkin is a
really friendly bunny so it was safe to leave the two of them separated by
a barrier where they could stick their noses through (some bunnies I
would make sure they have a very small gauge barrier so they can't
attack each other & bite noses or feet). These two have been fine and
have been bonding very slowly over the last month. We swap them over
into each other's territories every so often and they have met in person in
the neutral bath tub.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for the two of them to take to each other.
Annabelle was lonely & without any front teeth she wasn't any threat to
Pumpkin to fight for territory. The final bonding meeting in the
loungeroom was excellent and we had no worries after that to leave them
together forever. They are now the best of friends & Pumpkin loves to try
& groom Annabelle's long fur. She loves to lie next to him & give him
bunny kisses on his ears.

When a bunny passes away in a couple situation, there is every chance
that your bunny will grieve for their lost friend. They may go off their food
and and if not looked after with lots of TLC, they may die of a broken
heart. Think about getting your bunny a new friend quite soon but never
try & bond too quickly. You don't want to end up with a sad & injured
bunny!! Grieving bunnies need lots of attention & affection as they will
miss the daily grooming & security they have with their best friend.
Bring them inside if they are outside, change their bedding & replace
things that might remind them of their friend.

Go slow

So, if you're thinking of bonding two bunnies, please go very slowly. Pat one, then the other to mix scents. Put one in a
carry case and see how the other reacts around it. Change them over so the other gets a chance to smell inside the
carry case. When you do put them together for the first time, make the location neutral territory. Always be ready to
remove either bunny from the meeting so they avoid fighting. Sometimes bunnies will try to hump each other (even if they
have been desexed). This is a sign of dominance. Try to avoid too much of this as it is stressful to the humpee. Only
start off with a very short meeting between the bunnies at first (say around 10 minutes) and then you can build up time as
you go on. Hopefully you'll eventually be able to leave them both together for extended periods of time until they bond
permanently.

Don't force

Whatever you do in the end, don't force your bunnies to be friends. Some bunnies are more friendly than others and not
everybun will be cuddly with a new chum.

Annabelle & Pumpkin meet in
neutral territory in the bath tub

Annabelle & Pumpkin bonded