STRESS FREE BUNNY BONDING 

I'm starting to feel the same way about my Netherland dwarf, she's becoming less expressive since we added a minilop to the family, and we're now one month into the binding stage, hopefully this vid will help. Since her sister passed away, she's become more vibrant, and more relaxed, I'm guessing she's going to revert back to being submissive as she did in with her sister... Maybe I should have just stuck with one rabbit 🤦

lmao same

I am going threw so much heart ache trying to find the way to bring our 2 mini rex litter mates back together. Any advice would be great. They were bonded up till 3 months. Then- COVID shut us down from the immediate neuter... We had to go a year w/ them separated w/ critter caging in same room. Then Frank the dominator broke through the wall into Dale's area and roughed him up in the night. I moved Frank out into our living. I'm at a loss here. Frank is very very dominant and Dale very submissive. I have tried the bath tub thing and the table thing with them next to each other. At one point do you realize they will not bond? Do you try try try for years? I won't give them away but want them to be together again like when we first bought them....bonded.

Did you do it with them all on the table together or a couple at a time? I’m trying to bond 2 bonded bunnies with my 3rd bun!

This table method is not bonding. This is a replacement for stress bonding, which is supposed to come before an actual bonding session. I have a video comparing US and UK methods if you're interested, but this table method doesn't allow for all the steps necessary for building a hierarchy. If you're having trouble with your bond, they could do well with a reset of separating for 3 weeks without seeing or smelling each other. Also is their bonding spot neutral? Facebook has a good group called Rabbit Bonding Advice by the RWAF you could check out for a foolproof method.

What is pre-bonding... My two bun litter mates became in-bonded after a few months as covid shut down Oregon in 2019. The vets here did not open up for almost a year. By then- bond broken and hormones ruined there friendship. I had to move the dominant one out in our living room as His brother was so afraid of him after the brawl. Now, I was hoping the dust settles but it seems Dale gets so upset when I do the "stress" bonding on our living table like I watch on video and give it a break. I do it every 2 weeks. It's hard on everyone:( I would love my small living room back and two bonded brothers again- but it's been a struggle...I bring Dale on our couch while we ALL watch TV. Frank sits on his hitch watching and will run up but not want to get close on couch with us and Dale. I feel ...lost

@@chenoabryan8458 Oh no! If they are not neutered I would separate them and get them neutered and keep them separate for 4-6 weeks after. Pre-bonding is a step before bonding. Prebonding can be swapping items between their pens like toys and litter boxes, and eventually swapping the rabbits to each other’s pens for a couple weeks (still separate). People also keep the bunny cages side by side with a few inches distance and a buffer in between to prevent fighting. You can cover their cages for maybe a week or a few days then uncover to give them a rest if they had been fighting. People usually do pre-bonding for a few weeks or a month before putting the bunnies together contained for a few minutes at a time in a neutral area (where neither of the rabbits have been). Then you can increase the time they are together to a few hours in that neutral area over a few weeks, could be months or longer if they aren’t getting along. People will usually put them in a semi-neutral area (one that neither of the rabbits are living in but have been in before) after they have been getting along for a few weeks to see how they do before they set up a living space for them to be together. I find a lot of information on the BinkyBunny site helps. They have a forum dedicated to bonding where you can ask for advice and there’s an info tab that has steps for bonding. I hope this helps! :)

@@angelskitty4573 prebonding is an American method and honestly optional. The UK doesn't recommend it (doesn't NOT recommend either, they just think it does nothing.) I'm American but also don't believe pre bonding does much if anything. Honestly I have a theory it could cause more stress usually. However it did help bond one of my pairs!

@@jessicasosnoski7517 The norms for rabbit care in America and the UK are quite different. I personally think it’s important so they can get used to each other’s smells and movements and become comfortable. Typically no harm done in giving prebonding a try as long as safety measures are used. :)

@@angelskitty4573 yes the two methods are very different in some areas. I actually made a video comparing the 2 methods and giving my opinion which steps the US has better versus which I think the UK has better. But of course at the end of the day, it deoends on what works as long as you're not putting them in a dangerous situation. :)

Best to be happy just to have the bonded pair. It's difficult to get them to accept a 3rd bunny. 💕🐰💕

Between sessions keep bunnies in separate pens.

@@RabbitSanctuary thank you so much for your response

Yeah, you might wanna try another bonding method

Great question! Would be good to know, did you manage to do it and what would you recommend?

Yes it would.

Trio bonding can mean that one will always be the odd one out. That can be stressful for the third bunny.

yes indeed

They look like angoras. I like angoras but I’m partial to lionheads. Currently trying to bond my neutered seal male lionhead to a female rew lionhead.

Mini Lops

You should be able to as long as both are fixed

We are located in New South Wales, Australia.

Are you in Oregon?I'm struggling to bond my mini rex bucks. They broke there littermate bond and then covid shut all of Oregon down for a year. I couldn't get in to have them neutered and it caused major delay in our bun bun family. Now, it's so hard to get them back TOGETHER. I wish there was a bunny play date locally where you can meet others whom met this very same fate. I refuse to abandon any animal. As I'm also taking care of an abandoned soon to be mother cat out in the local green house. Over ran and ran ragged here....

@@chenoabryan8458 The post above you answers your question...they are in Australia.

Also want to know this please

What happened to cause the bond to break? Happy to give advice here.

@@RabbitSanctuary thank you so much 🥰 one couple is composed by Molly and Clyde more than 2 years old, tiny bodies, vaccinated and fixed, they were the dominants, the other couple it's composed by Carotte and Whisky they are younger but bigger and heavier (almost the double) I had to wait for them to get the right weight to get fixed, and when it happened they stayed the entire day at the clinic, in the evening they were back home but Carotte was suffering from hypothermia so she spent the night with me, snuggling under the blankets until she got her temperature back... and in the morning when I tried to put the couples back together it was a disaster, so I decided to keep them apart until the young couple fully healed from the surgeries (I feared the stitches could open during a fight), the couples were separated but with visual contact, and they would fight through the fence. Now it's been over 2 months and they are still very violent through the fence... it's so sad, they could be all the 4 free in this huge house and enormous garden, like before, but every time I try it ends up in blood.

Today, maybe 10min ago... Molly managed to escape her enclosure and bit off the tail of Carotte :(

@@andiecc oh no! For fence fighting, this can be VERY harmful to their bond. I would recommend keeping the fences a few inches away from each other and something in between to keep them from pushing them close. Or you can zip tie NIC grids or some kind of wire mesh to keep from biting. I have window screening pinned up on one fence with them spaced apart. It is likely that they have negative feelings towards each other from the fence fighting and past experiences. I would probably start from scratch, keeping the fences spaced apart and covered out of sight for maybe two weeks, no bonding sessions for a month. Hopefully they would forget about the past. Then after two weeks or more of being covered (blankets or sheets clipped up so the bunnies cannot see each other), uncover only at feeding times and feed them where they can see each other, then cover them again. Continue this for a week or so. This should help them be more comfortable with each other and try to replace those negative feelings. Then do more prebonding (still keeping the rabbits separate at all times) swap their items and litter boxes for a week or two, then start cage-swapping. You can swap the rabbits into each other’s cages (never in the same one at once) and let them get used to each other’s scents and make them forget who’s territory is who’s. I would do this for two weeks and then start bonding sessions. You should make a post on the BinkyBunny forum, there are people with lots of bonding experience there and they can help! I would continue the cage swapping throughout the bonding. Also maybe clip up some bed sheets or blankets covering the tops of their cages to make sure they can’t jump out (assuming you use x-pens). I hope this helps!

It would be best to get the female spayed before moving forward, and letting her heal for at least 4-6 weeks after the surgery. This will help with her being territorial. The males also may be responding to her hormones which can lead to fighting. The BinkyBunny forum has good advice on bonding, and you can even make a post about your specific situation. That’s where I go when I need rabbit help.

What method are you using for bonding? What sort of behaviours are they showing? Are the desexed?

@@RabbitSanctuary Well we started the small enclosure and they like to sniff butts, then nip? maybe? We usually stop it so it doesn't get bitey and yes they are desexed