BunnyBonding2

Bunny Bonding (Continued)

How To Conduct An Encounter Session

For the first encounter session, try to keep the bunnies in the neutral area for around 15 - 20 minutes. You might use a hallway, spare bedroom, or even the bathroom. Then put the bunnies back into their habitat. Each session extend the time. Switch habitats each night so the buns will get use to each other’s scent.

The goal is to get them to snuggle and groom each other. Often at first encounters the bunnies show no interest in each other, but this is good. They are checking each other out to see if they can trust one another. This is definitely better than bunny violence. Putting some banana on the back of the ear might help the bunnies start the grooming process.

The Two Approaches

Free Choice - Ideally you would want your bunny to visit other available bunnies to see which one she likes best. But for most people this is not the case. Usually another bunny is in need of a home, or else you fall in love with an available bunny and have to own it.

So free choice bunny bonding is great because the bunnies are working out their relationship on their own. The draw back is it takes longer without human intervention.

Stressing Out - This approach is to speed up the bunny bonding process. By putting the rabbits in a stressful situation you are forcing them to rely on each other for support.

Many stressing out situations have been devised. One is putting the rabbits in a bathtub where it is difficult to have a bunny fight - too slippery. But be careful the rabbits do not get too startled to the point they hurt themselves through panicking in the tub. Another situation is using a large cardboard box with both bunnies inside and running the vacuum cleaner around it; or putting the box on a washing machine at spin cycle.

The cardboard box technique can be used by putting it in the back seat of a vehicle and going for a short ride with a human overseeing them and comforting them. Since every bunny is unique, use your imagination and come up with your own situations.

Bonding With Other Pets

Since dogs and cats are predators, utmost care and supervision should be taken in introducing them to your rabbit. If the rabbit is mid-sized, the cat is not going to mess with it - the rabbit can hold his own. But if you have a dwarf variety you will have to be careful even of your cat. Dogs are notorious for chasing and killing rabbits (ever heard of greyhound races?). A big dog around a rabbit should always be supervised, no matter how famously they seem to be getting along. It only takes one bad moment for your bunny to be seriously hurt.

Our Pomeranian dog got along just fine with all the bunnies we had while he lived out his 16 year life. He and the buns would sniff at each other once in awhile, and that was about it.

Bottom line: Always be protective of your rabbit.

Conclusion

Some say bunny bonding makes for the happiest bunnies, and in most cases this is probably true. But do not let yourself be put on a guilt trip for not bonding your bunnies. Maybe one bunny is all your circumstances can allow. If you are taking good care of your little friend then kudos to you! This is what we are wanting, more and more loving, caring companion rabbit owners in the world.

Our one and only personal experience with bunny bonding was unsuccessful. Without going into the details, we realized what time and effort it was going to take for a bonding to take place. Since we were both working jobs we decided we couldn’t do it. But we continued to love and care for our two bunnies, letting them take turns playing out. This worked for us, and I am sure it works for many others as well.

If you would like personal help and support in your bunny bonding efforts here you will find experienced “matchmakers” who will be happy to help you:
Experienced Matchmakers At Your Service
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