Rabbits are social, they said. Rabbits are happier when they have another rabbit friend, they said.
Nobody told my rabbits.
Mr. Anya was not a happy bunny when we brought Dawn Summers home. We had recently lost his best buddy and wanted him to have a new companion as soon as possible. Before we tried to bond the first pair, I spent hours online reading up on techniques for bonding. All of my research turned out to be mostly unnecessary, as the two of them were almost instantly in love.
But this new creature smelled weird and did NOT belong here. As soon as we sat her cage next to his, he freaked out, banging and throwing things. I thought we were about to watch a rabbit prison break as he yanked on the cage trying to figure out what this invader was doing there.
Since we knew it would be awhile until we could start the bonding process anyway (she was only twelve weeks old and couldn’t be spayed yet,) we set her up in a different room. He relaxed considerably once she was no longer in his space.
That should have been a sign of what was to come.
He stayed in the living room, and she was in the family room. The layout was fairly open, with the two spaces only separated by the kitchen. We kept them in their separate spaces during playtime, so he would continue his routine in the living room while I supervised her. I was able to keep an eye on him. Apparently he also wanted to keep an eye on me.
Eventually we moved her cage close to the gate so he could come close enough to see her and start adjusting to her smell. Since she wasn’t in HIS space, he didn’t get mad. And of course she was still far enough away that they couldn’t fight. Finally we were able to move her cage next to his and take turns letting them out to play. Once she was finally spayed and recovered, it was time to start the bonding process.
I wanted Mr. Anya to love Dawn Summers like he had loved our last rabbit so they could cuddle and keep each other happy. I revisited all of the websites and resources I had used before to prepare for bonding these two. It was so easy the first time that I suppose I had some unrealistic expectations. They were supposed to be friends within a couple of weeks.
Nobody told my rabbits.
We followed all of the tips about gradually increasing their time together and the amount of space they were allowed in. We swapped their cages every day to get them used to having each other’s smell in both spaces. Even in neutral territory, we had some issues with aggression and the battle for dominance.
Four months of bunny dates later, they were finally getting along well enough in neutral space that we tried them in a cage together…supervised and in a neutral room, of course. We also started gradually giving them time & space in the living room, which is where we wanted them to be.
After another four months of this, there was grooming going on and they would explore together. There hadn’t been aggression in awhile. They finally seemed successfully bonded, and it was time for them to be full-time roommates.
Nobody told my rabbits.
After a month of blissful cohabitation, we were awakened early one morning to the sounds of a skirmish and found Mr. Anya had escaped the cage, although not all of his fur did. From that point, trying to get them to play together led to Mr. Anya’s ears laid back, tail lifted up, and tussles that led to missing fur. Always his. Fortunately we didn’t have any injuries!
Now we were back at square one. We did car rides and bathtub time. We did neutral territory play dates and built back up to where they could play and be friendly. But we decided that maybe it was best for them to be neighbors and not roommates.
Two years later, Mr. Anya and Dawn Summers are finally pretty good buddies. They have play time together every day, and they seem to enjoy being able to be together. Of course, a 13-hour car ride together when we moved from Oklahoma to Indiana, plus the fact that they are now in a space that has only belonged to the two of them together probably didn’t hurt. They still argue about who is going to get groomed, but we haven’t had a bunny tornado in a long time.
