BONDING

I get asked all the time whether rabbits need a friend or do they have to have a bonded pair. That is a tough question to answer. Reason being is that some rabbits prefer having their human all to themselves, and other rabbits enjoy the company of other rabbits. It is largely based on their personalities. But If you plan on being away for a majority of the day, It may be in your buns best interest to get him/her a friend.

Its always easier to bond younger rabbits, just be sure of their genders. Rabbits can breed as early as 10 weeks old! If you are bonding adults, it gets tricky so below I have some tips on making the bonding process easier.

Its always a good idea to get both rabbits spayed/neutered. If you have gotten two unaltered rabbits and are waiting on appointments, saving up, etc, go ahead and put their cages next to each other. If its a male and female pairing, give some space between cages. Believe or not, they can breed through the wire. Male and female adult pairing seems to be the easiest to bond but any combination will work, again it all depends on their personality.

Once you have your rabbits ready its time to set up a neutral space for their first meeting. Rabbits are extremely territorial. What you need to do is to take away all sense of their territory in an unfamiliar place. So put up a play pen somewhere in your home or even outside that no other rabbit is familiar with. The play area should have places for both rabbits to go to get away from the other rabbit. You also need to be able to reach all areas within this play pen just in case there is any fighting going on.You want their first meeting to go well. Keep it short and sweet, I am talking a few minutes and then separate. If they ignore each other, that's awesome. You want the first time they actually meet each other to go well, because you don't want them to associate a fight with their first encounter. Put back in their own cages. Never leave them unsupervised until you are absolutely sure they bonded!

Some rabbits bond extremely fast, and others, they just cant seem to get along. After their first meet and greet I suggest on taking them on daily car rides. A car ride is stressful for a bunny, so instead of trying to claim territory or establish dominance they will snuggle next to each other for comfort. It doesn't have to be super long, just around a few blocks and then put them back together in the neutral place that you provided. Letting them loose in the neutral place sort of carries that sense of comforting each other in their new place. Now you need to pay attention on this next part.

You need to be able to read body language in a rabbit. Relaxed behavior will be eating and drinking, stretching out, flopping, grooming, maybe even a binky. If your rabbit tries to mount the other rabbit, it usually means "I like you", but if the other rabbit isn't wanting it then it may lead to a fight. Males and females will mount. Aggressive behaviors will be tail up, ears back, growling, boxing, circling, chasing and biting. If one of these behavior occurs several times in a row; if neither rabbit backs down; if it leads to further aggressive behaviors, it should be interrupted. You can try to gently put a broom between them or get gloves and intervene that way. They WILL bite your hand and it will hurt! Gloves are a must!

Rabbits groom themselves and each other quite a bit and you can use this instinct to further the bonding process. You will need a banana and some time. Take your bunnies on their daily car ride. Take a piece of banana and squish it over the rabbits ears and head and even the back. They may begin grooming while they are on a car ride and that is fine. Place them in their neutral play area again and keep watch for any aggressive behaviors. Most rabbits love bananas so they should be busy cleaning themselves and each other. I love this little tip because it tricks both rabbits into grooming one of another and they get a treat for having good behavior. It reinforces happy memories and good behavior towards the other rabbit.

When your rabbits show positive signs of progress, gradually increase the time they are spending together. After they can spend a few hours together, then you should move them to a larger play area, preferably still a neutral play area. Once they can spend several hours together, you should be looking for signs of affection. Do they lay side by side? Is there grooming? When you see these, and they can spend large blocks of time together, then you should move them into your first rabbit's play area. (Or where their common play area will be once they are a happy couple.)

If they are successful in the play area, then you should only let them out together to play. Put them back into their separate cages still. After several successful days playing together, you may be able to place them into a cage together. There you have a bonded pair of rabbits!

* Every rabbit is different and the method above may not work. In extreme cases and as a last resort I would use the following scenario. I had to rebond a pair of female rabbits. They had to be separated when the other rabbit got sick. The owners put them back together and the healthy rabbit viciously attacked the sickly one. I went to their house and used their bath tub. Filled it with and inch of luke warm water and placed both rabbits in. They will not be happy at all. After a few minutes give them a towel and place both rabbits on it. Their hatred of water and snuggling together rebonded them quickly. After some time cuddling on the towel, dry them off and place them back in their cage/play area. Rabbits hate water, and they hate not having traction. Make sure rabbits are COMPLETELY dried off before placing them outside if they are outside rabbits. Again, this method is to be used as a last resort! *