Chapter 31- Miracle Bonding
It was photo day at the House of Buns. Every couple of months, Dad set up a make-shift studio in the garage and took adoption portraits for the rabbits in The Rabbit Haven foster network who were looking for their forever homes.
One of the rabbits today was a black lop-eared bunny named Violet. Dad selected a purple backdrop for her and gently set her down on it. While he waited for Violet to get comfortable with her surroundings, he struck up a conversation with her foster mom, Hester. Hester explained, “We were hoping she might bond with our rabbit, Thumper, but it hasn’t been going well. We’ve tried all the recommended processes of putting them together inside an ex-pen in a neutral space. We even tried a professional bonder, but they just fight. They even scratched and bit me! It doesn’t seem right to me to force them together like that. Also, I hate making Thumper stay in side-by-side ex-pens when he’s used to being a free roam rabbit. I don’t think it’s going to work out. We may have to bring her back to the shelter. Do you have any suggestions?”
Dad could relate. He had the same thoughts when he first tried bonding Abigail. Over the years, he developed his own technique, but was hesitant to share it because it went against the popular approach. Still, he wanted Violet to find a home, so he offered, “Well, I use a different approach. It’s not the ‘officially recommended’ procedure, but it has worked well for me. Instead of forcing them together in a confined space, I like to give them lots of space. I noticed when we used to have play dates, we could put lots of rabbits together and for the most part, they got along. If there was a scuffle, we’d just separate them. The space we used was very large with lots of hidey spots. So, I decided to try that approach with bonding.
“I let Abigail stay in her free roam space and put the new rabbit in an adjoining guest room with an exercise pen fence between them to keep them apart. This way, Abigail could go over and meet the other rabbit on her own terms. Then, using the ex-pen, I expanded the guest area into Abigail’s territory. I didn’t rush it. When it looked like that was going well, I opened the fence and let them meet in the combined areas. I made sure there was lots of room to run and there were plenty of hidey spots. This is the part that is a little risky, you have to be ready to separate them if they fight, but my experience has been that rabbits who are fixed will work it out themselves without fighting, if they have enough space. If one rabbit chases and the other one isn’t ready, the one rabbit will run off and hide and the other rabbit stops. This may not work for everybun, but it worked for bonding Abigail, Enzo, Turbo, and Merlot.”
Desperate, Hester decided to give it a try. She moved Violet's pen upstairs and used a baby gate to create a little separation so Thumper couldn’t get to her. This way, Thumper could go back to being a 100% free roam bunny and visit Violet anytime. Thumper was curious about the new guest and visited her often by the fence, just as Enzo had done with Merlot.
The next day, Hester held several supervised bonding sessions in the downstairs open living area. The first couple of times they chased each other, but they quickly learned to ignore each other and coexist. Mutual co-existence was a good sign.
A couple of days later, during the bonding sessions, both bunnies shared Thumper's downstairs pen, which always had an open door. When Hester brought Violet back to her upstairs pen at the end of the bonding session, Thumper followed and flopped down near the baby gate. Another good sign. He wanted to be near her!
After a few days, Thumper asked Violet, “Would you like to stay?” Violet immediately replied, “Yes!” and the two began snuggling. There was no need to separate them anymore. Violet had found her forever home and Thumper had a new companion. The two became inseparable!
Hester said, “I can’t believe how smoothly and quickly this went. It wasn’t stressful at all, for us or the rabbits. We’re so glad you shared your lots-of-space technique with us!”
Despite a rocky start, Thumper and Violet become free roam bondmates.
Would you like to read more of Abigail's blogs? See them all HERE.
