Bonding Two Dominant Rabbits?

[Maddyluvschickens]

Hey, I know this isn't chicken-related but I wanted answers to my specific situation. So I am trying to bond my two rabbits, Elliot and Kazumi. Elliot is a neutered male who will be four years old in December, and Kazumi is a spayed Female who is about a year and a half years old. Elliot is a Californian Dutch and I don't know what breed Kazumi is. The whole backstory is that I adopted Elliot when he was about eight weeks old (about three and a half years ago), and not too long after that I adopted another rabbit as a friend for him, but she passed away about one year ago due to kidney faliure. So just this last February (2018), I adopted Kazumi, in hopes to give him a new friend. Since then, I have been letting them play together each day. Both of them want to be the dominant one, and sometimes it will work out where Kazumi will start to clean Elliot for a few seconds, and then she will push her head under his. Elliot will either run away, or he will clean her and then they go back and forth for a long time. It seems to work out except for the fact that I need to be very hands on or else they will nip each other and chase each other. Their playtime has been like this ever since I adopted Kazumi. I don't really know what to do, if I should see if they just work it out over time, or if I should use specific bonding tricks for them.

 

[cassie]

In my humble opinion, you are asking for trouble. As Bunnylady has so eloquently put it, two or more rabbits can live peaceably together until they don't. Then it can get pretty bloody.

 

[Maddyluvschickens]

Do you think they would get into a fight eventually because of how they have nipped each other and chased each other a bit before or do you think that shouldn't be an issue?

 

[Bunnylady]

A certain amount of chasing is to be expected; the thing I'm not comfortable with is the nipping. Only you know how bad it is between these two. Having seen for myself what happens when a rabbit can't get away from a dominant rabbit that doesn't want them around, I would be very hesitant about leaving these two together unsupervised, at least in an area smaller than several hundred square feet.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

From the sounds of it, it's going as should be expected. It can take a long time for rabbits to bond together, while other times it can take a short amount of time. (My two buns that now live happily together took only a short time to bond)

Look up rabbit bonding online and you can probably find lots of different ways to bond the bunnies. A great way is to introduce them into a neutral area neither have ever been before, such as a bath tub (make sure there are towels down so they do not slip).

Another way is to put/rub treats on top of their heads to encourage grooming. (Just make sure it won't be a mess)

But most importantly, it takes TIME. So please be patient and cautious. They should bond eventually.

 

[cassie]

You are assuming the rabbits WANT to be bonded. Not all rabbits want or will even tolerate a buddy.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Well yes, largely because I wasn't thinking about that side of the spectrum. It could be possible they just need more time, or it could be their bunnies just won't bond.

I sort of missed OP's note about doing this since February, so this could be the case. Or perhaps there are some more tricks that could eventually bond them. I don't know.