Bonding your bunnies
- hannahzlui
- Aug 19
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 24
It is well known that bunnies thrive in the company of other bunnies but often the bonding process can be daunting. Not to worry, this guide will take you through the process, so that you and your buns can all live together peacefully.
Why is the bonding process necessary?
Bunnies are naturally quite territorial, so they are highly likely to fight any new rabbits that enter their home. Thus, bunnies need to be introduced to each other slowly, a process that could take anywhere between a few weeks to a few months.
How do I begin?
There is no set way to bond your bunnies, and you, knowing your bunnies best, can and should make changes to this guide to best suit them. However, a method often suggested to ease bunnies into bonding, is to exchange items with each other's scents on them. Take an item that has been in each bunny's enclosure for some time, and swap them. This will allow the bunnies to become familiar with each other's scents before even seeing each other.
Starting introductions
Depending on your home setup, you could potentially move the bunnies' enclosures right next to each other so that they can interact through a barrier. This will help them to get used to the presence of another bunny while reducing the risk of injury to either bunny due to territorial defence. Be prepared for your bunnies to poop or pee near this border as this is a common territory marking behaviour.
First meeting
When your bunnies first meet there is always the risk that they will begin to fight one another. To help reduce this risk, there are a few different methods to try but this is one suggestion.
Take both bunnies to an area they have never been to before. This will be considered neutral area, as neither bunny has lived in it or claimed it.
Let them sniff each other. In all bunny relationships, one bunny is always dominant over the other. Humping may occur as a way to prove dominance. If there is no aggression that could harm either bunny, let them figure out which bunny is the dominant one through this behaviour.
If serious fighting occurs, immediately separate the bunnies and return to their enclosures. Let them live next to each other until there are no more signs of aggression.
Try the neutral space again.
If successful, and bunnies seem to be getting along well, repeat for a couple more supervised sessions, with each getting progressively longer.
Once you feel comfortable leaving them alone with each other, do so and check in periodically.
Then, if you feel that no fights will occur when they are together, deep clean both enclosures to try and remove all scents of bunnies. Connect the enclosures and distribute each bunny's stuff around the connected enclosure so that they retain some familiarity with the objects, but it is not the same as their original enclosure to reduce changes of territorial behaviour.
Reintroduce bunnies into the connected enclosure snd now, they should hopefully be bonded and living together!
If this method doesn't work, before letting them meet in a neutral space, try taking them for a car ride in carriers next to each other. Bonding through controlled shared stress can sometimes help!
Wishing you all the best in your journey of bonding!