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Bonding Bunnies 101 - The Bonding Process (Step by Step) — Transcript

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0:00hey guys this is haley from
0:00oneonrabbits.com and in today's video
0:02i'm going to be going over the bonding
0:04process
0:05please go ahead and watch the previous
0:07videos i put out on
0:09bonding as they are very important but
0:11in this video specifically i'm going to
0:12go over the process and like basically
0:15the steps you take
0:16in order to bond your rabbits so the
0:17first step is to
0:19start small when you first start the
0:21bonding process you need to start
0:23in a small area the reason for this is
0:25that rabbits are very territorial
0:27creatures by nature
0:29and if you give them too much space at
0:31once they are gonna start claiming
0:33uh certain sides of the territory and
0:35that can lead to fights
0:37aggression territorial behaviors things
0:39like that
0:40that's why you need to start very small
0:42and slowly work your way
0:44out this is the biggest issue i think
0:47people have with bonding
0:48is they go too quickly or they give
0:51their rabbit
0:52too much space that's when i see people
0:54with fights
0:55injuries um you know bonds not working
0:58out
0:59um that's going to be the major issues
1:01that you have so larger areas can cause
1:03rabbits to start claiming certain things
1:05as their territory
1:06it can lead to chasing biting humping
1:09fighting
1:09nipping all of that stuff and those are
1:11all things that we are trying to
1:13avoid during this bonding process if you
1:16start in a small
1:17area your rabbit has no space to claim
1:20something as theirs and they are kind of
1:22forced to share the area
1:24this helps with the territorial behavior
1:26and
1:27um helps avoid fighting and uh
1:29problematic behavior throughout this
1:31entire process you want to upgrade their
1:33space
1:33very slowly you only want to expand the
1:36rabbit's face
1:36after they've been doing very well for
1:39several hours
1:40something people do is as soon as they
1:42start acting great
1:43they immediately expand but that's not
1:46what you want to do you want to wait
1:47several several hours to make sure that
1:50they are for sure doing well moving too
1:52quickly again can lead to
1:54behaviors that you want to avoid such as
1:56fighting
1:57aggressive behaviors other things like
1:59that another major thing you need to do
2:01when bonding
2:02is only use neutral territory
2:05like i mentioned rabbits are extremely
2:08territorial creatures
2:09because of that if you are bonding in a
2:12room
2:12or an area that your rabbit has been
2:16previously either one or both of the
2:18bunnies this can be
2:19extremely problematic because the rabbit
2:21will remember that they've been there
2:23before
2:24and they will have already kind of
2:25claimed that as their territory
2:27this is why rabbits need to be in 100
2:30neutral territory until they are a
2:32hundred percent
2:33bonded some good neutral territories
2:35that you could use are
2:36bathrooms or basements these are areas
2:39that people don't have their rabbits
2:40roaming around in
2:41um but obviously some people do so it
2:43does depend where your rabbit has been
2:45in your house you might have a spare
2:48bedroom
2:49a hallway or an office that your rabbit
2:51has never been in
2:52that's another place that you could do
2:54this bonding process if you do not have
2:56any neutral territory in your entire
2:58house it would be a really good idea to
3:01probably bond somewhere else there are
3:04ways to work around
3:05the neutral territory thing but
3:07especially if your rabbits are
3:10a harder bond this is going to make
3:12things a lot more complicated
3:13so i definitely recommend asking a
3:15friend or a family member if you could
3:17use their
3:18home for a weekend or whatever just to
3:21bond your rabbit as
3:22uh it's gonna be a lot easier if the
3:24area is 100 neutral
3:25if you do not have any neutral territory
3:28and you do not have friends or family
3:29who are
3:30willing to let you bond there another
3:33thing that you can do
3:34is try your best to make a neutral
3:36territory
3:37so how you do this is basically take the
3:41room that your rabbit has had
3:42least access to or an area of the room
3:45that your rabbit has
3:46had least access to and just
3:49wash it wash the entire thing uh use
3:52vinegar and water
3:53and just you know obsessively wash the
3:55floor
3:56wash the walls uh wash everything and
3:58try to make it
3:59you know as neutral smelling as possible
4:02then you could go ahead and use
4:04brand new items like brand new fleece to
4:07line the floor with
4:08that neither rabbit has been on before
4:10and then cover the entire pen walls with
4:13fleece
4:13so that they can't see out and that they
4:15can't really tell where they are
4:17this can help mimic a new or neutral
4:19territory
4:20and may work out but again if your
4:22rabbit has literally
4:24free roamed in your entire home for
4:26years
4:28you are probably going to need um to use
4:30someone else's house because
4:32uh they are just going to own the entire
4:34house at that point so now i'm going to
4:36go ahead and walk you through each step
4:38of the bonding process
4:39this is the bonding process that i take
4:41every time i bond my rabbits
4:43and it's the one that i've had a lot of
4:45success with so the first thing that i
4:47do
4:47is i take both rabbits and i place them
4:50into a carrier
4:51again i've never used like a neutral
4:54carrier i've always just scrubbed the
4:55entire thing down with vinegar and water
4:57before the rabbits go in there
5:00you can either leave the floor plain or
5:02you could put
5:03a brand new fleece or towel on the
5:06ground that neither rabbit has
5:07been around before um it's not a big
5:10deal if you don't have a fleece or towel
5:11the issue is if
5:12one of the rabbits pees uh they're
5:15literally gonna be sitting in a lake of
5:16pee
5:16so uh just depends what if you wanna
5:19risk it or not you could maybe put like
5:21paper towel down um if they're not going
5:24to be chewing on it or something if you
5:26don't have a brand new
5:27towel or fleece but i definitely would
5:29recommend buying
5:30brand new fleece and towels or bedding
5:33for this process because it will be very
5:36helpful once your rabbits are in the
5:37carrier
5:38place it in the car and have somebody
5:40else drive you around for about 15 to 20
5:43minutes
5:43you don't want to be the one driving
5:45just because it would be dangerous
5:47and a distraction to you if the bunnies
5:50were to start fighting
5:52or something was to happen and you were
5:53the one driving um that's just not a
5:55safe scenario so it's better to have
5:57someone else driving
5:59and you be watching the rabbits very
6:01intently
6:02if you do not have anyone to drive you
6:05um and you're all by yourself
6:07something else you could do is go to you
6:10know your driveway or an empty parking
6:12lot
6:12and literally put the rabbits in the
6:14kennel turn the car
6:16on and just have it parked um it's not
6:19as good as having the movement
6:21um of the car um the reason that the car
6:24is so helpful
6:25is it's a situation that all rabbits
6:27experience
6:28all rabbits have to go in the car to the
6:29vet uh my rabbits go to the vet every
6:31three to six months
6:32um you know it's something that a rabbit
6:34does all the time and it does tend to be
6:37an activity that rabbits don't
6:38necessarily
6:39enjoy and because of that they tend to
6:42look to each other for comfort
6:44and it's kind of like a thing to help
6:47them bond and trust each other
6:49so that's why the car is something that
6:51i really think
6:52is a very um vital tool but obviously
6:56you know not everyone has someone to
6:58drive them or not everyone has a car
7:01but this is a really good option if you
7:02do so again you can just
7:04leave the car running parked if you have
7:06no one to drive you this also helps with
7:08rabbits because
7:10in the wild obviously rabbits are
7:11looking for a partner that is going to
7:13be
7:14trusted enough to keep them alive so
7:17when a rabbit is
7:18in a somewhat stressful environment and
7:21they see that the other rabbit
7:23is not harming them or putting them in
7:26harm's way
7:27that helps them trust them more and know
7:29that that
7:30rabbit is someone who can be trusted and
7:32that during
7:33you know more stressful environments
7:36where they
7:37need to have trust that rabbit's gonna
7:39be safe
7:40if you do not have access to a car
7:41whether you are you know
7:43under the driving age or you simply
7:46don't have a car another thing you could
7:48try is turning on the vacuum cleaner and
7:50like
7:50walking around the house with the
7:51carrier so that you have that movement
7:54otherwise you could like put the carrier
7:56on top of a towel and kind of drag it
7:58around
7:58that's another thing you could do if you
8:00don't have access to a car
8:02um again i don't feel like it's as good
8:04but um i've definitely done it before
8:06um i've bonded rabbits before i was
8:09before i had a car
8:10and that it worked so you know it
8:13happens but like i mentioned before
8:14uh during a car ride i have never had
8:17any
8:17behaviors happen i've never i've never
8:19even had rabbits hump each other
8:21um attempt to nip each other or bite
8:23each other that's why the car is really
8:25helpful because
8:26um it's more of a safe place where
8:28rabbits aren't going to be harming each
8:30other
8:31and that's why i do really like the car
8:34personally
8:34if i was to take the rabbits out of the
8:37car and just place the carrier on the
8:39floor and
8:40didn't do anything that's when i have
8:43seen problematic behaviors occur
8:45and i wouldn't feel safe ever doing that
8:48just because
8:49carriers uh you can't really like reach
8:51in there and like separate rabbits if
8:52something was to happen
8:54but if you just leave the carrier on the
8:55ground that's when rabbits are going to
8:56start humping each other
8:58um they could start scuffling things
9:00like that um so that's why i wouldn't
9:01use the carrier unless you're like in
9:03the car
9:04or like actively like moving or
9:05something like that step
9:07two after you've done a 15 to 20 minute
9:09session in the car
9:11or one of the other alternatives that i
9:13mentioned
9:14it's now time to place them in a small
9:16enclosure
9:17and when i meet small i mean small if
9:20you go
9:20too big that's when you're gonna have
9:22the issues like i mentioned in my
9:24previous video
9:26um where the problematic behaviors occur
9:28like fighting
9:29biting lunging all of those things so
9:31you wanna start small
9:33um i think one of the biggest issues
9:35that people have
9:36is they start to feel sorry for the
9:38bunny and i totally understand that
9:40especially when it's your personal
9:42rabbits
9:43and you're like oh i don't want them to
9:44be in like a small little space
9:46but you have to realize this is for the
9:48benefit of your rabbit's life
9:50rabbits need to be bonded they are
9:53social creatures
9:54and it's part of what they need and
9:57for one day of them being in a small
10:00space
10:01it's not the end of the world it's for
10:04the overall
10:04better quality of life um so definitely
10:08don't just put them in a bigger space
10:10because you feel bad for them
10:12because that's where the injuries are
10:13going to happen that's where the
10:14fighting is going to happen that's where
10:16the biting is going to happen
10:17that's when you're gonna have to go to
10:18the vet for an injury so
10:21the first thing that i normally use is
10:24a large cardboard box um i just use like
10:27one of those boxes
10:28from like a 40 pound box of hay um
10:31that's what i used in these videos
10:33and i like to just place a fleece on the
10:35bottom again 100 neutral fleece
10:38brand new fleece so that neither rabbit
10:40has smelled it before
10:41if your rabbit is gonna be in the box
10:43for a while
10:45um meaning like some rabbits don't bond
10:47as quickly as others and if they're
10:50starting to be in there for several
10:51hours
10:52i would definitely recommend cutting
10:53holes uh little holes
10:55tall enough that your wrap is not going
10:56to like chew out but just little holes
10:59around the box
11:00to provide extra ventilation um
11:03you don't the box can become quite warm
11:06because there's two bunnies in there
11:08creating heat um
11:09so you just want to be careful of that
11:11um so you could create little holes in
11:13there
11:14um just so that you know there's more
11:16circulation the reason why i use a
11:18cardboard box is it's a completely
11:20neutral territory and
11:21the rabbits cannot see out it's also uh
11:25really easy to like halfway close the
11:27top so that your rabbit can't see you
11:30i mentioned in a previous video but you
11:32want to be uninvolved in this process
11:34as much as possible a rabbit is going to
11:36behave
11:37differently around a human than they
11:39would another rabbit
11:40so if you're constantly in your rabbit's
11:43face during the bonding process
11:44this is going to alter the rabbit's
11:46behavior and therefore
11:48cause issues in the bonding process
11:50because they are not displaying
11:51the normal behaviors they would around
11:53just another bunny
11:55so i always kind of close the top a
11:57little bit so that i can still peek in
11:59but the rabbits can't really see me
12:01the majority of the time so just
12:03remember the bonding process is
12:05not about you don't take it personally
12:07don't stick your hands in there don't
12:09sit in there with them this is not about
12:11you this is about them
12:12learning to bond with the other rabbit
12:14once your rabbits are in this area
12:16watch out for the behaviors that i
12:18mentioned in my previous video which i
12:19will link up
12:20in the icard and take the appropriate
12:22action for each
12:24behavior that happens i go over all of
12:27that
12:27in the video in the i card so definitely
12:29watch that so that you know exactly what
12:32to do if things happen i'll also kind of
12:34show on the screen
12:35different things that i had to do with
12:37this specific bunny
12:38couple that i was bonding um if you guys
12:41are curious it was my employees rabbits
12:43and she wanted them bonded so i offered
12:45to bomb them for her
12:46so i could shoot this video for you guys
12:49if everything is calm
12:50and positive for about one to two hours
12:54so for example it was kind of rowdy in
12:55the beginning the first one or two hours
12:58and then it calms down and it stays calm
13:00for an additional
13:01one to two hours then something you
13:04could do
13:04is add in hay so obviously
13:07this depends on the rabbits some rabbits
13:09can be more food aggressive or
13:11territorial
13:12than others um but this specific rabbit
13:15couple
13:16was not and it was fine when i added hay
13:18in there but just be aware that if you
13:21added hay and things get rowdy again
13:23um if it becomes too rowdy take the hay
13:26out and just don't use it
13:29for right now and additionally if they
13:31become rowdy you could always put them
13:33back in the carrier do a 10 to 15 minute
13:36you know drive around come back put them
13:39back in the box
13:40um and wait again um for a little bit
13:43longer before you try
13:44adding back in the hang if your rabbits
13:47have um
13:48had the hay in there and they're still
13:50good um
13:51or they calm down and they've been calm
13:54for
13:54one to two hours and nothing's really
13:56happening they're just kind of chilling
13:58doing whatever then that means you can
14:00move on to the next step
14:02please note that this doesn't mean that
14:04this whole
14:05cardboard box thing should only last
14:07like four hours
14:08this completely depends on the
14:10individual rabbit some rabbits are gonna
14:12take
14:12three hours before they calm down and
14:15then there's the
14:16two hours where you wait for them to be
14:18calm and then you add in hay
14:20and then it kind of gets rowdy again and
14:22then you gotta wait
14:23so it definitely depends on the bunnies
14:25these specific rabbits i was bonding it
14:27did
14:28bond very very quickly um so because of
14:31that i was able to
14:32basically progress very fast but this
14:35totally depends on the individual
14:37rabbits
14:38do not move quickly just because you're
14:40impatient because that's when things can
14:42get dangerous
14:42so after the hay and they've been calm
14:45for about one to two hours you can move
14:47on to the next step
14:48which is a small pen and when i need a
14:51small pen
14:52i mean a small pen so what i do
14:55is i put fleece on the bottom and i take
14:58an x pen
14:59and i make it as small as possible which
15:02is a two foot by
15:03two foot pen and then i take another
15:06neutral fleece and i wrap it around the
15:07pen so that the rabbits cannot see out
15:10i do leave a little crack in the fleece
15:12so that i can keep an eye out on them
15:14if i'm not like standing over the top um
15:18again you don't want your rabbits to be
15:19able to see you too much during this
15:21process
15:21um so you want to have everything
15:23covered and to be out of their
15:25line of eyesight as much as possible for
15:28the first bit
15:29i tend to kind of be standing over the
15:31pen because this is when things are
15:32going to be more rowdy there's going to
15:34be humping
15:35chasing circling you know behaviors like
15:37that and you're going to need to use
15:38your dustpan
15:40to um you know um stop that certain
15:43behavior
15:44definitely go watch the other video i
15:46talk in detail what to do with each
15:48specific behavior
15:49but i will go over what i did with these
15:52specific rabbets
15:53but keep in mind these rabbits were
15:55literally meant to be together and they
15:57were amazing so they didn't display
15:59a ton of the more problematic behavior
16:02once you move to a larger space
16:03this is when the problematic behavior is
16:05going to start occurring
16:07it's completely normal the humping's
16:09going to increase the chasing is going
16:11to increase
16:12all of that's going to increase the
16:14thing you want to watch out for
16:15is for it not to be too overwhelming if
16:17it's too overwhelming
16:19that means you move too quickly and you
16:21should probably go back to the cardboard
16:22box
16:24but if it's still manageable i would
16:26stick it out and see if it does calm
16:28down
16:28after an hour or two i would just be
16:30concerned if
16:31the behavior started leading to
16:34excessive chasing uh lunging aggressive
16:38um fighting things like that that's
16:41definitely a sign you move too quickly
16:43some good behaviors would be uh more of
16:45the neutral behaviors such as
16:47ignoring each other laying down grooming
16:50themselves
16:51not constantly staring at the other
16:53bunny things like that
16:54do not feel bad if you have to move back
16:57to a smaller area
16:58this is a very normal thing to happen
17:00during bonding if you were to move too
17:02quickly it doesn't mean that you're
17:04failing or the rabbits won't bond it
17:06just simply means
17:07they need a little bit longer in the
17:09smaller space before they can move
17:11forward
17:11simply place them back in the carrier go
17:13for a short ride put them back in the
17:15cardboard box
17:16and kind of start the process over again
17:19once your rabbits have been calm for
17:20about one to two hours
17:22in this two by two pen i would again try
17:25adding in some hay
17:26um see how that goes some rabbits if
17:28they were fine with the hay before
17:31are probably going to be fine again with
17:32the hay but again
17:34wait one to two hours after they've been
17:37calm
17:38before to take any additional steps so
17:40if your wraps have been calm
17:41for an hour to after you added in the
17:44hay
17:45i would say it's probably okay to open
17:48the pen
17:48up to the next step which would be a two
17:51foot by four
17:52foot pen this is where things can get uh
17:55problematic if you move too quickly
17:57because this is a large enough area that
18:00two rabbits could
18:01start claiming one side of the pen so
18:04that's why you want to make sure they
18:05are
18:05doing very well in the small area so
18:08that once you move to the larger pen
18:10they don't start claiming certain sides
18:12and fighting over those sides so
18:14once the pen is expanded to a two by
18:17four
18:18it's basically the same thing you did in
18:20the two by two pen
18:21only you start all over um i would just
18:24leave the hay in there i literally just
18:25expand the pen
18:26um the haze still in there and
18:28everything just leave
18:30everything the same and
18:33do the process again again every time
18:35you make a space bigger there's going to
18:36be more humping
18:37more chasing more um behaviors like that
18:41just
18:42go ahead and interrupt those behaviors
18:43with the dustpan um if it gets too crazy
18:46put them back in the carrier go for a
18:48short drive and go back to the 2x2 pen
18:51um but if things aren't too crazy and
18:54it's still manageable
18:56um just stick it out and things will
18:58hopefully calm down
19:00in a couple of hours but if they're
19:01doing very well and they've been calm
19:03for about four hours
19:05you could consider expanding the pen to
19:07a four by four
19:08pen again remember some rabbits you know
19:12will take a lot longer to progress this
19:14far
19:15some rabbits may need eight hours and a
19:17two by four pen
19:18whereas other rabbits only need four and
19:21they're good to go
19:22so it definitely depends on your
19:24specific rabbits your bonding um don't
19:26feel bad if it's taking longer
19:27um some rabbits are just not as
19:29trustworthy as others
19:31so totally depends on your rabbits so
19:34now that your rabbits are in a four by
19:36four pen
19:36this is where they're going to stay for
19:38the next seven days
19:40unless of course you have moved too
19:42quickly and
19:43your rabbits kind of need to go back
19:46into a smaller area
19:48but if everything is going as planned uh
19:50this is where they'll stay for the next
19:52seven days
19:53i do want to note that a 4x4 pen is not
19:56suitable for a rabbit for two rabbits to
19:59live in
20:00permanently this is not a suitable size
20:02for rabbits
20:03long term rabbits should definitely have
20:06more space than a 4x4 pen
20:08if there's two of them however during
20:10the process it is very important to keep
20:12them
20:12in this small space for seven days to
20:16cement the bond this is kind of just a
20:18term that people use
20:19it's called cementing and it's where
20:21they stay
20:22in a neutral area that is still
20:25small for seven days to literally learn
20:29how to live together
20:31so during this time they should not have
20:33play time or anything because they
20:35are not ready to handle that um a lot of
20:38the times play time will not be in a
20:39neutral territory which would cause a
20:41whole lot of other problems
20:43um so you want to keep your rabbits in
20:45this pen for about
20:46seven days um if your rabbits are like
20:49super awesome bonders like the
20:51rabbits i just bonded and they
20:53progressed so quickly and they were
20:55doing great
20:56you know you might not need the full
20:58seven days and you could maybe go
21:00five days or four days you know kind of
21:03feel it out
21:04but um for rabbits who have had you know
21:07aren't
21:07like perfectly amazing i definitely
21:10would wait the whole seven days
21:11during this time especially the first
21:13couple of nights you would want to spend
21:15the night
21:16with your rabbits you want to be in the
21:17same room as them because rabbits tend
21:19to be very active
21:20in the evenings and early mornings and
21:23if you were sleeping in another room you
21:24may not hear if they get rowdy
21:27some rabbits you know will start
21:29displaying problematic behaviors at like
21:315 a.m in the morning and if you weren't
21:33around you wouldn't be able to
21:34de-escalate that
21:36um so you definitely want to sleep with
21:37them until you fully trust them
21:39to leave them alone you definitely do
21:41not need to
21:42watch them 24 7 for those seven days
21:45straight
21:45if they're doing great um it definitely
21:48depends on the bunnies i would say on
21:49average the first day i'm basically
21:52watching them all day
21:54and then the second day you know i could
21:56maybe feel comfortable leaving them for
21:57an
21:58hour so while i go like take a shower or
22:00something
22:01you'll definitely be able to know by how
22:03your rabbits are acting
22:04again when you open the space up to a
22:064x4 pen
22:07things are gonna get rowdy and that's to
22:10be expected the humping's going to
22:12increase the chasing
22:13the circling or whatever behaviors your
22:15rabbits are doing
22:16um that is common um obviously you know
22:20de-escalate that when you need to
22:22watch my behaviors video again um to
22:25learn exactly what to do for each
22:27specific behavior
22:28and um address it immediately so that
22:31things do not escalate once they've been
22:33calmed for
22:33a few hours in the 4x4 pen i would
22:37recommend adding in
22:38litter boxes now ideally you would want
22:41a very large litter box for two bunnies
22:44i personally use like large storage
22:46totes however
22:48when i was bonding these two rabbits i
22:50only had
22:52two small spare litter boxes
22:55because i don't have any extra storage
22:57totes so that is what i used for these
22:59specific rabbets
23:00i will say though that there was
23:02problematic behavior that occurred
23:04because the litter boxes were too small
23:07ideally rabbits should be able to both
23:08sit in the litter box at the same time
23:10and eat hay
23:11um if only one can fit in there that's
23:13when rabbits um
23:14hump each other out to claim dominance
23:18over the
23:19litter box things like that so ideally
23:21um you would want a very large one
23:24once your rabbit is in their permanent
23:26home they would need
23:27at least two very large litter boxes
23:30rabbits do need to be able to have
23:31separate litter boxes
23:33um so that you know um territorial
23:35behavior doesn't happen because even
23:37when rabbits are bonded they're still
23:38territorial but if you were to put
23:40two large storage totes in a 4x4 pen
23:43there would not be room for your rabbits
23:45to do
23:45anything um so definitely one is
23:48probably fine
23:49but again i used these small ones for
23:51these specific rabbits
23:52it did end up being fine but there was
23:54you know problematic behavior that
23:56occurred because of it so
23:57um you know you can also place the hay
24:00in the
24:00litter boxes now that they are in the
24:034x4 pen
24:04with the litter boxes you can also go
24:06ahead and add in
24:07a water dish now i do want to say that
24:09water should be
24:10offered uh during the walk during the
24:12bonding process
24:13um before this if it is lasting a long
24:17time these two specific rabbits bonded
24:20in like one day
24:21um which is pretty rare but because of
24:24that
24:25it wasn't a huge concern for them to go
24:27a couple of hours without water
24:29but if your bonding process is lasting
24:31several days which
24:32sterling and ebony's lasted about four
24:34days i believe
24:36um during that process if they are
24:39in an area for several hours you need to
24:41be putting a bowl down every so often
24:44to give them a chance to drink the
24:46reason i wouldn't put a bowl in there
24:49in a small space too much you could
24:52probably do it in the 2x4 pen but
24:54anything smaller
24:55i would just be concerned that if your
24:56rabbits start humping and chasing and
24:58things like that
25:00they would step in the water and get
25:01completely soaked
25:03you just don't want your rabbit being
25:04super wet that's not ideal
25:07um so that's why i tend to wait until
25:09they're
25:10more calm to place a water dish in there
25:12the entire time
25:14so i would just offer you know a dish of
25:16water every couple hours during the
25:18bonding process
25:19some rabbits will drink it some rabbits
25:20won't you know definitely depends on the
25:22bunny
25:23uh on how often they drink things like
25:25that my rabbits tend to only drink at
25:27night um
25:28but some rabbits drink all through the
25:30day so depends once you've added the
25:32litter boxes and the hay in the litter
25:34boxes
25:35and the water dish and your rabbits have
25:36been calm for about
25:38a couple of hours after that you could
25:40then offer some
25:42wet leafy greens um some rabbits are
25:44going to be more territorial over
25:46lettuce or greens than they would hay so
25:49that's why i kind of wait until later in
25:51the bonding process to introduce those
25:54uh do keep in mind though that even
25:56fully bonded rabbits will
25:58rip lettuce out of each other's mouth
26:00sometimes they'll chase each other for
26:02the food
26:03um my rabbits sterling ebony they still
26:05chase each other every single day for
26:07greens
26:08um as long as it's not leading to
26:10problematic behavior it's fine
26:12um if the rabbits are like boxing over
26:14the greens or things like that
26:16um that's definitely not an ideal sign
26:18once your rabbits have been
26:20in the 4x4 pen and they've been pretty
26:22calm like nothing crazy
26:24for about one to two days i would add a
26:27very large heidi house
26:29you want to make sure it is very large
26:31in the beginning because again
26:33if it's too small a rabbit will sit in
26:36the small
26:37heidi house and claim it as theirs and
26:40keep the other rabbit out this could
26:41cause them to
26:42lunge out of the heidi house and attack
26:44the other rabbit
26:46and just start claiming it as theirs so
26:48that's why in the beginning you want to
26:50have a very large heidi house and when i
26:51mean very large i mean like a two foot
26:54by two foot
26:55hidey house i mean unless your rabbits
26:57are like teeny little dwarfs but
26:59um my rabbits normally aren't that tiny
27:02so a two foot by two foot is definitely
27:04something
27:05um a large heidi house that you would
27:07need at this point in the bonding
27:09process
27:09i personally use uh nic grids and i just
27:12make it
27:14uh four grids on top and then two feet
27:16by two feet by two feet by two feet
27:18and um that's what i really like to use
27:22remember all heidi houses need to have
27:24two entrances
27:25this is because rabbits need always need
27:28an escape route because they are prey
27:29animals and
27:31uh they shouldn't have had houses
27:33without two entrances
27:34you could also probably use something
27:36like the maze haven as long as you
27:38didn't put any of the dividers inside of
27:40it and just left it completely bare
27:42um so it's just like the four walls um
27:45that could be big enough depending on
27:46the sizes of your bunnies
27:48again if they're doing very well with
27:50the heidi house um
27:52after a day or two or depending on the
27:54bunnies
27:55couple hours you could definitely add
27:57toys in
27:58as well it just depends like how good
28:01your buddies are doing on when to do
28:03that
28:03after your rabbits have been in the 4x4
28:05pen for about seven days
28:07it is time for them to move home so
28:10depending uh where your rabbits live my
28:13rabbits live in like
28:15a large bedroom um so at this point
28:19they would be ready to move back home
28:21the issue with this
28:22is please keep in mind that they are now
28:24going into
28:26non-neutral territory even though
28:28they've been together for seven days
28:30this can cause problematic behavior in
28:32even the best of bonded rabbits
28:34um it can cause chasing humping um
28:38lunging you know it can cause a lot of
28:39that behavior sterling and ebony had
28:42issues for about a week
28:43once they moved back into the
28:45non-neutral territory
28:47um but it was completely normal that's
28:49just what happens when rabbits go into
28:50non-neutral territory
28:52um but some things that you can do to
28:54help this process along
28:56is to spray everything down with vinegar
29:00and water so
29:01wash the entire floors of vinegar and
29:02water unless you have carpet of course
29:05um if you had carpet i would probably
29:06just spray the carpet with vinegar and
29:08water
29:09and let the carpet kind of absorb that
29:11you could even spray the walls and wash
29:13them down with vinegar and water
29:14if you have like wooden ramps and stuff
29:17um those things are harder to clean
29:18because they are
29:19porous so it's not something you could
29:21just wipe off
29:22but any plastic toys litter boxes
29:25anything like that should definitely be
29:26cleaned with vinegar and water
29:28any fleeces or anything at this point
29:30you should probably still use the
29:31neutral fleece that they were using
29:33during the beginning of the bonding
29:34process
29:35um but after your rabbits have calmed
29:37down and been in their new
29:39or their home for a while you could add
29:41in non-neutral fleet keep in mind that
29:43if your rabbits are
29:45going to be free roam in like an entire
29:48home
29:48eventually um during this point i would
29:52just keep them confined to one bedroom
29:54if you were to give them the entire
29:56house at this point they would not be
29:57ready for that and that could lead
29:59you know to problematic behavior so i
30:01would definitely just keep them to one
30:03room
30:03at this point if you gave them too much
30:06like the entire house that would just be
30:07way
30:08too much at this point so keep them in
30:10one room
30:11even if they're gonna be free roam in
30:13the future just for now
30:14keep them in their home for seven
30:17days again with no play time again this
30:21could depend
30:22on the bunnies if your bunnies are like
30:24angels and perfect and love each other
30:26and aren't doing anything crazy you
30:28might be able to let them out for
30:30playtime sooner
30:31but if your rabbits are still humping
30:33and chasing each other daily
30:34um definitely wait the probably seven
30:36days for them to
30:38be in their home um their permanent
30:40place and
30:41um if they're gonna be free roam again
30:44keep them
30:44in one room for seven days after that
30:47seven days you can
30:48start letting them out for free time um
30:50again if they have
30:52free time in the entire house i would
30:54probably start with just
30:56one room so if they're in a bedroom now
30:58you know start with just the hallway the
31:00first day
31:01see how that goes if it goes good the
31:03next day open it up to
31:05the living room if that goes good you
31:07can open it up more
31:08you know it just depends on your
31:10individual rabbits on how to handle it
31:13if they're like an amazing bond it might
31:15not even phase them
31:16but if they're more of like a
31:17territorial couple you know you want to
31:20take things slower the first few nights
31:22in their home
31:23may be tough uh because this you may
31:25want to sleep
31:26um either in the room with them or if
31:29they
31:30don't have an entire room sleep in the
31:32same room as their home
31:34um just because at night specifically is
31:37when i feel like
31:38they start the chasing or the humping
31:41things like that and you do want to be
31:42there to
31:43de-escalate that if that was to happen
31:46again
31:46if this is becoming too overwhelming and
31:50you feel like
31:51they are not doing well you may want to
31:54consider
31:55putting them back in the 4x4 pen if
31:58um you know moving to their home seems
32:01like
32:02too fast personally i've never had to do
32:04that i feel like
32:05after the seven days in the 4x4 pen they
32:07seem they tend to do fairly well
32:09but you know if that was to happen you
32:11could always go back to the 4x4 pen or
32:13um
32:14something else you could do it is like
32:16split the room in half if they have
32:17access to entire room
32:19and that's just too much you know maybe
32:21just start with half the room if they're
32:23struggling
32:23normally it's going to be fine but it
32:25depends on the buddies after they've
32:26been
32:26in their room for seven days or their
32:29home for seven days
32:30at this point you probably could
32:31consider them bonded if things are going
32:33very well
32:34normally at this point letting them out
32:36for playtime things like that
32:37is not going to cause issues and most
32:40likely your rabbits are good to go for
32:42life
32:43obviously there are certain situations
32:45where you know
32:46i've had rabbits in the past not work
32:49out
32:50but looking back i think i probably
32:52should have caught it sooner
32:54and realized that they weren't the best
32:56bond to begin with
32:57please remember that the bonding process
32:59is so dependent on your specific rabbits
33:02some rabbits can take one day to go
33:05through the majority of these steps
33:07whereas other rabbits could take several
33:09days again
33:10some rabbits could take weeks and weeks
33:13to completely
33:14finish the bonding process whereas other
33:16rabbits do it in like
33:18one to two weeks so it definitely
33:19depends on your specific rabbit don't
33:21get discouraged
33:22when i follow this uh protocol i tend to
33:26not have as many issues
33:27um i had the majority of the issues when
33:30i was brand new to bonding and i didn't
33:31know what i was doing
33:32and i was putting my rabbits in a 4x4
33:35pen
33:36you know when they were clearly not
33:37ready and they were fighting
33:39and i was getting overwhelmed um but
33:41whenever i take things
33:42super slow and do it very very slowly
33:45i don't tend to have as many issues so
33:48just a side note for those wondering
33:50if your rabbits should be bonded or not
33:52if you are having a ton of issues
33:54and every time you put your rabbits in
33:57like a two by two pen
33:58they're just going at it and fighting
34:00and like
34:01it's so insane anytime they're not
34:05like in the car that might be a sign you
34:07know they're just not the right fit
34:09um that happened with uh lulu
34:12a lot um she was a very hard rabbit to
34:15bond with
34:16unless you found a very submissive
34:19rabbit for her to be with she was just
34:23very hard like a lot of rabbits were
34:25scared of her let's put it that way so
34:27because rabbits were so scared of her
34:29they would
34:30fight because they thought she was
34:31fighting with them um anyways
34:34basically if your rabbits are just going
34:36at it every single time they're in a
34:38small area
34:40um and you just cannot progress that
34:43would probably be a sign that they're
34:44just not meant to be together that's
34:46basically it for today's video i know it
34:48was a long one but
34:49the bonding process is very detailed
34:52don't forget to check out my two other
34:53bonding videos especially the behavior
34:56one because you need to know
34:57the different behaviors when bonding and
35:00what to do and how to handle them
35:02thank you guys so much for watching this
35:03video i hope it helps you guys
35:05don't forget that rabbits need to be
35:06bonded and don't be scared of this
35:08process
35:09if you feel like you can't handle this
35:12and it's too overwhelming
35:14definitely reach out to different
35:15rescues um there are some rescues
35:18um around the united states at least
35:21that do
35:22offer bonding services which means you
35:24bring your rabbit there for like a week
35:26or two and they bond them
35:27and then you bring them home and
35:29completely bonded and you don't have to
35:30deal with that
35:31you know that's something that you could
35:33have if
35:34um you don't think that you could handle
35:36doing it yourself
35:38uh but again that does cost money and um
35:41not everyone has that service available
35:43to them
35:44so yeah i hope this video was helpful
35:46thank you guys so much for watching i
35:47will see you guys
35:48very soon on a new one bye oh my gosh i
35:51just hit my face
35:58[Music]
36:03you

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