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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BONDING 10 am appt to meet our new bunny

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    • Ruffles&Daisy
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        Send us good bunny date vibes today.  We are putting our eggs in the little lionhead basket hoping that she and Ruffles will hit it off.  I will post pics when we bring her home.  I don’t really remember what she looks like, all I know is that she is brown and black, small and cute.  We have her cage all set up in the same room as Ruff’s.  Depending on how the date goes, should we start bonding sessions right away or wait until she has acclimated to our house?  It hasn’t been a full two weeks since her spay so I’m wondering if we should let her recover for another week before getting serious on the bonding sessions.  They say she hasn’t shown any signs of aggression and she is pretty sweet, so I’m really crossing all my fingers and toes that it goes well. 


      • Sarita
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          Fingers crossed – keep us posted :~)


        • Beka27
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            Good Luck!!!!!

            I’d let her heal another two weeks. In the meantime, switch pens each night starting tomorrow night. Since she’s new to your home, she will get used to both pens and Ruffles scent at the same time.


          • Ruffles&Daisy
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              Well it went well and we acquired a new rabbit, named her Daisy. She’s super cute, they hit it off well in the office, but then when we brought her home, we put her in a cage nest to Ruff’s and he was mad. Pooping and lunging at her. He’s settled down a bit and we let him out to run free (kept Daisy in her cage). He would go up to her cage and want to fight her through the bars! So now I have my water bottle in hand to break up any scuttles. I’m so surprised because he’s such a mild mellow rabbit.

              But she’s super nice, sweet, and friendly. She definitely won over my husband who I’ve dubbed “the bunny whisperer”. Animals just seem to take to him right away. I think we made a good choice, it will just take some time. I’ll try to attach some pics of them:


            • Ruffles&Daisy
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              • Ruffles&Daisy
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                  I couldn’t resist posting the first one, totally unrelated but I love bunny flops.


                • Beka27
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                    She’s gorgeous! I love the last one…

                    I’m ignoring you!

                    NO… I’m ignoring… YOU!

                    It’s not uncommon that the date goes well in neutral territory and things go differently on home turf. You’ll get there, don’t worry!


                  • LilynJestersMama
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                      We had a similar experience……at the rescue site where Lily and Jester were in the same pen, they didn’t have much face-to-face interaction.  Once we got home, there was some chasing and nipping, Lily thumping, etc.  I think they are sorting out their roles.  Lily has been at our house since July ’08 so she’s adjusting to having a new bunny around and having his scent all over her stuff!!!

                      What a cute pair!  I love the pics!  Bunny flops are the best!! 


                    • Ruffles&Daisy
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                        Well we decided to put Daisy’s cage upstairs at night in our loft area. Ruffles was so stressed out with her next to him and totally unrecognizable. She’s so super cute. It better work out, we all really like her. We couldn’t resist and put them in the tub this morning and they did ok, not perfect, but she groomed the heck out of him, he really liked it. So for the day, we put her next to him and upstairs at night. We are going to switch their towels and boxes each night. It’s really upsetting to us that he is being the aggressor, he’s always such a gentle guy. But like my husband says, his current lifestyle is worth fighting for.


                      • LilynJestersMama
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                          I am going through the bonding process for the first time.  The grooming sounds like a really good sign!!  Jester and Lily lay down (a few feet apart) and tolerate each other’s presence when in the tub together now.  There is no grooming though…..yet  I guess if some strange person came into my house and was checking out/using my stuff, I’d be upset too!!!! lol 


                        • jerseygirl
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                            Just wanted to say congrats on bringing home the new girl! I haven’t seen a lionhead with her colouring before – it’s pretty striking! So cute she’s already grooming and smooching Ruffles. Hopefully he’ll soon realise he now has it all.


                          • Ruffles&Daisy
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                              Yes he does have it all, a family of bunny slaves, fresh salads daily, a huge cage with lots of free range time, and the cutest girlfriend one could ask for.

                              I’m annoyed with him because he is usually so neat and clean, no stray poops anywhere in his cage and def never stinky, but now he decided he wants to stink up the joint. But I will say he has settled down, he no longer wants to kill her. So I’m going to say it will work, it just will take the full three weeks or so before they fall madly in love.


                            • Beka27
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                                I’d actually caution against putting the cages together and then splitting them up for the night. If you do this, every morning when she reappears, she becomes “the new intruder” all over again. He won’t get used to her until he realizes she’s there for good and she is not going anywhere. What you can do is have part of the pens blocked off so they cannot see each other, just a flattened peice of cardboard stuck betw/ will do the job fine. He’s marking his territory with poop, which is normal as well. That should decrease as he gets used to her and then as the bonding process progresses.


                              • Ruffles&Daisy
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                                  Yeah, my husband said that we should probably keep them together tonight since he isn’t as angry anymore. I’ll probably put a towel between part of the cages. But she’s so cute, she actually plays with toys that I give her. Ruffles could care less about anything I gave him. It’s cute to see her flinging things around the place. I hope she teaches him how to be playful. My daughter esp loves Daisy. This morning I let them two stay in the bathtub while we were putting Ruffles back in his cage and Daisy was crawling all over Allison being real cute. She’s a great bunny. We made a great choice I think.


                                • Ruffles&Daisy
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                                    Well we’ve been doing consistent bonding dates every day so far and I think it’s going well. At first I wasn’t sure we should start so soon since Daisy just got spayed, but she seems very willing to get along with Ruffles. There were a few fur flying moments, but there has been some grooming and face to face snuggling. Last night we put them on the washer, and it just scared the heck out of Ruffles, he hated it. This morning we let them both romp around the little loft area and hallway, and they did great. A little chasing, a little fur flying, but in general they did well. So today, Ruffles is in Daisy’s cage, and Daisy’s in his pen. Poor Ruffles, he’s protested by pooping everywhere, but he did flop next to her pen, so there is progress.


                                  • Ruffles&Daisy
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                                      UPDATE: Daisy and Ruffles have been getting along better and better. We felt like we had a relapse in bonding, so my husband got them in the basket on top of the washer and really rattled their basket. He called it “Six Flags for Bunnies”. I was a little nervous, but it worked out well. Then we took them to the upstairs hallway and loft where they snuggled forever. Ruffles even flopped on top of Daisy. It was the cutest thing ever! Since then they’ve mellowed down. The pooping all over the cage is slowing down. Daisy will occasionally pee outside her box (annoying). But the funny thing is that she only pees outside of Ruffles’ box. I’m not understanding that situation. But at night I let them both out and they will run around and follow each other and sometimes go nose to nose. They are definitely more interested than aggressive these days. I expect to make steady progress. I want to hopefully be able to house them together within two weeks. That’s my goal.


                                    • Beka27
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                                        So she only pees outside of the litterbox if it’s a box he has already soiled? Or it was his original, “pre-Daisy” litterbox and she pees outside even if it is not soiled?


                                      • Ruffles&Daisy
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                                          I don’t really know what her problem is. She did pee outside her own box, but it was a small corner pan (so I thought it just was because of the small box). I decided to move it to the corner of the cage that she peed on, and that has solved the problem. But when I let them both out in the morning, sometimes she will go into Ruffles’ cage and pee right outside his box. Never has she peed in the house other than next to the box. I’m not sure what the problem is.
                                          Any bunny psychologists out there? Beka? Anyone?


                                        • Beka27
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                                            It may just be marking. That area smells like him, so she’s going to let him know that she’s been there. (“Daisy was HERE!”) Are you switching them every day between the two pens?

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                                        Forum BONDING 10 am appt to meet our new bunny