is this right?

[sgasz]

So we adopted bunbuns a girlfriend from a rescue in new castle pa after a bunny blind date. It was love at first sight. Ophelia submitted and he groomed hew and cuddled. I was super pumped! Now, she is settled in and working on trusting John and I. Bunbuns is still enamored with her and just wants her to groom him back but she is still playing hard to get. They are living in a bunny apartment building right now (Condo with two separate floors) so that the can learn to share a space and smell each other. Things look good so far. No aggression in non-neutral territory, no food aggression and no cage aggression. She lets him in her space and shares her food and her does the same. They are still chasing. He is definitely honking but I dont know what sound she is doing…honking or grunting mostly because we are all still new to each other. She is now comfortable enough to come out of her apartment (she has the bottom level) and lay in the living room with john and I and likes to explore too. Last night the two buns were sprawled under the table separate but close to one another. Bunbuns would get up and try to get her to groom him and she would run and then he would chase and he would honk and she would make her noise and this pattern went on for over an hour. The only issue we have had is bunbuns is jealous when I am giving her attention and not him. He will come over and put his front paws on me and nip at my hands then run around me leaving marker poops. Basically what Im asking is should I stop the chasing? Is this normal? Am I stressing her out by letting him chase her? Should I be worried about his jealously. Ive been making sure he gets an extra lot of love. 

Let me know what you guys think. Im just a nervous bunny mom.    

[tanlover14]

I don’t know much about your buns — so I’ll start off by asking if they’ve been properly bonded? Or is this just behavior that has been happening because you stuck them together with no official bonding process?

I mean, if you didn’t do official bonding then this is really good behavior! But I would suggest going back through a bonding procedure which will most likely strengthen their bond more to help with any of this behavior. For example, right now I’m bonding one bun to my already bonded trio of bunnies. They’ve been doing pretty good in a small space but when I open the space up larger then they go back to chasing and so forth. So I have to reduce the space until their bond is more cemented in the smaller area and then try again in a bigger space.

Also, is he nipping when he chases? I wouldn’t be too worried about JUST chasing unless it seems to be really stressing her out. Then I would try and give him something else to play with to occupy his energy, like a towel he can dig into. If he’s biting or being aggressive about the chasing, I would stop him. A little chasing is okay but hardcore chasing can sometimes lead to a bunny brawl. Which you don’t want to have to break up.

I also wouldn’t be too worried about his jealousy. My bonded buns have begun doing the same thing. They have NEVER liked to be picked up or to sit on your lap for more like 3 seconds. All of a sudden they see the new bun sitting nicely in our arms, and BOOM. I have three other bunnies on top of me all wanting to be held even though 2 weeks ago they would’ve clawed off our faces just for trying to hold them! LOL.

[sgasz]

We are only four days into the bonding process. We are doing bonding sessions in a small area in the kitchen and car rides for 15 minutes a day. I sit in the puppy pen with them and have them lay down together and give them lots of head pets and they start chattering and leaning on one another and bunbuns will groom Ophelia. Our apartment is tiny and bunbuns is allowed in the entire thing so neutral territory doesnt exist in our house. There’s no nipping during the chasing when they are both allowed to run together for an hour. They both get alone time to run the house as well.

  yes bunbuns HATES to be cuddled but he loves pets and playing and on very rare occasions will lay in my arms while I pet him and fall asleep. My boyfriend calls him a mammas boy because as soon as I walk in the room he starts zooming around the house binking like crazy. Ophelia was living in a park with her two brothers (someone dumped them) and is very shy. She is just now getting comfortable enough to eat in front of John and I (not bad for only having her four days) and no longer runs into her hidey hole when she spots us like day one and two. She also is starting to take treats from us. If we leave her apartment door open she will come out on her own to explore and sniff us. She likes to be pet once the petting starts but will run if you approach her so we are giving her her space and letting her come to us.

Ive been reading some other posts about bonding and hitting up some of the bunny info sites and from what Ive read, things look good and I must have got really lucky for them to be so calm with one another.

Thanks for the reassurance!

[tanlover14]

Oh great! You are definitely doing good then and I wouldn’t worry about whats going on between them! It sounds like they are just trying to establish a pecking order and haven’t quite gotten it right yet. Just keep things on the track you have been going and it sounds like you’ll have a bonded pair in no time!

[sgasz]

Last night was so great. During their bonding time I moved the puppy pen so one side included the couch so I could atill be in the pen and watch tv at the same time. 🙂 ophelia decided she would also like to cuddle on the soft blanket on the couch too and she snuggled up right next to me and was getting lot of pets and snuggles. Bunbuns was not going to let his mommy snuggle with a new bun with out him so he jumped up too and snuggled against me and ophelia. They both put their heads down and leaned into eachother, teeth chattering, getting lots of love from their momma. 🙂 15 minutes pass and bunbuns starts grooming ophelia but then he got a bit rough and started nipping her so I put him on the floor and didnt let him back on the couch. He laid down next to it. I was giving them treats the whole time they were laying nicely. Soooo proud of my buns. 🙂

[sgasz]

Hoping these pictures upload.

[sgasz]

 Ophelia!

[sgasz]

 Bunbuns!

[tanlover14]

Awwww, they are adorable!!! And that sounds VERY positive. I’m so happy for your little buns.

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