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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.
- This topic has 35sd replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by
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Podge had a settled first night, I know cos I was down checking him throughout the night
Jenny was fairly Ok around him, but for some reason, won’t let Pippi near?
Gina started off her floor time trying to nip his hair, but after a bit, she started eating some of his hay that has escaped, and just now I swear she said to him, come out and play, its fun zooming around the living room
He seems fine in himself, he’s quite ‘solid’ as his foster mum calls it, probably because she’s been giving him lots of carrots. He won’t get that many here, but obviously he will need to reduce gradually. He is eating some hay and dried grass, is happy with our pellets, and loves our greens. We had some un eaten cecotropes earlier, so will need to watch out for that. At least he will get lots of running around time here, and that will slim him down.
Last night was funny, cos he loved running round, but sad too, cos he tired fast, and kept taking ‘power naps’. The naps got longer and the time spent running between naps got shorter, but I’m sure he will soon fitten up and tone up with plenty of floor time.
I don’t know if its a good omen, but they both had their myxi/VHD jabs on same day last year
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Of course it’s a good omen! It means they’re meant to be together!
Animals that are in the process of learning sleep more than animals that just go about their normal routine. I learnt that in a MOOC on sleep (uni of Michigan): “The more we learn the more we undergo plastic change in the brain the more we need to sleep. Amount of exploratory behavior (proxy for amount of learning that occurred) – correlated well with the amount of slow wave activity during sleep.”
The study was done on rats kept awake solely by new toys.
I like the word “solid”
Jenny seems to really want Pippin for herself. Some human women are like that too, of course.
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I took Pippi out on his for a while, got this lovely pic
And here is Podge agreeing with everybun else that dried grass is great stuff
And a short video of him discovering the joy of stairs
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPR1pnWG0zRmpGajA/view?usp=sharing
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Given its the Easter weekend, and I have five clear days, I have decided to jump straight in and marathon bond. Almost three hours in, they settled for a snooze side by side, had a brief scuffle a few minutes ago, sat quiet for now, over four hours in.
I think Podge agrees about the stairs, bam.
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First photo, in a box together, after three hours of switching the vacuum cleaner on and off and carrying the box around, to stop Gina starting anything by nipping Podge’s butt
Switched to a smaller box for the evening session, having given them a break in two small adjacent runs, which they also spend the night in.
This is them this morning, no moving the box around, no vacuum
(this box is a snug fit for the two of the them, so they can’t leave a gap between them like they did yesterday, in the bigger box))
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Got them in one of those lovely pet shop cages, that are normally only fit for purpose with the door open, and a nice big run attached. It gives them more space than the box, and it last had guinea pigs in, so is rabbit neutral, and a nice spot for a romantic breakfast!
I found yesterday, moving the box around broke up scuffles a lot better than the vacuum, and the cage can also be moved, although not as easily, so far its broken up a few scuffles, two of which were over carrots. I don’t give mine carrots for anything other than a rare treat, but Podge had been getting whole carrots on a daily basis, and he needs to reduce gradually.
Been in the cage 45 minutes, and both settled for a post breakfast snooze…
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Podge and Gina are back in the cage after a post garden time nap. In spite of Gina being quite a dominant little girl, Podge can and does put her in her place, you can see what she thinks of this by the ears!
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Once she got over her huff, they ate nicely together
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPN2hXdHJqSHB1MjA/view?usp=sharing
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I noticed when grooming Podge’s mane, that it was badly tangled, and worse, really matted in behind his ears, and also there was a huge amount of loose hair coming out, creating a white fog of hair in the room. I want to be able to give him the daily groom with a soft brush that mane deserves, without hurting him, and I don’t want huge amounts of long hair ending up in Gina’s tum, if and hopefully when, she starts grooming him. It was also getting in his eyes.
So I gave him a hair cut, yes I know, how could I trim that wonderful hair, but I did. At first, he tried to get away, but I was very careful, and very gentle, mixing a couple of snips with a few strokes of the brush through the rapidly tangle free hair. By the end, he was pawing at me to keep going!
Gina obviously approved, as she put her nose down, as if to say, please groom me now.
Here he is, modelling his new hair do
Looking calm together, so far no grooming each other, but they are ending their scuffles fast, without me needing to get involved
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I think he was! He certainly enjoyed the attention.
Poor Gina has asked for/demanded grooming from Podge about half a dozen times, and he has refused every time. She is getting pretty hacked off with him for being so rude
We’re coming up for 5 hours into this mornings marathon bond session, and I’ve just had to switch the hoover on three times, as the front paws have gone up. I could take them out of the cage, for a break, but they will have to work out dominance issues sooner or later? There haven’t been any real attempts at biting, just the ‘boxing’, and a couple of hair nips. The nips are only enough to leave tiny tufts sticking out, the hair isn’t flying everywhere, and they go straight back to either lying down, or eating hay after, like nothing happened.
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On our way lol
Small improvement, Podge went up to Gina and gave her nearest ear a brief lick, and I had the camera on
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A couple of minutes later, she went up to him and gave his nearest ear a brief lick too.
Then there was a scuffle
I’m guessing each thought, as top bunny, that they had deigned to wash the lower bunnies ear, and were now due a proper groom
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With the main bone of contention seemingly being who won’t groom who, I’ve slightly increased the floor space for Podge and Gina, so they have an ‘L’ shape now
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After a good explore, and another scuffle cos both want to be groomed, not be the groomer, and they’ve settled for an afternoon snooze, nose to nose, so looking hopeful, I think
And now both bun loafed and looking nice and relaxed only a rabbit width apart
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After a scuffle-free night, I let them out for floor time together, while I dismantled the pen and set up their new home together.
There was quite a bit of follow my leader going on
Given the lack or territorial behaviour, I decided to risk putting Gina’s blanket in, they aren’t selling new ones, and she loves that blanket. Thankfully, she was more interested in breakfast pellets and didn’t react to Podge going on the blanket at all.
Things still stayed calm when Jenny came over to investigate when she and Pippi came out for floor time.
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Gina and Podge are happily bonded, and the story continues here
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/145069/Default.aspx
Really hoping that it all goes smoothly!
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