Was anyone else really anxious when they brought home their second? For some reason I just can’t get excited about the new bunny – instead I’m really nervous. She just seems way more active and destructive than I was expecting and I’m afraid she’s never going to fit in with our house.

Am I crazy? Does everybody go through this?

Thanks, AV! I guess I just need to give it time. We had such a good thing going with our easy/lazy bun that I’m worried the new bun will totally change things.

Her nails are making me cringe too! The back ones aren’t too terrible, but the front ones are horrible. I’m not a very good nail trimmer, so I might just take her to the vet (gotta take Otto-man anyway).

Uhh, witnessed some posturing and grunting through the pen bars (there’s a space, so they couldn’t actually touch). Lovely! 😉

Surprisngly, Otto actually looked a bit angry. I know it’s his territory and all, but with how totally zen he was on all bunny dates I guess I didn’t think he had it in him. In his defense, Merlin was the one grunting 😛 Oh bunnies.

Otto has been so clingy since she came home too. He keeps sitting right on the edge of his pen and staring at me, and wanting to be near me. Usually he couldn’t care less about me until at least 5pm. I think the new bun makes him nervous – he keeps periscoping and staring at her. Haha.

I’m trying to be a little less nervous. A part of me feels like we should have taken Taylor, and that we picked the wrong bunny, but I realize that if things don’t seem to be working out, we can always take her back to her old owner. It’s not like we signed a binding contract or anything. Ack, I’m usually not this neurotic about stuff!

Thanks, Ali.

I think I’m more worried about the other bun just being way more active than we wanted. She’s only slept 40 minutes since 7:30 this morning! Otto has been out cold for at least 4 hours now. And she has a lot of attitude, which I’m totally used to in rescue bunnies, but not exactly what I envisioned for my own pet, if that makes sense. I think she’d make a great bunny for other people, but I’m having serious doubts that she’s the right bunny for us. I think I felt pressured to take her home and now I’m wishing we had just met her and then gone home to think about it.

But we’ll see. I’m giving it a week, and we’ll do some bonding sessions and see how it goes. I’m sure her old owner would gladly take her back if it looked like she wans’t going to work out with us. And maybe after a week I’ll adore her!

You’re right Sarita. You’re totally right.

I’m not really worried about the grunting through the bars – I feel like that’s to be expected. So I should reserve judgement until they have sessions.

And until we let her out in the rest of the house and see how she does.

I think she is a typical female – it’s going to be something to get used to. I don’t think I’ve ever had one animal and introduced another – I’ve always got two at the same time. I’m hoping this is just typical second pet nerves.

And to be fair, her old owner didn’t really pressure us, but I think we put pressure on ourselves to show up and take her home after only meeting her for 10 minutes. Especially because we’re a good home, and I knew that she would be happy if Merlin went home with us, so I felt like I had to decide right then.

You’re right, we shouldn’t have pressured ourselves. If we decide it’s best for everyone to give her back, I have to stop myself from feeling bad for the owner. The local rescue will help her list Merlin and find her another good home.

No bonding yet, I wanted to get a pair of gloves first and wait for my husband to come home and help me. So tonight I think! We’ll try to get those nails trimmed first though. x-/

They honestly did so well in the first 20 minutes of their intro with eating together, grooming themselves, etc but that happened with all of the bunnies Otto’s met so far. I’m not happy about the frantic humping, mostly because Otto did not take it well. If he had sat there, then ok, but if he’s going to flip out every time I think it will turn stressful and he’ll be afraid of her. And when I pushed her off of him, she really wanted to get back and hump hump hump again right away. So we’ll see! I’ll try to keep it short and get some positive sessions, but that humping will come up again at some point. I wish I could just tell her that she’s the top bun and Otto doesn’t care 😛

If they can figure the dominance thing out they’ll be fine. I definitely don’t think they’re unable to bond, it’s definitely possible, I just don’t want it to be crazy stressful either.

She was the one who took Merlin to be spayed. Been done for a couple years too.

She’s older too, around 3, so I don’t think she’s likely to settle down any more.

Thanks helping me feel better, Sarita 🙂 I guess if she’s bossy, a laid back guy like Otto might be her best bet for a good pair. They were so cute when they were snuggling and laying together too 🙂 If my husband wouldn’t have left to get the car for 15 minutes, we never would’ve seen the humping and would’ve thought everything was great. And I’m hoping she will settle down a bit if she has a friend. She’s still running around her pen destroying stuff and it’s been almost 6 hours straight! I gave her some of Otto’s things that he didn’t touch – she’s already a quarter of the way through a huge grass mat.

At least her owner said she never destroyed carpet or furniture – I can deal with a bun who like to destroy toys as long as she doesn’t destroy important things.

Thanks for the banana suggestion! Otto is not a banana lover, but we’ll have to see if she likes them. I did give her some of Otto’s dried papaya and she seemed to like it, so at least they have that in common 😛

Ok, I’m off to get her a new litter box to replace the corner one she came with. She uses it, but she looks like a fat bun in a little box.

She was doing some fat-girl binkies around her pen earlier too 🙂

Thanks for stopping in Petzy!! It’s still up in the air, but I’m going to give her a chance. I’ll try to be objective about the bonding sessions, but if it seems to not go well, I think we’d be better off giving her back. Her last owner was a good owner whose schedule is just far too busy to give her time out of her cage that she needs (and considering how crazy she’s been today, she clearly needs a lot of exercise). I know she just wants what’s best for Merlin, so if our home isn’t best then hopefully that’s ok.

I also appreciate your opinion about female bunnies! I’ve always felt like they had a little too much attitude for me (as much as I love to read about everyone else’s divas!). We never seriously considered a male, but there are some at the rescue that are known to bond with other males. We’ll keep an open mind if we do give back Merlin. I really think Otto could bond with just about any bun, but I also don’t want to totally stress him out with a super bossy partner. I think I would lose my bonding nerve if he seemed totally terrified during each session. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, of course.

Thanks for the well wishes! She’s a little quieter now. And, luckily, I haven’t noticed any cage aggression, which I was worried about, just considering her bossy character. We’re going to try a nail trim tonight – if she lets us do it maybe I’ll like her a bit more 😛

Barbie, I am waiting on her vet records. Though I really don’t think the girl is lying either. I definitely know what you mean about being suspicious, but I guess this girl definitely didn’t set off any warning bells or anything.

Hopefully I’m cut out to own a diva female! So far she’s settled in pretty well. She hides when I enter her pen, but as soon as I leave she follows me to the door and wants to be let out to explore. And I got her a new litter box! Hopefully she doesn’t feel the need to pull this one out and pee behind it.

Thanks Beka! I hope it’s just nerves.

And I hope she and Otto can get along! We’re going to try a bonding session tonight to see where they’re at. I’m hoping for more quiet/eating together time.

Good point about Easter! We definitely won’t return her until next week, after Easter (if we do, of course)

So! Total downer thread, I know, but we’re not going to keep Merlin 🙁

I attempted a bonding session tonight, and it really didn’t go well. She was in frantic humping and nipping mode from the first second, and instead of accepting it, Otto turned around and was attempting to fight. I split them up a few times, and kept her away from him to chill out, but every time I let them back together she was at it full force. I could have tried stressing them, but at that point I just felt like it wasn’t worth it.

I’m sure Petzy could bond them, or the rescue, but my husband and I agreed that we’re not ready for that kind of bonding experience. And we’re both worried that Otto will be totally terrified after a few more sessions like that (he was clearly far more nervous tonight than when he had been introduced to her or any other bunnies previously). I think she’s too high strung for both us and for Otto.

Ugh, I feel dumb for taking her home and giving her back. And I even bonded with her a bit today myself and some of my nerves died down.

We’re going to go back to visit Taylor, but we’re going to do way more introductions and spend time with her ourselves to really make sure we’re ready. We definitely jumped in too fast. It’s funny that I’ve read so much about bonding, and can give people the “right” advice, but when it comes to doing it with my own bun, it’s way harder than I expected!

And in good news, I can drop Merlin off at her old home on Sunday evening. One of the girl’s friends was interested in taking her, so hopefully she can go and live with some other nice people.

Thanks Beka.

Yeah, I think we’re going to take it slow and do multiple meetings. We were so encouraged by great first meetings, but obviously second meetings can be so much different, and we didn’t expect that. The rescue also told me that they’d be more than happy to take back any bunny we didn’t feel was working out (or trade for another one), so they consider it like a foster situation, rather than a permanent thing right away.

My husband is now backing down on wanting a second, once he realized how difficult it would be. So I think we’re going to try meeting Taylor a few more times, since she has the best personality for our home, I think, and see how it goes. If we decide not to get her, we might just hold off on a second for a while.

Merlin is a sweet bun, and I still feel like a failed bunny mom for getting her and giving her back, but I think it’ll be better all around if she can go to a single bunny home where she can get tons of exercise (or go to someone who’s a much more confident bonder than I am).

Mrmac, thanks! It makes me feel so much better to know that she might have another home lined up. And her owner is understanding.

There are some boys at the rescue who will apparently bond with anyone (too bad the loppy one just got adopted! my husband would’ve loved him). But there’s a NZ boy that I *love* (I saw him trying to bond with another girl someone brought in). So I think we’ll try to re-meet with Taylor, but also meet with the other boys. There’s also a loppy boy at the rescue I work at, so maybe he’s an option. I know my husband is kind of burnt out on the second bunny thing now, but I’d like to make one more good attempt before we give it up for a while.

Omg, that one is so cute, mrmac! That’s exactly what my husband wants us to get. But at least he agrees that getting a baby female, paying $450 to have her spayed, and still have her end up as a crazy is a bad plan :-P  Thank goodness.

So … I tried to trim Merlin’s nails today. Didn’t go well. She won’t let me get close enough to touch her at all, so picking up wasn’t gonna happen. At one point, she scrambled so fast to get away from me that she actually tore off one of her nails 🙁 Luckily not down to the quick, so no bleeding, but still. I tried to get her an appointment at either of the vets I take Otto to, but both said she needed to be seen by a vet first (even though Otto’s never seen a vet at the one place, just had his nails done. Maybe it’s a new rule?) So booo! And my husband’s a horrible bunny picker upper (not that I’m good either, obviously) so I don’t even know if we’ll be able to double team her.

Mir, I definitely don’t think same sex bonds are weird, I guess it’s just been drilled into me that male-females make for the easiest and most long lasting bonds. But after our expience with a very typical female, I think a male might be a better fit for us and Otto. We’ll give it a shot.

And yeah, I think I knew from the beginning that it wasn’t right … I was definitely kicking myself for taking her home right away instead of giving it a little thought! She is a sweet girl though and actually let me pet her a little today. She’ll make somebody else a great pet.

Well, except for my DH … I was the first girl he dated  Lol

I think, with Otto’s personality, that we can hopefully find an easy bond with another bun. We just need to go slow. And with a rescue, there would be no questions asked if we felt it wasn’t working out, so I wouldn’t have to feel guilty afterwards.  Clearly my sense of guilt is overdeveloped

Hahahaha. Maybe we’ve just figured out the source of our bonding problems!

So my husband agreed to try another bonding session or two with Merlin before taking her back. I also arranged with a rescue woman to have her evaluate them together since she obviously has tons more experience than I do.

The bonding session today was ok. We stressed them first, which caused Otto to curl up into a ball for at least 15 minutes afterwards. We were easily picking him up one handed – that’s how stressed out he was. While he was sitting there like a stuffed toy, Merlin was totally calm. After he finally started moving, the humping started. The first hump was calm and he just sat there, which was awesome. The second was pretty aggressive and Otto scrambled away, with Merlin hanging on and I had to separate them. I ended by smushing them together and petting.

Altogether, not that bad. I think we’re considering giving her a long chance since she’s turned out to be a nice bunny. I just want to get a “professional” opinion first whether they’ll be a hard bond or not (I know you can’t always tell, but I’m hoping she can advise me one way or the other).

Man, I never expected getting a second bunny would be such a roller coaster ride!

Oh, and we got some of her front nails done. We couldn’t get the duclaws, but I think I got all of the other ones on her front feet. Picking up didn’t work, but she stayed pretty stilll while we held her down in the tub and I was able to snip a few.

Thanks Petzy. I think we were swayed a bit by how nice of a bunny she is in our house. They haven’t even had poop wars! Not a single poo out of place. And in the bathtub today she really seemed to enjoy Otto and was trying to snuggle up against him. If we can work out the dominance thing so that she’s happy and doesn’t feel the need to hump every time he moves, they could be golden.

Hopefully the rescue lady can see them together tomorrow or early next week and give her opinion.

Petzy, what’s your opinion on stressing with how much it affects Otto? He literally didn’t move from the loaf position for 15 minutes and I was worried he was going to have a little bunny heart attack or something. Did we just do it too much? Could we stress Merlin on her own and then put her in the tub with an unstressed Otto (since just being in the tub stresses him out as much as going for a ride in the laundry basket stressed out Merlin).

I’ll definitely start a new thread if we decide to keep her and start bonding in earnest. I want to see how he is with her vs with Taylor and what the expert thinks. I was definitely encouraged by her calm humping and his accepting of it.

Our stressor was putting them in the laundry basket and then having my husband bounce it on his knees for a few minutes. Strangely Otto was the one standing up and looking around the whole time, but as soon as we put him in the tub he curled into a ball. Merlin recovered from the stressing relatively quickly, but him being so quiet kept her calm. Good to know that’s actually working in our favor.

He probably is doing it to make us feel guilty 😛 On the other hand, maybe we can finally clip his nails ourselves if we put him in the laundry basket and shake him around first!

Hi Mimz and Jers!

Jers, no mat in the tub, because I wanted to keep it slippery for Merlin, but it did freak Otto out a bit.

Mimz, oh springtime! How could I forget? That could absolutely have an effect. And funny that Mimzy does the same thing when stressed! Maybe male holland lops are just easily overwhelmed by that stuff and curl into a ball.

Our tub is actually not that slippery – it kind of has a subtly bumpy surface that gives some traction, so he’s ok. He doesn’t move around much, but he’s better than on hardwood or something where he scrambles like an idiot 😉 He is just very much not a fan of any surface that isn’t carpet.

We’re officially keeping Miss Merlin, but we’ve renamed her Hannah (get it? Hannah and Otto are both palindromes  I’m a dork)

She’s turned out to be a very sweet bunny. She is quite active and explory, but so far hasn’t been the least destructive. She just seems to require a lot of time out of her cage, but luckily she’s not picky about when it is. I’ve been letting her out from 8am through the afternoon and Otto’s been able to keep his evening playtime out in the living room (which is pretty much the only time he’s awake anyway). Bonding has been going pretty well and I think she likes Otto more than he likes her at this point. Go figure.

She’s been great with her litter box. She’s left a few marking pees around, but mostly in her pen and only about 2 or 3 times. Otherwise she’s perfect with her litter box (especially since I got one she actually fits in). Surprisingly, neither she nor Otto have started poop wars – nobody’s pooped out of place yet.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to trim all of her nails yet  She’s as tough to hold as Otto and we’re not the best bunny wranglers. I’ve been able to do the longest ones on her front feet (except her duclaws) through trickery, but I’ll get her to the vet this week and have them finish the job.

Here are some pictures!

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The first few days we had her, Hannah smelled oniony. I assume her glands probably need to be cleaned? I’ll have the vet check when we take her in. Luckily it’s gone away quite a bit over the last day or so. I’m also stuffy from seasonal allergies, so maybe she still smells and I just can’t smell her.

Here are a few more pictures. This morning she figured out that she can jump onto the dining room chairs and run from one to the other. I’ve found her up there at least 4 times now. My husband doesn’t like it because he’s afraid she’s going to pee on them or something, but she’s been good so far.

Hahaha. She’s definitely taking over.

Though it’s kind of nice to have a bunny who will actually explore instead of sitting on his butt all day. I’m just hoping she doesn’t get too brave and start tearing apart my bunny proofing. I definitely don’t trust her home alone out of her cage.

I do trust Otto, but mostly because he doesn’t actually do anything or go anywhere 😛 He can be left in the living room and I know that he won’t go on the hardwood (which keeps him away from the stairs) and won’t go on the couches (which keeps him away from the tables and things next to the couches). I also leave his pen open all day because he almost never leaves it to try his luck on the wood floors.

Hannah is much more curious, and though she hasn’t been on the couches yet, I know it’s a matter of time. But she hasn’t been destructive either, so I mostly need to make sure my bunny proofing is up to her specs and then she would be ok alone. And make sure she can’t go up and down the steps on her explorations. I don’t see her digging up my carpet or chewing the baseboards or anything – more getting behind the bunny fence and chewing up the tv wires.

Hahahaha. Well, when you have four to egg each other on, I don’t blame you!

We switched our rental insurance policy to another company and the guy was asking me questions on the phone. At one point he asked if we had any wild animals. I said “Wild animals?” He said like monkies, or snakes, etc. For a second I thought of mentioning the bun until I realized that’s not the kind of “wild animal” he meant. It especially makes me smile because Otto is the opposite of wild. Lol

Thanks for the happy bunny wishes, everyone 🙂

Otto’s new favorite thing is to sit right on the edge of his cage and taunt Hannah when she’s out for her exercise. Haha. He’s a territorial little guy, believe it or not. He’s not really being aggressive, but he’s definitely keeping an eye on her while she’s out. I’m going to have to start cage swapping I think.

I just had a heck of a time getting Hannah off of the dining room chairs. *sigh* Maybe I shouldn’t let her up there afterall. She was kind of digging at the cushions – not hard enough to put a hole in them, but if she keeps it up who knows. The only way I could get her down was by poking her with a papertowel roll. Lol. I couldn’t reach her otherwise since our table is squished into a corner.

Surprisingly, no poop wars yet! Though Hannah has marked with pee maybe 3 times, it’s not anywhere near Otto so I think it’s more making a new house than marking against him. Though the poop may fly if I switch cages!

The good news is that the aluminum foil on the chairs kept her off! I’ve seen it work with dogs and cats, so I figured why not? She hopped up, didn’t like the foil and jumped to another chair, realized that one had foil on it too, then jumped off looking insulted. Lol. She didn’t try to get up there again! Once they’re fully bonded and I can move that table out a bit I might let her go back up there, but I don’t want her claiming too much territory.

I did tape one of them down to the chair. Haha. Though my husband said since the pieces of foil aren’t covering the whole cushion he did find her squished into the back part of the chair without foil on it. Bunnies are so silly.

Hannah went to the vet today and unfortunately had molar spurs 🙁 They were mild, and wouldn’t have needed a trim if her tongue hadn’t been irritated by them. Poor bunny. She hasn’t had issues with them before, and didn’t have any symptoms, so hopefully it’s just a one time thing. She’s been eating hay like it’s going out of style so I’ll just keep pushing it.

LOL Yeah, Otto’s little more than a stuffed toy bunny 😛

Hannah put up a huge fight when the vet tech was picking her up and trying to do her nails, but they said she just sat there for the teeth trimming even after she woke up from the anesthesia. Silly bunny.

Aww, thanks Pam! I seriously need to work on taking more pictures.

She’s so fast! Any time I try to take them all I get is a blur. And the best lighting is in the living room, but she only comes in here when she wants to run around like a crazy-bun. I need more lounging!

Ok, today during bonding! I pinky swear. And maybe I can get some of her out during the evening up on the couches and running around.