As Petzy mentioned, this would be interesting to document. So I would like to go through how the bond of Bee and Indy started and then how it will go through her spay which is coming up soon – and then to their “official” bond.

The Bunnies:

Indiana Jones – my feedstore bunny rescue. Some old man randomly dumped around 10 babies on this feedstore. I wish I could have taken them all. He has been well worth the 10$ he cost me

BumbleBee (Born December 16th, 2009)  – She came from a local petstore – It wasn’t a good idea that I got her, but I saw her and couldn’t let her go. I had to have her. I know I didn’t help the rabbit in petstores situation, but I don’t have much self control.

Introduction:

Where to begin. Well, I have pretty much done everything wrong from a good bunny owners standard. I got my rabbits almost randomly and did no dating at all. I already had Indiana Jones and was going to bond him with Bun, but then I acted on a whim and was at a petstore and saw Bee. I couldn’t leave without her. It was very irrisponsable of me, but that’s how I act sometimes. I just do something that isn’t so smart and then deal with the consequences later. I didn’t have Indy neutered at that time either, which was extremely dumb because his hormones were starting to come and he really really wanted to meet Bee if you know what I mean.

After Indy’s neuter I could relax a tiny bit. I didn’t have to worry about anyone escaping and getting pregnant. That was a few edgy weeks though. What I was dealing with now was poopwars. Indy would do hundreds of poops all day in front of Bee’s cage. It was extremely irritating to clean up everyday, but I did it to myself. I brought home the new bunny and Indy wanted to meet her so badly. They were constantly grooming through the cage and Indy would alwyas be near her cage. At this point in time Indy is free ranging my room, Bee had the converted closet pen and Bun was in the store bought cage (3 1/2 feet by 2 1/2 but still too small.) I wasn’t dealing with poop wars with Bun because that cage sat on top of my dresser. The poopwars were wearing me down. I was tired of cleaning up so much poop and he was also pee’ing on her towels that I use for the bottom of the pen. After about a month of this, one day I was cleaning and she hoped over me to meet Indy, who was already frantically climbing all over me to try to get into her open pen.

The first meeting:

So they finally meet when I clean Bee’s cage, and I at first go to grab her then I just watch. It was advised for me to just wait to let them hang out after her spay but I figured as long as they didn’t fight or hump they could groom or play with eachother. I do run the risk of them not getting along after her spay because she will then smell different because her hormones will change. I feel at this point though, that they do really enjoy eachothers company and Indy is so laid back I don’t think it will bother him. Of course I will not know this until her spay is over but from his personality and how easy going he is, I think it will be okay. They get along great together, lots of flops, binkies, and lots of grooming. Apparently Bee has very dirty floppy ears! Indy didn’t try to hump her, infact I thought I saw him thinking about it ONCE and I shooed him away. But he has never humped her, and she has never humped him. I am constantly in my room when they are together and the only thing they do is snuggle and groom. They are “BFF’s”  haha.

My thoughts:

I log into facebook and tell MonkeyBun about their meeting and how well they are getting along! I was so estatic at how lucky I am. Like I said before, I have really done everything wrong. Smart owners take their rabbits on dates and find the right match, I have 2 random bunnies that have never met before and they get along like they were made for eachother. Now, I was worried that maybe because she was so little and that babies do like the company of adults this won’t last. But we’re at 4 months still and Bee throws a fit if I try to seperate them when I go out. She wants no part of it and neither does Indy. Members have told stories where the bond falls apart after the spay or they start fighting because hormones kicked in and then the bond wasn’t the same. I just hope my luck continues and that I will spay her at 5 months and everything will continue to be great.

These are photos from the first night they hung out. I took tons because I couldnt believe my eyes.

Their behaviors to eachother:

They share everything together. They sit in the same literbox and potty together, they share the same food dish and drink from the same water dish together. It’s funny after they drink together, because Bee’s ears get wet on the ends from being dipped into the water dish, but Indy happily grooms them after for her. I have never seen them hump or fight over anything. When I feed them treats, they both maul me and try to take the raisins from eachothers mouth but that doesn’t upset either of them. I try to cup my hand around the buns mouth so the other bun can’t steal it. Even if I don’t do that, neither are bothered from attempts of raisin stealing. Indy was very sniffy of her at first, and always tried to sniff her bum, but she wouldn’t have any part of it and that was it. That would be the closet thing to any dominance I saw from either of them. They both equally groom eachother and they constantly are spooning and flopping for eachother. It’s very adorable to watch. I have even caught them with a parsley bunch before, doing the whole lady and the tramp spaghetti deal where they eat it and then they kiss…well in the bunnies case they go nose to nose .  The both enjoy jumping on my bed every morning to wake me up for their veggies and pellets. That is the newest thing they do together. Indy runs me over doing laps and Bee digs in my hair and pillow. They tag team me! lol!  They are quite the little pair.

Videos of their first times together:

Don’t mind the messy room and the pile of clothing   I have cronic messy college student syndome

Newer photos of them together:

Today: April 15, 2010

My plans for now are to watch closely and be ready to seperate if Bee starts showing signs of agression. What I have done when I am gone for a few hours is give her the 3 story cage and Indy still gets my bedroom. I would like to get her spayed next month – May 16th she will be 5 months. I will be in contact with the vets to make sure 5 months is okay with them. I have high hopes that I will not have any problems with them even after her spay. *fingers and bunny ears crossed* They are a blast to have and I don’t have any regrets getting them and going through this even though it is pretty risky.

To Readers:

Again, I would like to stress that this has been a less than ideal situation, but it has worked out for me. I don’t reccomend at all for anyone to do what I have done because it was careless, risky and I could very well end up with cleaning separate bunny cages for the rest of my rabbits time with me – which is their entire life. I am ready and prepared to do what is needed if something does go wrong and they don’t get along anymore. But, I do know there are probably other people like me who couldn’t leave without taking a cute bunny home and then thought about it later and said “ohhhh crud!!! what have I done?!” I believe this has only gone so smoothly because of how Indiana Jones is. He is very laid back and loves attention so getting a friend was ideal for him. Adopting a rabbit from a shelter would have been great, because then I wouldn’t have had to deal with stresses of them healing after the ‘speuters’, or taking time off work and ditching class to care for them. But again, I messed up and just acted on a whim – BUT….I wouldn’t trade my bunnies in for anything. I don’t know why I feel guilty when two of my three are basically rescues but it’s still not the same as getting from a shelter. So, please don’t think that because this is working out well for me so far, that it’s a good idea to go and get a baby rabbit to bond to your adult – because remember kits want to be with an adult because it’s comforting to them. But for me, Bee and Indy still get along very well at 4months and it could all change. It really depends on your rabbits. Remember that bonding rabbits can be very tough and some people are really lucky and get an instant bond – but always be prepared for the worst and to accept it if it doesn’t work out and you do have more food dishes to feed, more water bottles to fill, and more literboxes to change.

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I will update this as new things happen, and then with the spay coming soon and see how this journey goes from there!