With the clarity that comes from a new day and a rediscovered Stunt Double (it had gotten misplaced during the move earlier this month)- I realize I wildly misinterpreted the circling. It must have been more of a hump-stand-off of sorts, because when I stopped holding the Stunt Double up for Liam and it fell over, he immediately mounted it. I also probably gave Liam an unfair analysis; he didn’t nip the Stunt Double as fas as I could see, but after he had had a go at it I brought it back into Merida’s pen, and she lunged at it.
(Note: the previous post was covering events that happened last night)

I still need to figure out a way to spook Liam though, in case they do legitimately fight on “Date #2.”

Date #2: ~15 minutes, same bin, litter, hay, vacuum (not used today), and spray bottle

Merida went in first, and soon after I added Liam they started circling and nipping. After maybe 2 or 3 minutes of this, with no intervention aside from a spritz from the water bottle if the nipping seemed to be getting a bit hard, they exhausted themselves. Merida cleaned a tuft of Liam’s fur off her face, and a minute later Liam cleaned his face a little. Merida played statue again, while Liam moved around, dug at the litter a little, and sniffed Merida’s head a few times. Then he flopped (!)

After another few minutes he got up again, and the scuffles/circling/nipping started up again. Again a few spritzes of water when they seemed to really be going for each other. During an uneasy pause in the circling, Merida lunged at Liam a few times when he shifted position. Her breathing was hard and fast, and after the “truce” went on for another few minutes and the session hit the 15 minute mark, I decided to end it there. I might put them together again for a quick session tonight.

Both had a few tufts of fur pulled, but otherwise they seem fine, if a bit insulted by the indignity of being put in a box with a strange bunny haha.

A few 1 minute videos (of shockingly bad quality, thanks phone!) of the encounter:

Circling/scuffles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKB8zrU238I

Uneasy truce, Liam cleans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz4ezy5d0mg

Small clip of more circling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2glAYFdUsM 

Note: Bonding is on hold until Merida (& Liam?) get over a viral upper respiratory infection. The fun never ends! It makes me so sad to see Merida have a sneezing fit and not be able to help her

Merida’s sneezing seems to be getting better, and in the mean time I found a Stunt Double for them to interact with. As I type this, Liam has been grooming it for about 5 minutes now- yay! When I first gave it to him, he spent pretty much all his time humping it, but now he seems happy to groom it (and occasionally try to eat its plastic eyes O_o). Before we got Liam, Merida never gave it much attention when I put it near her, and now that Liam has “dominated” it *cough* she’s prone to growling at it and occasionally lunging at it and nipping it.

I’ll attempt to keep this to a cliff-notes update, because really I should be in bed by now haha.

I figured enough time had gone by to let them get over their sinus infections, though they both still sneeze occasionally (but it’s only 2 or 3 sneezes instead of ~8, and a dry sound instead of a wet sound…) Anyway! I threw them back into the storage bin tonight for about an hour and a half.

Some circling, nipping, fur pulling; Liam growled a lot the first few minutes, and Merida thumped in princess-ly irritation after circling/nipping rounds (hahaha). I interfered way more than I had originally wanted to, but they have both groomed the Stunt Double at this point and I figured maybe if they both just chilled out for two seconds, they would see that the other wasn’t actually the devil.

I’m surprised that my murmuring/whispering of “play nice, nice bunnies, be nice” actually seemed to stay more than a few nips- especially since Liam doesn’t seem to understand NO and Merida has selective hearing when it comes to reprimands. 

Liam ate scraps of hay and groomed a few times, while Merida was panting in fear, so I tried forced cuddles. Liam settled right down and even leaned into Merida when I pet the cheek facing her. Merida continued to be terrified but panted a little less. Afterwards, Merida groomed her face a little, but Liam nipped her before she could really clean herself (why??). He also goes for her face/chest area way more than I’m comfortable with (I hold my breath during the stand-offs sometimes, when they’re face-to-face), but so far there have been no bites.

I let them circle and nip, and these “rounds” were much shorter than in previous sessions, even when I didn’t murmur at them to “play nice.” At least three of these rounds ended when Liam shoved his head under Merida’s stomach, apparently demanding grooms. Merida would just stand there nervously, panting and eyes slightly bugged; one time she actually seemed to leap backwards to get away from him after standing there for 3 minutes.

I *might* have seen Liam grooming Merida’s flank, but it was less like licking and more like non-aggressive nips (does anyone know what I mean? Like rough grooming?)

I have pictures of some of the stand-offs and of Merida looking uncomfortable with Liam’s head shoved under her stomach; I’ll post them later.

Photos from last night. Liam demanding groomies:

I feel like Merida is looking at me and asking “what the heck??”

Relentless demands: 

Can’t wait for the day when they do this of their own free will e.e

Liam: “Pet meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Merida: O__________O

 (they held this position for a few minutes; multiple times during the session last night and at least once tonight)

They’ve been in the hated bin for 2.5 hours so far tonight; I’m going to put them back in their respective hutches/pens soon. Once again: circling and nipping, and the occasional thumping from Merida. Liam lunges/nips at her face far more than I’m happy with, and he’s been spritzed with the water bottle more than a few times tonight. A good deal of the time was spent with each bun at either end of the bin- so while there was not a lot of fighting, there also wasn’t a lot of interaction. Forced cuddles don’t seem to be hurting anything, but they’re also not helping very much as far as I can tell. Merida is still very skittish around Liam, since he instigates most (not all, but most) of the quarrels.

I tried the “smush banana on their faces to trick them into grooming each other” tactic, too. Merida daintily nibbled the banana off Liam’s forehead but didn’t lick him, and he tried to bite her face (*sigh*). Liam demanded grooms again, but Merida still refuses to give them. Whether out of stubbornness, the desire to be dominant, or flat-out fear, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her ask for groomies from him, but I’m pretty sure she’s terrified of him right now.

One positive thing I noticed tonight: whenever I rattled the bin to… “encourage” them to interact… they usually scrambled into the same corner together. The comfort-truce ends as soon as the stress does, but I’m hoping it’s something to build on.

Aww Beka, I’m sorry about Max. <3 How was their bonding rough?
Hazel’s Oscar seems to be a grooming hog too haha. I know rabbits don’t usually show predictable personality along breed lines, but it looks like we might have something going here. And TanLover’s evidence that Tans are stubborn, if I remember right

Last night I was exhausted and not really in the mood to break up fights, so it was a “short” 1 hour session while I watched tv with the boyfriend, and I had my hands in the bin with them the whole time petting one or both of them. At one point Merida licked my hand and, after a short hesitation, licked Liam’s face a few times. Later she groomed his ears, and another time around his eyes, without my hands being right there. Liam went to nip her every time I let him up (read: stopped petting lol), so I kept him stationary for most of the session to let Merida relax a little around him. He “rough groomed” her flank once or twice, when I did “let him up” but kept my hand nearby just in case.
It worries me a little that Liam feels the need to nip at Merida even after she’s groomed him a bit and when she’s shown absolutely zero aggression to him on that day.

Progress! And I almost didn’t do a session tonight. Back into the dreaded bin- at this point they both try to go running for the hills when they see it (lol). The first 5 minutes I tried the same technique as last night, and Merida licked around Liam’s eyes and Liam nipped Merida any time I stopped petting him.  I backed off a little and they started circling/nipping. At one point Liam bit her rump and held on (!), and when I finally reached in to separate them, there was a larger-than-usual chunk of Merida’s fur floating around the bin.

So I picked up the bin and started walking in place with it, trying to simulate a car ride. I did this for ~10 minutes, during which Liam clambered over Merida a couple times as he moved around, but never humped her. Whenever he nipped at her or they sat at opposite ends of the bin, I would change my cadence (bouncing on my toes, “walking” faster, turning in slow circles, etc) to discourage the nipping and encourage them to move around and interact. Well- to encourage Liam to move around. Merida didn’t appreciate this new tactic; during one of the walking breaks she stretched out a little (a first) and was panting with fear. (I opened a window and stood near it for the rest of the session in case it was a heat issue.) For the next 50 minutes or so I would “walk” on and off to encourage them to interact, but also gave them breaks to see what they would do- and make sure Merida wasn’t about to give herself a heart attack. Usually they would sit near each other for a few minutes, and then move apart again. About 40 minutes in, Liam actually sat still for a few minutes during one of the breaks; I think even he was getting tired from being jostled around haha.

About 50 minutes in, I rested the bin on the back of a chair and slowly, gently, slightly rocked it back and forth, like a ship rocking. During this part, Liam licked Merida’s ears a few times (yay!) and then presented for grooms. I was afraid the tension would end with nipping, but a gust of wind outside made Liam sit up to listen, so that argument was avoided for tonight.

He didn’t mount her, but he sat on her a few times; I’m going to call this “cuddling” lol

Sort of cuddling; they sat like this for a few minutes after one of the “walking” sessions, touching flanks (note how Merida hasn’t moved from the previous picture):

Merida was not happy about the jostling. (0_0) The fact that Liam sat still for a few minutes makes me think he wasn’t a huge fan of the “walking” either.

Sort-of-almost-soon-to-be-friends?!

Not yet lol. If I left the bin alone long enough, they would return to some variation of this position:

Thanks LPT ^.^

2 nights ago was more of the same, and I put them into Liam’s carrier for a little bit to see how they’d do because they were ignoring each other in the bin- a little nipping on Liam’s end, but otherwise fine

Last night I started them in the carrier and then moved them into the bin, and got the feeling that we’re not going to progress much further until I can do a session for more than 1.5 to 2 hours, and/or put them in a new area to interact. They had an interesting cycle last night: Liam nips – Merida hops away, thumps, and grunts/growls – Liam nips when Merida thumps -repeat. I also like that sometimes when I startle them (ex. when I move the bin), Liam runs into the corner Merida is in and SHOVES his face under her haha.

Tonight they’ve been sitting more or less nicely in The Evil Bin with hay to nibble and Sherlock s3ep3 playing for me and bf haha. Liam is nibbling and Merida is watching him warily.

Found out by chance a minute ago that they’re both terrified of keys being jingled, and when bf finally stopped the jingling, they stayed sitting next to each other for a few minutes. Yay for “stress bonding” haha

LIAM BINKIED!
Not during a bonding session, but immediately after, and both the bf and I saw it; you’d think we’d just seen a shooting star hahaha. We’re hoping it’s a “I just spent hours with a friend” binky and not a “oh thank god she’s finally gone” binky. I’m super excited because that’s the first one we’ve seen him do in the almost 2 months we’ve had him. Previously he’s done what I’ve been calling “scampers” (head tosses, body wiggles), but no full-out binkies.

Soooo I finally took them out of the Dreaded Bin last night and gave them 35 minutes in a small pen area in the bathroom, on the tail end of a few hours in The Bin. There was some nipping (Liam…), but Merida seemed a lot calmer in the pen. Whether because she had more space to get away from Liam’s nips, or she likes being able to see past the gate, or some other reason, I don’t know.

Tonight I went straight to the pen, this time set up near the front door, within sight of the couch (the only area of not-carpet aside from their kitchen/dining room areas and the bathroom). After a few minutes I added a neutral litter box -it used to be Merida’s, before we moved apartments, but it’s been vinegar’d and either way I’m pretty sure Liam doesn’t care in the least. The litter box was quickly taken over by Liam, and he was a little tyrant about it until I stepped in (maybe half an hour to an hour later), plopped Merida back into the litter box, and pushed Liam’s head down to the floor so she could have 30 seconds of peace to do her business. After that, and with a little re-enforcement from the spray bottle, Liam wasn’t so possessive/bossy about litter box use.

There were a lot of groom demands, mostly from Liam but also a fair amount from Merida, which lead to (adorable, if useless) nose-to-nose standoffs. Merida also stretched out at least once, which she never did in The Bin unless she got really hot and stressed out. I’ll post pictures later. I caught Merida grooming around Liam’s eyes a few times, and bf and I fell asleep on the couch for 2.5 hours and the buns didn’t kill each other! Haha also they didn’t have any serious scuffles to wake me up, though I’m certain there was still occasional nipping going on. I think I’ll try to do a marathon session sometime this weekend. Though as per the law of Things I Want To Do, I also have 2 or 3 social activities I’d like to take part in. Nothing ever happens spread out haha. It all HAS to happen on the same weekend and/or day.

They’re both spending more time by the dividing pen tonight than they have been recently. This isn’t particularly unusual for Liam, but it is for Merida. I’m hoping this means they’re not sick of each other hahaha. Liam is mooching pets as I sit on the floor typing this, and he laid down and slllooooooooowllllyy stretched his hind feet out to the side <3

Side note: Pity I didn’t bet money with my vet on who would be dominant haha- He was SURE it would be Merida, because “she’s a dwarf” (“and a female”)- but he didn’t take into account Liam’s apparent need to nip everyone to get them out of his way (including bf), and his freakish ability to Just Sit There and wait for the other being to start/continuing grooming him.

They’re playing nice in the pen right now, which I’ve opened up so they have access to most of the bathroom, aside from the toilet area (so maybe 3′ x 5′?)- they’re both hovering around the litter box, which they’re also playing-nice with (still occasional nipping, but nothing serious). Merida flopped a minute ago; she didn’t stay laying down for long, but I’m glad she’s comfortable enough to flop!

Merida flopped again and stayed laying down this time, until Liam hopped over and presented for grooms- and got them! (I still have yet to see Liam groom Merida)
Occasionally he follows her around the area- it’s not chasing, and he stops after half a loop, but it’s something I’ll have to keep an eye on as I increase their available space.

Not sure what to do with them now haha- I think they need a overnight session, but there’s not enough space for me to bunk in the bathroom with them, and the only other decent-sized area is the kitchen/dining room, where Liam/Merida have their hutches set up.

I went ahead with an overnight session, and am very happy with how things are going. But first, a photo dump from previous sessions:

 unhappy carrier bunnies

 first bathroom pen session

 Liam going in for a nip

 a Merida flop in the near-door pen setup

 one of the many adorable, but useless, groom stand-offs

So, the marathon session, which is still in progress: after 2.5 hours in the bathroom-pen setup, I moved them into the dining room, which Merida used to have free range of (until she ate some of the plastic liner near the floor and I returned her to a hutch-pen setup with supervised “free range”). They were both pretty suspicious of my sleeping bag haha:

 (bonus binkies to anyone who knows what game is set up on the table haha) (Edit/Add: never mind, you can’t see as much of the cards as I thought you could)

The night was pretty uneventful, aside from around 2 hours into the dining room setup when I woke up to what looked like Liam nipping Merida, so I half sat up and said “hey!” and scared the living bejessus out of both of them. They started racing around the pen, knocking over the water bowl, scattering hay and poo’s… Good times. From then on I was sure to murmur “good bunnies” at them before I shifted positions or got up haha.

A few times I woke up to see Liam or Merida stretched out along the pen closest to me 

This morning Merida was cleaning herself and Liam came and flopped next to her (!). I wasn’t quick enough to get a pic of them before Merida hopped off, but here’s Liam wondering where Merida went:

Current count for marathon session at time of posting: almost 16 hours

TWO loaf buns:

Also: grooms video (http://youtu.be/KAQqEQqkaCo)

Beka, that’s what I’m doing right now, until bf and I figure out and construct a NIC condo for them. They’ve been together for almost 22 hours now -2.5 of which were unsupervised(!) because they were doing so well and by golly I want a social life haha- the only victim was the floor, which Liam poo’d all over – I think in protest of being penned up haha. I let them out of the pen for almost an hour before we went out to run around the kitchen/dining room, and there was no chasing or nipping, but quite a few binkies and head tosses! It was kind of adorable how Merida would sometimes follow Liam around ^.^

I think I’m gonna go ahead and call them bonded.
They’ve been together for almost 40 hours now, and play nice both in their temporary corner pen and when allowed to hop around the kitchen/dining room area. We had a little scare with Liam last night/earlier today; colic symptoms and refusing food (which is the extreme opposite of Normal Liam) and laying in the litter box all night (I slept on the floor with them again, just in case). Merida would hop over to him sometimes after he fidgeted and bump noses with him. I was finally able to get about 7ml water into him, and a little bit after that he started moving around and vacuuming up food again.

Posted By Hazel on 03/01/2014 05:44 PM 

He really is! He also never grooms anyone back, just like Liam. Them Rexes have no manners, do they? Oscar actually does lick the furniture a lot, just not us. I guess he doesn’t want to confuse us about who the top bunny is…

…I hope the sleeping bag isn’t too uncomfortable.

I’ve seen Liam lick the floor where I was sitting a minute earlier, but that’s the closest he’s come to giving me kisses.

And I had my sleeping pad, too so the floor wasn’t too hard haha.

One more update: this morning, right as I needed to leave for work, Liam humped Merida. Luckily bf had today off, so he kept an eye on them for me haha. I kinda wonder if Liam felt the need to confirm him dominance because I had scooped Merida out of the pen and snuggled her on the couch for a little bit?

Then this evening, Liam gave Merida a full grooming session (SO adorable, even bf aww’d haha)… aaaaand then Liam mounted Merida’s face, but didn’t actually hump. So only the lagomorph gods know what’s going on in his silly Rexy head, but they’re still running around happily together, so whatever.