Adding in Bunny Number 3 (Hopefully pictures)

[JoyCounts]

 WARNING: Long Post Ahead. 

Hello Hello! For anyone who saw my post about the legal limbo bunny post in February, I would just like to start off by saying that legal issues worked in my favor and I got my sweet little boy, Char! I got him at the end of March, and he was neutered March 31st, so he’s had plenty of time to get over the hormones. For the first couple of weeks I had his pen completely surrounded so my other bunnies could smell him but not see him. Then about a week after his neuter, I put his pen next to theirs with about 4 inches in between (and a ceramic bowl making sure it stayed that way) and no more cardboard.

Since during my last bond, Lua was my big troublemaker, I thought bonding Char and Lua would be the hardest part. Their behaviors when I first put the pens next to each other lended to this idea too. Lua was in an uproar and Puck stayed pretty chill. Well I was wrong, but I didn’t know that ahead of time, so I decided to start bonding Char and Lua first. When I did their introduction, it was outside on my balcony, and Char instantly humped her and she just stood there (he may not have been completely hormone free yet at that point). She’s never shown any aggression to him, he’s only shown affection to her (no licks but lots of nuzzling). Even today they were both on the balcony with me again for a couple of hours, and while interactions are usually just him chasing her in a “Hey I wanna snuggle!” sort of way, the fact is they can both relax around each other no fighting.

Char and Lua today

Well as it turns out, Puck is going to be my problem this time around. First I should mention, that a couple of weeks after Char’s neuter, I woke to the sound of a fight. Thinking maybe Lua and Puck’s bond had broken, I ran in, only to find Puck in Char’s cage. Puck had no injuries, but poor Char had a bit penis. I rushed him to the vet and got him fixed up. I waited until it was healed (and the hormones had died down some) to let them interact again. May 1st-ish, I took the boys to the balcony, but I guess Char decided that it was his area and got territorial. So a fight ensued, in which Puck got a good hold on Char’s nose, then Char got a good hold on my work gloves, and the result was lots of Char blood and little Joy blood. While at first I was nauseous from worry (I did a similar thing during the penis bite) I calmed down, cleaned it up, and discovered it was really more a cut, and nothing just dreadfully serious. So a good wiping with warm water and a bit of plain neosporin later, he was on the way to recovery. 

Well I’ve been wanting another Puck/Char meeting since then, but I wanted to wait until the nose was healed. They still saw each other through the bars.  Well today I braved up and did it. I got a huge cardboard box following tanlover14’s advice from my first bonding and pushed and pulled the box back a forth. I don’t like stress bonding, but since the relationship between these two has been so volatile, I see no other choice. I started off with a couple of grid squares between them so I could get situated without worrying about a fight right away, and some hay in the bottom to encourage friendliness. Then I started moving the box. The grid squares fell and left the space between them open. By the time I stopped the moving they were cuddling in fear. I pet them for a little while to encourage good feelings, and then another fight ensued (no injuries this time, just fur loss). I put the grid back up and started over. Once again they cuddled in fear, and when I stopped, I petted them for a bit, then ended the date before they could start fighting again. I’ll probably start doing this often, and hope it all works out. I have a couple of other ideas if the box ends up being a dud, but I’m trying to be hopeful.

This is the box and grids (there are actually two ziptied together).

Hopefully next time I post I’ll have made some progress.

[LongLiveLoyalBuns]

Aww…. I hope they get along sooner or later… I have not read your other threads but is char a lion-lop? I have always absolutely adored them!

[Sialia]

Oh, I’m so happy that you were able to bring him home! I just read the other thread. How frustrating and depressing. Did all the bunnies get homes or did some have to go back? Sorry, off-topic for this particular thread but my heart is breaking for them.

I don’t have any advice since I haven’t bonded three bunnies (just hopefully finished bonding my two) but wanted to say how happy I am for you and I’m so glad that Char’s in a good home now.

[JoyCounts]

LoyalBuns: yes Char is a lion lop. I have a particular fondness for black lionhead mixes.

Sialia: Yes all of the bunnies were released. There were 200 something rabbits so they don’t all have homes yet, but now they are in caring shelters instead of in the horrible conditions they were in. Since the rabbit shelter here obviously couldn’t hold all if them in addition to the ones they already had (including two more rescues while waiting on the legal issues) quite a few rabbits have journeyed to other shelters in nearby states. Hopefully this means they’ll get a better chance.

[JoyCounts]

Ugh, had another horrible date today. I tried to box again, and while shaking it up, they managed to start fighting. Puck just lost some fur, but Char got a ugly bite on the butt (not very deep and didn’t bleed) that I needed to put Neosporin on, so unfortunately the date ended on a bad note. So me thinks that the box idea no longer works. Char and Lua get along well enough. Char likes Lua and Lua runs away, but Lua even climbed into Char’s pen the other day while I was letting the two of them run around, and Char was completely fine with it. I guess I’m going to try to clean up a spot in my building’s basement. Nobody ever goes down there, so it should be okay. I’m also worried that I’m part of the problem too. Char adores me. I get bunny kisses all of the time, he loves to sit next to me, and he even loves it when I hold him. And I’m not positive, because it always happens so quick, but I think Char is usually the one starting the fights. I guess I’m going to brainstorm other options. It’s just awful because they seem to be okay with each other when they are each in their separate pens. Puck loves to lay against the wall that is closest to Char’s pen, and Char will sit and watch them. I might have to resign myself to the fact that Char may be a single bunny for awhile.

[LongEaredLions]

Have you tried forced snuggling by putting them all next to each other and petting them firmly?
Don’t worry, your just starting out.

[JoyCounts]

Sorry, I haven’t updated in awhile, because I haven’t really been getting online.
After the bad date I posted earlier, I waited a few hours and put them in a new neutral area in my laundry room, and then I did do forced snuggling. At one point they tried to start a fight again, and I squirted them with water until they stopped, and then forced snuggled them while they were wet. As much as they probably hated it, it was kinda funny the attitude they were giving me. It was very much like “Really? You’re going to get us all wet and then make us pretend to be friends? You must hate us.”

Couple of days after that I did another forced snuggling. Puck took a nip at Char and pulled some fur, and Char tried to turn and start a fight, but I stopped it before it could happen. Puck really loves cuddles though, so he ended up quite enjoying the cuddling with Char. Char However was grumpy and jumpy, and while he wouldn’t do much as long as Puck was still, if Puck shifted his position at all, Char would jump and start presenting hardcore, preparing for a fight. I think this date lasted half an hour, and seemed a moderate success. Unfortunately I haven’t had another date with them since then. I’ll try to update again as soon as I do.

[JackRabbit]

There’s definitely BBers with great bonding advice (LEL for one). Also check out TanLover14’s bonding website wheekwheekthump.com

[JoyCounts]

So I’d love to say I’ve made progress, I instead am going to say I’m putting the bonding off for a little while. I had a date between them a couple of days ago with some forced snuggles that went well for awhile and then Char tried to start a fight. I stopped that in its tracks and made sure both of them know I wasn’t going to tolerate fights by pushing their heads down (firmly but not hard enough to hurt them) every time someone nipped. We ended that okayish but now both boys are molting fairly heavily making them both a little extra grumpy because now they are dealing with extra grooming from me pulling out all the little tufts so they aren’t ingested. Puck especially hates the extra grooming, so I decided to stop with the bonding until the molting dies down some and everyone is less grumpy.

[LongEaredLions]

Sounds like a good plan. Molting bunnies can be grumpy.
Keep us updated on what happens!

[Author]

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