Bonding….

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

So…we thought we’d try kokanee and rupert together for a quickie bonding session and see how they did. My hand still hurts.. LOL

 

Anyways needless to say it didn’t go great, but not terrible..They lay together if we force them down,and if you put ruperts ear near kokanee’s mouth she’ll groom it. But if you let them go they charge and box and bite. I put my hand in to seperate them and got a pretty big (spacially big not deep or bad) bite on my hand (OI! need rubber gloves next time!) from Rupert…

 

Here’s where I’m think we are at: They don’t know the other one, and don’t trust the other one. Neither is frightened to the point of running away. They are prepared to duke it out. It seems to me that it’s a “bite him before he bites me” type of situation….So here’s my plan

I’m going to pick up some more cubes and make two very small little cubes (with roof’s) right next to each other (but staggered and overlapping so there is no room to poke a nose through and bite) and put kokanee in one and rupert in the other for half an hour sessions each day. That way they have to see each other. I’m planning on making this positive by treating them during this time; And I want the session to be long enough that they can’t sustain the ‘fight or flight’  response they are having. Once they have to be close to each other and calm I’m sure they’ll start to come around…What do you guys think??

 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Well I’m sure your bonding experience is going a lot better than my is going to go! Stormy will totally try to kill Bindi, I just know it.

Which one of your buns is the aggressive one?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

To be honest I don’t think either are aggressive…I think Rupert is a ‘fear biter’ and I think Kokanee just reacts to what she thinks is aggression… I’m not sure!

[babybunsmum]

i’m admittedly inexperienced with bonding… but i think thats a good idea k&k!  maybe you could stick some greens in the staggered nic grids that are common to both of them so they can be nose to nose nibbling?  

i’m sooo looking forward to trying to bond pinky & baby after pinkys spay.   she goes in 3 weeks & then i’ll wait a few more for her recovery & for her hormones to die down.  in the meantime they have been nose to nose through the baby gate… pinky just sniffs & baby casually tries to chew the gate (she tries to chew everything so i do not interpret this as aggressive behaviour).  since they’re pretty calm on each side, i was planning to stick greens in it & monitor them closely while they nibble.  i think they’ll be okay this way even before pinky’s spay since the trouble only happens with butt sniffing & mounting attempts.

you’ll have to post if you try this… i’m curious to hear how it goes!

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