bonding baby bun and pinky the warrior princess

[babybunsmum]

great that there’s a bonding section… thanks binky bunny & scarlet_rose!!!

i decided to continue the bonding adventures of pinky in a brand new thread because we’ve been on a bit of a break while baby girl gets her eyes all healed up and we’re about to start up again in full force!  we’re starting anew!  if you want to read about our adventure up until now you can read about it in this thread.  also, i have lots of videos here.  here’s a brief summary to start off the thread…

baby (nearly 8yr old lop female) and pinky (1yr old nz white female) met unofficially twice before i started bonding them.  those times, and my first tub-bonding session both buns were vying for ‘top bun’ status and it wasn’t until pinky bit baby’s ear & scuffed her eye =(  that baby backed down. 

the last couple of bonding sessions we had baby stayed in one place mostly & was content enough to groom or dig but not eat, while pinky explored around and approached baby from time to time.  pinky continues to display unprovoked aggressive behaviour (nipping & lunging) towards baby.

while baby’s eyes were healing (from 2 scuffs by pinky and from clogged tear ducts needing flushing) i started using a stunt double for baby called ‘dino’ the dinosaur.  baby spends some time with dino so he picks up her scent (he also has a tuft of baby hair in his forehead) and she happily grooms him & lounges next to him.  pinky, on the other hand, still displays aggressive behaviour towards dino.  at first she was quite upset by dino’s presence & really lunged & bit him (including pinning him upside-down and tearing at his belly on one occasion… yikes)  but has calmed a bit down.  this gives me faint hope that she can adjust.  lately she has been grooming dino and only seems to lunge / nip when i move dino around a lot. 

today i take baby bun for her second eye flush an hours drive away.  once she settles back in after the trip (probably tomorrow) i will move her enclosure into pinky’s room and they will begin to share a room.  i will also start back with daily bonding sessions in a penned area in my basement and have my splatter screen ready to intercept any lunging & biting from pinky. 

thanks so much for reading… wish us luck!  (any comments / tips / suggestions are very welcome) 

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[Beka27]

thanks for the recap! i’m excited you’re going to start up full-time. we can go thru this adventure together…

YAY!!! i love the new Bonding section!

[babybunsmum]

alright… got a good-news-bad-news situation here.  good news is that baby girl is okay (she had a heart-stopping incident while under anesthetic during her tear duct flush today… bah!  ) and we’re all set to move her enclosure next to pinky’s!  yay! 

the bad news is that the vet thinks i should give baby’s scuffed eyeball another month of healing before we have any bonding sessions

so now… should i go ahead & move their enclosures side by side to give them visual / scent contact only and then start with bonding sessions in a few weeks?  OR  should i wait to move them side by side until i can do regulare bonding sessions? 

i was all set to make the move & get them next to each other since i want them either bonded (preferably) or at least like that when i go away for a week in november.  i’ll go ahead with it unless anyone can give me a reason not to… like it may make them more aggressive to each other seeing the other thru enclosures  but not being able to ‘work it out’. 

any thoughts?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I think when they can see and smell each other it helps out alot. It makes them realize it’s not an intruder that they should fend off; It’s a bunny that lives here too Just have it an inch or so apart so they can’t fight and I’m sure you’ll see they make progress ontheir own

[babybunsmum]

tah daaaah!  bun enclosures are now side by side!

they’re not too sure what to make of it yet but i also think it’ll help a lot.   plus i’m going to make them switch sides after they’ve had a week or so of being roomies. 

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[Beka27]

i think you should switch sides every day starting right now. i’ve been doing that with Max and Meadow since the second day he was here, and now they will go willingly into either side. is the white board to prevent them from seeing each other?

[babybunsmum]

i could def start switching them back & forth… baby’s confused as all get-out anyways

the white board is to prevent them from nipping eachother thru the nic grids when one is out & about.  when they’re both in their cages over night i don’t need the white board since there’s a gap between their enclosures.  i’d love to give them full-time visuals but i don’t trust pinky.  i know she’d bite baby if baby stuck her nose thru the grids.  and my nic grid fences are all needed to protect furniture or plants during either’s free roam time right now.

[Beka27]

i see… that’s probably a good idea while Baby’s eye heals too.

[babybunsmum]

its really funny… pinky protested the board by sitting on her top level starring at me & thumping.  and sweet wee baby keeps sitting infront of the closed door to her old room looking at it like she’s saying “how the heck do i get back IN there?”

i think they’ll get used to the ‘bunajmahal’ in no time though.  boy it’d be great if they do bond & i can join the 2 enclosures together! 

[Sarita]

Poor Baby :~) I can understand her confusion.

[babybunsmum]

i’ve let baby run into her old room a few times now to explore & realize that her stuff is no longer in there.  i think it’s working.  she hippity hops around in there and then flies into the hall & into the rabbit room & sits in the middle & looks around.  then jumps into her enclosure.  plus she’s peeing all over the room  

i let her explore under pinky’s cage a bit too.  pinky freaks when baby’s under there.  she flies down to her hay / litter level & tries to bite baby thru the nic grids.  so i thought if i let this happen while i’m there to keep baby away from getting too close to the nic panels i’ll prevent biting & it may help pinky calm down.  fingers crossed. 

this is my non-bonding session method of continuing bonding until we can resume bonding sessions.  oh and since baby seems to be fine with the room change i’m going to switch them to the other enclosure tonight.  should be interesting!

[babybunsmum]

so last night after baby got her meds i switched the buns into each others cage and then fed them their greens.  i watched them for about an hour to see their reaction.  i’m not sure what i was expecting… lol… but it was cute to watch them sniff around & explore.  they were in sync for a while with eating which was sorta cute.  i don’t know if it was coincidence but they were both eating greens & then stopped, looked around for a few seconds, then jumped into their hay boxes & ate hay while gazing at eachother (ears forward… yay) and then back up to eat more greens at the same time too.  cute.   so we’ll do the night time switcheroo again tonight & continue doing this until baby girl’s eye is ready for another go at a bonding session. 

we’re certainly not on the fast track here but i think this way is best for me too.  since so much of bonding has to do with the human’s emotions it bodes well for us all that i have lots of time to feel comfortable with them bonding

[Beka27]

what i’ve read has suggested having litterboxes on opposite sides (so in your case, far right and far left) and put the pellets and veggies next to the bars closest to the other bun. my buns will eat their food at the same time and watch each other thru the bars. that way they are seeing each other, i think it makes the other bun seem less threatening or something. where do you feed them, on the top level?

[babybunsmum]

well that has worked out kind of oddly.  lol.  we kind of have a mixed bag going right now.

pinky’s litter pan is in her hay box on the lowest level and her food & water are on the middle level which has the most floor space.  baby’s setup is different because baby won’t pee where her hay is.  i have her hay box (where she eats her pellets too) also on the lowest level & it’s directly next to pinky’s hay box.  baby’s middle level has her litter pan & is where her water / greens are. 

last night they spent some time gazing at each other thru the nic panels whilst munching on hay.  i can see how that’s less threatening.  they’re distracted by eating & get used to seeing the other bun.  maybe i could serve their greens in their hay boxes too.  that would be even more munching going on right next to each other.

[Beka27]

or will either of them eat greens while outside of the cage. you could give one of them greens inside, the other greens outside a foot or so away from the other’s cage. (does that make sense?)

[babybunsmum]

makes total sense… great idea!  i’m going to try this tonight.  i’ll serve baby’s veg in her hay box & pinky’s outside right infront.  if i keep pinky outside and baby sticks her wee nose out thru the grids i can hold pinky’s head down if she tries to nip.  but i think the greens will distract them both enough.

[MooBunnay]

It sounds like they are off to a good start! Thats so cute that they are doing the same things in their respective cages Its definitely a good idea to wait until you are comfortable for them to start meeting. Don’t be too worried about putting time constraints on yourself (even though November is still a ways away) because you don’t want to stress yourself out too much. I bet they will be good friends soon!

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