Bonding Marley, Valentine, and Rascal (Daily updates)

[Amys Animals]

I did not get many pictures because I was too afraid to put the spray bottle down.  lol  I will tell you how it went.  I decided (with the help and advice from others) to start bonding in pairs instead of bonding them all together.  I started today with Valentine and Marley.  I set up two pens close enough together so they could sniff each other.  Marley nipped Valentine a couple times but calmed down after a while.  I had them in the two pens separate for about a half hour just seeing how they would react being so close.  Then I decided to put Marley in with Valentine.  It went pretty well, I’d say. I had them together like that for about 20 minutes.  Marley would go up to Valentine and sniff her.  Valentine stayed huddled in a corner, I think she might have been scared or unsure or something.  Marley mounted Valentine once but Valentine didn’t care.  Marley groomed Valentine’s back, I don’t know if he was just “tasting” her (LOL) or if he was actually showing affection.  So far I’ve only done Valentine and Marley. I will do Marley and Rascal later…I am letting everyone calm down since I just brought them inside from having run time and fresh air.  I will keep this thread updated with bonding progress.  

[Amys Animals]

These are not the best pictures but these are all I have of Marley and Valentine today.  

Marley was grooming Valentines back.

Valentine remained in that same spot during the whole bonding session.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

I love Marley’s little legs

[Amys Animals]

I know they are sooooo cute! It cracks me up when I see his legs compared to Valentines because V has big feet and long front legs.

[Amys Animals]

I started Marley and Rascals bond today. Surprisingly it went better than I’d expected.  Marley was nippy but it wasn’t too bad.  Rascal nipped a couple times but not as much as Marley. Most of the time the two buns would stay on separate sides of the pen but occasionally one would go up to the other to nip.  I was on it though and didn’t let it escalate.  Had my towel and squirt bottle ready.  

More bonding later.  

They stayed like this most of the time.

[mocha200]

From the picture it looks like V has her head bowed for grooms. Or is just the angle of the picture. It is good Marley groomed her! Mocha will sometimes lick Lulu and then proceed to hump her… Not really sure why. Even though Marley and Rascal ignored each other that’s a good sign! All together the bonding sessions both seemed awesome! Hope it stays this good!

[Amys Animals]

She may have been asking for grooms, I think she was just a little nervous to be honest.

I did another session with Marley and Rascal. Oh boy. This time it was different. LOL I did it in the bath tub this time. Rascal would NOT stop nipping Marley. During the whole 10 minutes he just would nip him. Marley didn’t care and was just focused on trying to hop on my lap. (I was sitting on the bath tub where he could jump up my legs) The nipping on Rascals part just got worse as time went by so I scooped up Marley and took him away. I didn’t get any pictures this time. I was too focused on trying to get Rascal to stop being a meanie head. lol Maybe next session he’ll calm down and hopefully Marley won’t act up this time. haha I accidentally sprayed Marley once when I was trying to spray Rascal. I felt bad. Poor guy. lol

It is funny because both Rascal and Valentine both weigh about 5 1/2 pounds maybe a little more and poor little Marley only weighs 3.3 pounds! haha He’s so small. He’s got guts though.

[mocha200]

Next time there is a lot of nipping you might want to stress the a little bit like put them in a laundry basket and bounce it a little bit so they snuggle, then either put them back in the tub or back in there cages. That might be better as you will end on a good note and not on a nipping note. :p

[Amys Animals]

Thanks! =)

I probably won’t be doing any bonding tomorrow, as Marley is having his teeth done and I haven’t done any yet today but I am going to start now.

[Amys Animals]

Hadn’t done bonding in a couple days, but I am back on it today.  Marley and Valentine got along pretty well.  Of course Marley is a nipper so he was nipping V’s nose a couple times.  Not too much though.  He did mount her a few times and she didn’t really like that but no aggression.  It was so amazing because Valentine groomed Marley today!  I was so surprised!  It was adorable.  Here are a couple pictures of the first session.  

[Amys Animals]

Well bonding today with Marley and Rascal went okay.  Wasn’t perfect but they both want to be dominant so it’s expected to go this way.  Rascal would NOT stop nipping Marley in the bath tub.  I took Marley out and got a basket and put them in it and started with stress bonding.  It went rather well this way.  We almost had groomies but they were too stubborn.  Marley kept smelling Rascals ear and wanting to groom it but he was too hesitant.  Rascal kept asking to be groomed.  I put them back into the bath tub after a while in the basket but things still don’t work in there, so I’ll just figure other ways to bond them.  I am going to bond all three together or try and see how it goes.  I’ll need a bigger basket, though.  =P  I know it probably won’t go well in the bath tub with all three.  Anyways, here is a picture of the two in the basket.  

[Amys Animals]

Session #2 

2/18/2013

I decided to put all three in a box. I also decided (with the help and advice of others) to stress bond.  Since Rascal does not want to stop nipping it seems this is best.  I used a handheld vacuum and that really helped.  Valentine groomed Marley a whole lot tonight.  Rascal tolerated Marley but toward the end of the session he nipped Marley.  I calmed them down and took them back to their cages.  I want to put all three in the bath tub but I know that probably won’t be the best idea.  Too much room and Rascal and Marley don’t get along in the bath tub. More bonding tomorrow. 

[Deleted User]

They are just too darn cute!!! I hope the bonding keeps going well!

[tanlover14]

Yay! Just got caught up on this thread.

Seems everyone is doing great. I definitely wouldn’t switch them back to the bath tub especially with all three. It only encouraged a lot of ganging up on the newbie with my crew. The box worked SO great for me as I could think of so many different ways to stress them if they started again. Vacuum, shaking the box, squirting, hitting the side of the box and making a lot of noise where they couldn’t see me. As you start to do longer sessions with them, throw some hay in the box. It helped mine become more comfortable with relaxing and eating around each other.

[Amys Animals]

Last night went so well.  There were no nips and Rascal and Marley got face to face asking for grooms from each other.  No groomies yet!  It’s really great to see how well they are doing.  I am going to continue with the box thing for a few more days and then switch to something a little larger.  

Here is a video of them.  I tried embedding it here but it was waaaay too large.  

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=161839030636361&set=vb.100004307941840&type=3&theater

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