Bonding Schroeder and Griffin

[KatnipCrzy]

  Today when we cleaned the bunny cages- I swapped Griffin into one side of the pen (where Cotton was) and switched Cotton to the dog crate cage.  I added an extra layer of NIC cubes to the divider to prevent nipping and boxing- but the boys are completely unconcerned about each other- and Schroeder was busy eating hay and Griffin checking out his new “home”.

  Now they have moved onto the “I am so unconcerned about your presence that I will turn my back on you and lay down”.  So they have skipped the aggression thru the cage step, which is nice for me.

  I am trying to bond Griffin to Schroeder since they have shown the least aggression towards each other- Cotton lunges to the front of the cage and bites the bars and grunts at Griffin- where Schroeder only showed curiousity.

  Of course Griffin showed me a couple of hours later that the pen would need a little modifying- he jumped out right in front of me.  He can clear 2 NIC cube tall pen wall easily.  In fact he can stretch to the top of the pen and practically look over it.  So we made an NIC top that we can just flip and clip to the other side as we switch the boys back and forth daily.

  I think after they are bonded a X-pen is in the future as Schroeder can jump out of the pen too- but has only ever done it when food was a motivator.  But maybe I would be better off with a condo since then I KNOW Griffin can’t jump or climb out. 

  I was just going to use a blanket and cover the top of the pen- but figured it would be a very bad thing is Griffin gets out while we are sleeping or I am at work- since he gets into everything and would not hesitate to mow thru all the nonbunny-proofed cords in the upstairs bedrooms that the bunnies do not have access to when I let them out.  But those doors are open in the day since the dogs are gated in our bedroom and the other bedroom the cats can pass thru the gate to get to food and water (so Griffin could easily squuze thru too).

[Sarita]

I think Griffin is going to be a very tall and large rabbit so if you do the condo you will want to make sure he can stand up all the way. I know my large rabbits do better in a pen – I have a 4 footer, wonder if he could jump out of that one – I also don’t have rabbits who jump either – they are too aged for that.

[KatnipCrzy]

Bonding is going pretty well- yesterday when we cleaned their pen and added the the height instead of having a top- I let Schroeder and Griffin run around the room together and they were fine for about 2 hours.  Griffin asked to be groomed and Schroeder humped his head which resulted in a rolling ball of biting/kicking bunnies.

I gave them a break and put them in the bathtub later- used pear baby food to get a grooming response and Griff would groom the pears off Schroeders head- but Schroeder would not groom off Griffs pears.  Griff is the one that repeatedly asks to be groomed but he is the one that fell for the “fruit on the forehead” trick.  They did OK in the bathtub- so I let them out and Schroeder got mad enough at Griff to nip him and Griff- who is twice as big as Schroeder fell over on his side kicking- trying to kick Schroeder away from him.

I will continue their stress bonding, etc.  But they are much less aggressive at this point that Cotton or Penny ever was with another bunny.

[jerseygirl]

2 hours? That’s great! (well apart for the end part of that 2 hrs but still…it’s progress)

Griff- who is twice as big as Schroeder

When did that happen?!!!!!!

[KatnipCrzy]

Griffin has grown like a weed the past few weeks!  He eats at least a cup of pellets a day- I only give him a cup at a time since he likes to dig in the pellet bowl when it is full.

Last night I had them in the bathtub and they were doing well- Schroeder still refuses to groom Griffin- no matter how much Griff asks and nudges Schroeder.  Griff did mount Schroeder last night and my husband was laughing so hard at the weird look on Griff’s face until we got a huge whiff of “male bunny” smell.  It was so gross.    Schroeder does not really get upset over the mounting, oddly enough.  I thought his refusal to groom would mean he would not allow mounting.  Griff got upset when Schroeder tried to mount him and I had to push their heads down to settle them.

It was cute when I poured a little of the baby food in the tub and both boys were licking up the little spot of food- they were close as could be- tongues practically touching lapping up the baby food.

I hope Griffins excited “smell” continues to lessen as more times passes since his neuter.    My husband was afraid to hold Schroeder afterwards until I assured him that Schroeder was “clean” (no deposit/smell from Griffin)

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