Bonding take two

[kmurphy]

Hey guys! I posted about trying to bond my bunny Kraken to a male mini lop that we were fostering. They ended up not working as they both would not back down dominance wise. Luckily someone was interested in adopting him from the shelter we were fostering him from so it worked out well for everyone. We then looked at two more females both were lionheads. We ended up with one of them who we renamed Jitterbug. She went into GI stasis from the stress of traveling and moving into a new home. She is still recovering from it and doesn’t eat consistently enough yet. 

It has been about 20 days since we adopted her and we just started introducing the bunnies face to face. They have pens next to each other and we switch them every so often. Because of all of the issues with Jitters, we have to make bonding as least stressful as possible. 

For about the past week they have been able to sniff each other through a pen while I was supervising so we didn’t have any nose nips. They were fine with that. Yesterday was the first day they met face to face. To minimize the stress we used the pen that both of them had been in at separate times and a clean sheet for the floor. 

They were pretty good at first, Kraken only cared about the food and Jitterbug was just running around. They both tried to hump each other and there was a small scuffle but no nips or hair pulled out. The both asked each other for grooms but neither would give in. This caused Jitterbug to nip Kraken but he didn’t get an injury or anything. It was more of a nip out of annoyance. I separated on a good note with them laying together. 

I put them back in the same pen today and they have been civil. No nips as of yet. Kraken tried to hump Jitterbug but she wouldn’t let him and ran off. They will not groom each other but they did take a nap together. Jitters mainly just runs around while Kraken ignores her. 

Bonding day 1

Bonding day 1 part2

[Gina.Jenny]

A promising start

[Mikey]

Aww so cute! (((healing vibes))) for Jitterbug. I hope bonding continues to go well with those two

[kmurphy]

Yesterday evening Kraken started roughly grooming Jitterbug which she did not like. I’m not really sure why he was doing that but I will definitely keep an eye on it. He also was pretty humpy in the evenings and Jitterbug let him hump her once but then was done. He did try to pursue her so we settled them back down and then separated them. A little earlier in the day yesterday they were mostly just sleeping near each other or Kraken was eating hay and Jitters was running around. 

Here is the video of the aggressive grooming

[kmurphy]

Update on bonding:
The bunnies have been getting along really well during the day. They now have a shared litter box and hidey house that no one seems possessive over. Kraken is still only grooming Jitters’ eyes and inside of her ears but on the plus side, the hair that used to get in her eyes is now licked down so she has less eye goobers.
Jitters will not groom Kraken yet.
At night if they are together, Kraken will try to hump Jitters but she generally doesn’t allow it. They were circling each other last night, but that was broken up by a loud “HEY” after which they were buddies again. I would love it if we could feed them together but it takes all night for Jitterbug to eat so I don’t think that would work too well yet.
Just a note: they are always supervised if they are together. They are never left unattended.
They do get their separate evening exercise time and both bunnies have been quite active with a lot of binkies from Kraken!

[Gina.Jenny]

sounds like its going well

[Gina.Jenny]

sounds like its going well

[kmurphy]

Not a good night for our bunnies. They had a few big fights so we made their pen really small and used a spray bottle when they started to get aggressive. No apparent injuries but they were latched on to each other pretty good so I will keep an eye on them. I was able to separate them on a neutral note. They were both ignoring each other.
I’m going by the motto two steps forward and one step back.
I was also told that you should view bonding as a series of breakthroughs and setbacks rather than a linear progression. We will see what tomorrow brings.

[kmurphy]

Lots of fighting with the bunnies so I have changed tactics and the sessions are now on sheets of cardboard. This ensures that it is more neutral territory and it’s slippery it’s easier to break up a fight.
They have both been nipping which makes Kraken very tense and then he doesn’t really settle down from that and will go after her when she moves. When they fight they tend to jump around. Sometimes it’s hard to break them up with just a squirt bottle and I have to physically separate them. I know it is really stressful on both of them but I am just taking it slow and hoping there is an end in sight even though it seems like they have gotten a lot worse.

[kmurphy]

Last night I put them in a large box together. There was a lot of nipping on and off. They definitely seemed to be avoiding each other which I was ok with. I thought giving them greens together might bring them together as Kraken was never possessive of his food in the past, but he changed his mind. He was quite nippy so I took the greens away. Jitters seems to be starting most of the conflict as whenever they come face to face she will nip him which can lead to a fight.
The way that I was dealing with the nipping was by using a squirt bottle as well as shaking the box.
There will be no bonding sessions today and very little for the next few weeks as I have finals.
Unfortunately I am a little unsure of what the summer will bring so bonding might have to be put on hold.

[Author]

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