Bonding thumper and roscoe!

[LizzyBunny]

So today I went to the rabbit rescue with thumper, my 1 and a bit year old, spayed, dwarf something or other, we met roscoe and there were a few scuffles but nothing huge.

Thumper was pretty dominant and did not like when roscoe ran around, she pulled out some of his fur. This was about an hour and a bit session. By the end of it, they were eating and grooming in front of each other and also going nose to nose without anything happening. Roscoe is much calmer then thumper with this whole thing, probably because she has never been around other rabbits. 

They were put into the same carrier on the way home and were lying up against each other, very cute!

Thumper is now in her condo and roscoe is in an xpen next to her condo, in her room. I also put some of thumpers poops in roscoes litterbox and thats where he has been spending most of his time but he pooped outside of his box a couple times. 

I let thumper out for some exercise and she was freaking out, growling at roscoe through the xpen so I put her back in her condo.

Am I doing everything right? What is the next step?  

[LizzyBunny]

So I did a 15 minute session this morning in the bath tub.

They would sniff each other face to face for 5 seconds and then thumper would attack. Eventually roscoe got tired of this and started attacking back.
(I don’t want to say fighting because it wasn’t really)

Thumper is also pulling out his back fur still.

I left it on a positive note though, they were crouched 5 inches away from each other with no reaction for a good 30+ seconds

Should I get a spray bottle? What about a decoy bunny?

I’ll do another session when I come home from school today!

[LizzyBunny]

Had a 30 min session;

Thumper ate, pooped, and flopped out near to roscoe so yay progress!
But she still attacked him but not as much soo not so much progress?

He’s very timid sometimes, he doesn’t move much unless I move the towel but when he does move he goes right up to thumper but she doesn’t really like that.

Thumper pulled out more of roscoes fur and he tried to attack back but freezes up sometimes.

[Elrohwen]

It sounds pretty good so far!

Otto was also terrified when we started sessions, but I think it worked in our favor. When he sat perfectly still Hannah just left him alone. Once he got comfortable moving around, she got more nippy and humpy, so having him be so still at first probably helped them get comfortable together. He’ll get better!

Have you tried stressing? I’m a huge fan of throwing them in a laundry basket when they’re getting nippy and shaking them around for a few seconds. It can really snap an aggressive bunny out of that behavior and teaches them that being mean results in something unpleasant. It’s also great because it gives you some moments of peace afterward and then you can end on a good note.

[LizzyBunny]

 Had a 1 hour session today; I think I like the longer sessions better because it takes them a little bit to get comfortable. 

 

Things are getting better, less nipping, but roscoe still freezes up sometimes. Thumper ate, pooped, groomed, and flopped in front of roscoe again.Roscoe peed (-.-), groomed himself a little bit and ate a bit too.

 

They kept going nose to nose as if they were waiting for the other bunny to groom him/her first. I put a bit of strawberry on their heads and roscoe groomed thumper!!! He asked for it back but she wouldnt do it!

 

Here is thumper flopped and roscoe kind of frozen again.

 

[somebunny]

aw they are so loveable! i got the same issue with a head to headness , and one frozen bunny who won’t groom back!

[Elrohwen]

They are darling!

And lucky you for seeing grooming already! Definitely a good sign. Mine still do the head to head thing, but at least now they take turns on who gives in first.

[LizzyBunny]

Thanks guys :p

I’m having much progress! With more strawberry = more grooming by roscoe but thumper just ignores the redness on his little white head

thumper was being nippier then usual so we went on a car ride and they got pretty stressed out and were flopped next to each other.

How do I know if I’m doing too much and REALLY stressing roscoe?

thanks for the advice

[Elrohwen]

I think the stressing will be fine. I wouldn’t do it if they don’t need it, but if you see benefits to your bonding then keep doing it. You can always limit the car rides if they stress him out too much and stick to things around the house like putting them in a laundry basket.

[LizzyBunny]

Sorry for the break, I’ve been too busy!

Sessions now have little to no nipping! Roscoe started grooming her with no strawberry at all () but then he went onto humping her… :/
At first she just took it but now she runs away or pretends to nip at him..

They now eat, flop, pee, poo, and groom themselves in front of each other!

Should I move onto a semi-neutral space?

[LizzyBunny]

I had a one hour session today in a semi-neutral space!

I thought they wouldn’t find so I didn’t have my protector thingy right next to me but boy was i wrong..
At first I put the xpen in my living room but immediately a fight broke out and thumper pulled out a large amount of roscoes hair

I went back to the bathtub and they calmed down a lot.

I then moved them into the hallway where the bedrooms are and made the xpen quite small. There was some fighting but I was prepared this time and I also did a laundry basket stressing. Thumper is grooming roscoe more now but roscoe still does most of the grooming.

Anything I can improve on?

[LizzyBunny]

Had two one hour sessions yesterday and today.

I put them back in my living room and was more prepared for any fighting, which there was lol.
Lots and lots of scuffles, one or two major fights with thumper being waay dominant!
Roscoe groomed her quite a bit but as soon as he stopped thumper freaked out at him.

Would love any advice lol!!

[Monkeybun]

I would stick to the hall/bathroom for now if the fights happen in the living room. They need more time to be around each other int hese places they are more comfortable in. Are you doing sessions every day? If not, I would suggest it

[LizzyBunny]

Thank you Monkeybun!

I will be going back to the hall! I have been doing them every other day but as it’s summer now I will be doing them every day

I also meant to say Saturday and today lol.. I’ve already forgotten what day of the week it is -.-

[Monkeybun]

I know how that is I lose track of time and days all the time! hehe

Daily sessions will help, at some point they will just learn to like each other At least with my girls they did!

[LizzyBunny]

I’m just about to do a session, one question!

Thumpers currently has her own room. At the moment I have both their pens in there and thumper hates it! she’s always nipping at him through the bars!!! How are they supposed to live together permanently in there when she hates it?!

[LizzyBunny]

 We went back totally neutral today but my 1 hour was cut to 30 mins because my dear sister needed to shower 

They were almost fine but i don’t want to leave them alone yet. I did take some pics though!

This was them in the first 5 mins: 

[LizzyBunny]

sorry I haven’t updated in a bit!

I’m doing a bath tub session right now but I got bored so I brought in my lap top
They are currently snuggling and roscoe was grooming thumper earlier.

I would appreciate ANY help! should I move onto the semi-neutral space?

[LizzyBunny]

So I have come to the conclusion that thumper hates being in a pen, in a room that she plays in. This is what leads to fighting in the semi-neutral space. When they are in the closed bathtub, they snuggle and groom each other.

I’m not too sure where to go from here.

[LizzyBunny]

In case anybody cares or was wondering what happened..

I am STILL in the bonding process after 3 months I’m at the semi-neutral stage.

There are still little fights going on and thumper growls occasionally.

I’m extremely stressed out about this as I’m going back to school in 3 weeks!! Any advice would be amaazing!

[T.Bunny]

What starts the fights? is it a dominance thing? is it still the space issue in thumper’s room?

When thumper is in her room does she have free run of the room?? if so female bunnies can be extremely aggressive about defending ‘their’ territory. you could try just opening up a pen in that room (which is where both buns will eventually live right?) so that the room is halved and put a bun on either side and see if they fight through the pen. If they are cuddling in the bathtub then there is hope   it could just be that they need to learn how to share their space. 

also I found I couldn’t bond my buns until I could spend a whole week with them. I mean from 8 in the morning till 8 at night doing the same routine eventually by half way through week two they were in the same pen and these buns hated each other.

[LizzyBunny]

I turned thumpers room into a room with two pens so they could both live in it! But before that she had a condo in the room and free run when I was home. I plan to eventually have them live there together peacefully.

I assume it is a dominance thing. I’ve bonded in a very semi-neutral hallway and outdoor to actually inside their room and she always does the same lunging.

Wow so you bonded 8am-8pm?! I need to try that

[LizzyBunny]

I turned thumpers room into a room with two pens so they could both live in it! But before that she had a condo in the room and free run when I was home. I plan to eventually have them live there together peacefully.

I assume it is a dominance thing. I’ve bonded in a very semi-neutral hallway and outdoor to actually inside their room and she always does the same lunging.

Wow so you bonded 8am-8pm?! I need to try that

[Author]

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