Bonding – Tussle then Major Sulking

[swedishbun]

I’m back again with adventures of my two bunnies on their road to bonding.  We’re in month 6 now and on a Christmas road-trip vacation with them.

Since we’re at a hotel, things have certainly improved A LOT (and over the past two months).  We can leave them in the xpen by themselves and bop them with a pillow when a fight starts.  At night, we put them in a small cage and on the suitcase rack next to my side of the bed.  No fighting at night.

This morning we woke up to see the two cuddled and cozy in the cage.  We let them hang out a little longer and then pulled out each one to the xpen to go potty and start breakfast.  After 5 minutes they broke out in a big tussle (though not as violent as they used to be) and bubbles (the original bunny) went to the corner of the pen to sulk.

He’s been sulking for two hours and won’t eat breakfast or banana.  He’s a known diva and does throw tantrums so in that way I’m not surprised.

My feeling is that they’re finally breaking through the remaining power issues they have.  And, today is the first day I’ve seen adopted bunny (Lille) go to the litter box without being scared of him.  I believe she has taken “over” the litter box, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, we’re headed out now and we’re taking the two crazies with us.  But I was wondering if you have had a sulky bunny during bonding.  Was there anything you could do? Do you let the sulk run its course?  Or are some bunnies just a big diva and want everything their way?

[Peri and Poe]

Lol i can definitely understand about the sulking bunny and diva personalities.

My bunny Peri is probably the biggest diva bunny i know. She was our first bunny, so we spoilt her quite a bit. She throws a tantrum regularly when she doesn’t get her way, she’ll stomp and run off and will ignore you as well.

I’m currently bonding her with our newer young rabbit Poe and she’s always nipping him and not sharing any of her food. She gets in a sulk regularly whenever she gets told off. Sometimes i try petting her which does calm her down other times she’s so miffed, she’ll run off and refuse to let you touch her.

If you usually use encouraging words like ‘good girl’ she sometimes gets happy. I would say just do things for him that you know make him happy, otherwise just leave him alone, he’ll probably recover his mood by himself.

I’m really jealous though that your rabbits cuddle, i’m not at that stage with my buns yet. Incase you haven’t tried it yet, i would try the jam/food on the head trick to encourage grooming. It’s worked pretty great for us.-Good Luck

[swedishbun]

That’s too funny about Peri! Sounds just like Bubbles.

Turns out Bubbles did have a good reason to sulk, he has “given up” his dominant position in the relationship. In some ways, I’m really proud of him, from being the stalker/aggressor to the more submissive one. In other ways, it is very strange to see him run away from the new bunny.

Hey, Peri & Poe, it took my rabbits 6 months before they could sit in a cage together without freaking out, and they’re still not bonded.

[Author]

Messages