Disaster! Please help!

[QueenTwitch]

Lugsy has only been here 3 weeks and he is so much trouble…!!

 I got home from work about half an hour ago to find that Twitch was roaming the hallways. This isn’t a problem in itself, I assumed I had left her gate open this morning by mistake. But when I looked up, it was locked, and yet somehow Lugsy was in her cage… I am assuming, given their cages are not connected and there are barriers over the tops where the bars are parallel, that he jumped out of his own 2ft playpen and then into hers. He’s only 14 weeks old, and apparently he’s big enough to escape, which is a bit worrying. It took Twitch several months to figure that one out. They clearly fought – there is fluff everywhere, I think from their tails – and she must have jumped out of her own pen, which we know she can do, to get away from him. 

Neither seems to be hurt, though Twitch has a small gash above her eye which I’m sure wasn’t there before. She doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, though I will keep an eye on it. Fortunately (!) she’s on antibiotics anyway, so I guess that will help. They’re both eating fine, and are back in their respective pens. They’re a bit shell shocked but not more than me it seems! Beginning to see the funny side, he clearly just wuvs her, but I really wish he wouldn’t wait til I was at work to show it – I’ve no idea how long they’d been in the wrong places!

So the question is, what are they likely to have been doing in there (I’m guessing he was humping her and she fought him off, the fluff seems to be mostly his), and will it negatively affect their future bonding??

[Jessie1990]

I have read on the site that it can have an effect on bonding, but I assume you will just have to wait to find out. Maybe they will forget by the time you start. Also, I would put blankets over their enclosures to make it seem like there is a “ceiling”. I have a rabbit that jumped his 4 foot x-pen so we did the blanket trick and it hasn’t happened since (other than when I forgot to put the blanket back after changing his litter). You don’t want that to happen again though!

[QueenTwitch]

I hope they will forget. There doesn’t seem to be any issue now, it’s like it never happened! Thank you for the advice – there’s a taller wall and a ceiling now!

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