First Date tomorrow!

[wendyzski]

I’m soooo excited!  I’m taking Miss Pepper over to Red Door tomorrow night for her first round of bunny-dating. 

I kind of want to paint her nails all pretty or something….

[Deleted User]

Good luck Pepper! I know there is the perfect friend for you out there!

[dmh426]

Sophie’s got a date on Saturday too!!!! Mommy fell in love with a little lop boy on the HRS website and wants to see if it’s love at first sight for Sophie to (fingers crossed!)

[BinkyBunny]

Yeah for bunny dating.  I’m so excited that you guys are letting your bunnies try and choose their mates.  I can’t wait to hear what happens with both Sophie and Pepper’s dates. 

[Gravehearted]

oo today’s Pepper’s big day! looking forward to hearing if she thinks any of the bunny boys are cute 🙂

[wendyzski]

First round of bunny-dating wasn’t too successful, but I think part of that may well have been that she had a bit to learn about meeting other bunnies.  It’s not like she’s had a lot of practice.  Also, she probably remembers the smell of the shelter and was stressed out by that. All the volunteers were happy to see their "little puppy-bunny", and I think every volunteer there dropped in at some point to see how she was getting on with the boys.

First up was Derby, who is a lot bigger now than in his picture.  I’m not sure whether she really didn’t like him or was still freaked by the situation, but she was not having any of that!  She never actually bit, but kept lunging at him and she tried to grab him a couple of times.  Poor guy ran and hid behind the volunteer.  I was afraid of something like this.  She’s a bossy little girl.

Next up was Gizmo.  They seemed to tolerate each other at the beginning but again she was very agressive.  He took a little longer to drive off but then he went after her and that was enough for everyone.

Third boy for the evening was Frisco.  He LUVS her!  He was all excited, flopped down on his side next to her, kept burrowing his head under her and dancing around – he even sprayed her!  She didn’t look too thrilled, but more like "what the hell is THAT" than actual hostility.  She was willing to accept his grooming, but got kind of freaked when he kept getting more hyper, and boxed at him a couple of times.  He was running in circles but she wouldn’t take her eyes off him.

We also tried her with a female just to see what happened.  The bonding coach said she didn’t think it would work, but I told her as long as it was her getting between them and not me, then that was fine.   She and Lilac laid next to each other for a while, neither willing to make the first move, but when one did the fur started flying. 

We agreed that I should bring her back next week, where we will try her with Frisco again, and possibly Ryo who should be healed up from his spay by then.  Ryo is apparently very laid-back so he might do well, and Frisco is hyper but also much smaller and younger than Pepper, so he might be able to deal with her being in charge.

So, no great love at first sight, but it wasn’t too bad.  Toni (the coach) was very good with them – confident and observant, and I feel very glad to have her helping us with this.

[Lucy]

oh.. i’m sorry it went like that for your first time.. it’s so dissapointing. I know. I felt the same way when Fujoe wouldn’t stop mounting everybunny that we put in with him. The only one who was quick enough to get away was patina- and here she is! it took two dates before she came home…

frisco! he was so cool at the shelter! I saw him before his neuter, so cute and energetic, but I might be a fan of dutches.

we tried lilac too… there was a lot of fur flying with that bond.. she gave fujoe a good fight..

gizmo was nice too at the shelter.. apparently he is the lettcue eating champion at red door..

well.. good luck on round two.. it might take a while for her to get used to another bunny.. it was a little over a week and a half before fujoe would stop mounting accessively, and now I never see him mount anymore. good luck!

[wendyzski]

Yeah – I think she is still a bit unsure about the whole concept of "other bunnies" yet.  She was easily startled and not sure what to do. 

After we got home last night she pretty much stayed behind the couch all evening, so I think she was still pretty stressed.  This morning she is more active but still skittish.

I think she could work things out with Frisco given time – he is half her age and she is built like a fuzzy little tank, so he might adjust to her being in charge.  But I want her to get a chance to meet Ryo too.

So we give her a nice quiet break in a familiar place with lots of pets and treats, and try again next week.

[BinkyBunny]

My very first bunny, Forrest, (has since passed), had to go through lots of bunnies before he found his true love.   Some he hated, some hated him. But in the end, he did find his love – Rucy.  They bonded in three days.     There  must  be something about Rucy that makes the males love her.  Jack fell in love with her right away (he even loved her stunt double).  She on the other hand took three weeks to warm up the second time around.

 

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[wendyzski]

Well I gave the kitchen a thorough cleaning – replaced Pepper’s cage liner as well while I was at it, and mopped the whole place with vinegar water before setting up the 2nd cage and pen.  Pepper has investigated the pen but doesn’t seem too put out by the slight loss of territory – it’s up against the far wall of the kitchen.  I’ve also started to get her used to the heavy leather gloves I expect I’ll need throughout this.  She thinks they smell funny.

Interestingly enough, she had a little playtime with the janitor’s dog yesterday.  Buddy is a very well-behaved little old floppy dog who follows our elderly janitor on his rounds.  I didn’t cage her but watched carefully to see what would happen.  There was mutual sniffage and a little tag, but nothing too stressful.  This, combined with the fact that she only likes being touched on her terms, leads me to believe that much of her freakout is really related to the confusing smell at the shelter and the inability to get away. She loves when I have people over, particularly the sloppy kind who drop food.

Therefore, I plan to keep them separate for a couple of days before trying bonding appts.   I’ll stay in the pen with the new bun for playtimes and see if she investigates.  I think she is curious enough to want to, and she will be more comfy if she has freedom of movement at first.  And especially if we end up with Mr Frisky-Frisco, keeping him behind bars till he is used to her smell is probably a good idea.  What a nutter!

So unless something goes horribly wrong tomorrow, I think we’ll have somebun home to foster!

[Gravehearted]

Frisco sounds a bit like our bunny Viktor. He just LOOOOOVVEES his Pandora, and she is a pretty easy going girl.
It sounds like you’re all set up and we’ll look forward to hearing how your next visit & the dating goes.

[wendyzski]

And the winner of "Who Wants To Date My Bunny" is…..

FRISCO!

The hyperactive dutch boy from last week.  Once I figured out how to head him off when he started to really get hyper, Pepper decided that he does have potential.  He sprays like a lawn sprinkler and poops like a fuzzy little Pez dispenser, and he bit the hell out of my glove at one point.  However, there were moments of actual side-by side snuggling (if not actual grooming yet) and he seems to be getting that he needs to be slow when he approaches her.  She let him chin her while she was giving herself a wash and he likes to nuzzle his head under hers.

It’s going to take some time – there is still quite a lot of squabbling, and we all agreed that separate carriers coming home was a good idea.  I’m pretty sure I woudln’t want to be stuffed in a small box with him just yet!  But with time and patience I think they can work things out.

(She and Ryo just didn’t hit it off – he’s been in isolation until recently so he isn’t too well socialized, and he’s only a week after his neuter, so he was too aggressive with her)

He has his own cage in the far corner of the kitchen, where she can see and smell him, but there is a pen around the cage so they can’t get to each other through the bars.  He can get his own evening playtime in the pen (where I can work on the biting issue as well as getting him tired out in advance) before bonding sessions in the hallway.  And she still has almost all her own space to get away from him in so she will hopefully feel less threatened.

It’s gong to be an interesting couple of weeks around here.  Wish us all luck! 

I’ll start a bonding journal like Fujoe and Patina had once I start them together.

[Lucy]

yay! frisco was awesome!!! the red door people did tell me and andy not to step too close to his cage because he might spray us (this was before his neuture). But he was so happy and excited!

ya! congrats on it. It took us a long time, but it’s all worked out here- after a month. Toni told us it might have taken this long. What did she tell you? Did you actually adopt him? or is he a foster (like what we did with patina)?

Like Binky mentioned in another thread… my bunnies were different from most, where being in a closed space with eachother was worse… bonding ended up working well in a larger area where they could get away from eachother.

alos, i highly reccomend the stunt bunny thing.. I know a lot of my bunnies aggression was vented out on the stunt bunnies.

are you going to switch their cages every night? or do you not want to do that to pepper?

[BinkyBunny]

Wendyzski.   Since I couldn’t see the picture on your post, I went to Red Door’s website and found a bunny named Frisco – figure it’s the same bunny.  

He’s very cute!! Congrats on your new member of the family.  Sounds like you have realistic expectations and are going at this at a smart cautious pace. 

YEAH FOR YOU!   YEAH FOR FRISCO!!  AND YEAH FOR PEPPER!  AND YEAH FOR RED DOOR!

Oh, and I wanted to tell you that there is a neutered bunny, Dudley,  that recently arrived at SaveABunny and is very sweet, but also sprayed!! However, in the last week, he has stopped this habit.  So, maybe once Frisco finally feels at home, he will stop.  How long ago was he neutered?

Here’s a picture of Frisco –  

[wendyzski]

Yep – that’s him.  I tried to attach a pic but I was posty mc postersons everywhere about him last night and my html was probably wrong.  He’s a dwarf/dutch mix, a little over a year old so he’s probably topped out at just under 4lbs to Pepper’s 6-ish,  and he has been neutered for around 6 months.

He’ s officially a foster till we are certain, but with Fujoebunny’s example and all the support of people here and at Red Door I’m pretty confident we can make it work. 

I need to do a lot of individual work with him, both on the litterbox and nibbly issues as well as just getting to know him.  He is SO different from my grumpy little lop girl.  But my little princess picked a court jester over all the princes so that is what she shall have.

He is obviously still getting settled.  He shivered in his carrier all the way home and thumped at me when I opened his cage for a little runaround time before work.  Pepper was tugging at the pen to try to get to him this morning – sort of like when she tugs at the gate blocking my bedroom, so she is curious about him.  But there isn’t any way anyone can get bitey while I’m gone.

[BinkyBunny]

HHAHAHAHHAHA  Posty Mc Postersons!  

So if you are able to take pictures or have someone else take pictures during bonding, I could also add it to the bonding journal section. (you could also post your journal in the blog section) 

Though my intention for picture journaling was to help other people, I actually found it helpful for me to really track the progress.

[FuegaNetsah]

Bleh..haven’t been checking the site lately. I loved the writing style of the dates, wendy. IT was kind of funny to read. How are they doing after 5 days???

Donna

[wendyzski]

I’ve been posting under Behavior "A Tale of Two Bunnies".

First night she got into his pen and they fought.  First meeting in neutral territory they fought like crazy.   We backed off a bit to interacting thru a double-wall fence, so they can see/smell/spray each other but can’t bite. 

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