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- This topic has 35sd replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 9 months ago by
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For reference I link the bonding of my trio here: https://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/a…fault.aspx
Neigey’s bonding to my trio was fun for me. It was refreshing to meet a little rabbit that is somewhat flexible, enough so to bounce back after a negative encounter. This is why it didn’t take as long as it might have. It took about 6 weeks until I could move them in together for cementing. Neigey had to meet each of my trio’s members individually since together the trio was a united front against him. I held a few dates between Neigey and each rabbit from my trio to determine who I would pair him up with first. edit: I had Neigey meet each one of my trio when he was a 3-month old kit but my three were not at all fond of him.
Mops only had attacking in mind when seeing Neigey, while Lint turned completely stoic in his presence, so to boykot the entire process once more, and I ended up selecting Deirdra.
I used the bathtub for their first meetings. Deirdra was very clear on who she was toward Neigey: she was not interested in him but kept him at bay whenever his initial curiosity made him advance toward her. They fought in the tub briefly which left young Neigey in shock.
Deirdra was busy eating, grooming, pottying, sleeping but would not allow Neigey anywhere close to her. Deirdra did never try to mount Neigey which is odd for her, she mounts everybunny else.
Neigey was terrified of her. This was the best hiding spot he could come up with:
Deirdra was very pleased she scared the curiosity out of him.
Because of Neigey’s fear he became very stressed, and he would growl at me when I would come and get him out of his cage for bonding time. So I held a few sessions with him huddled up on my lap and Deirdra flopped out beside me munching treats. It seemed to make him calmer as he was bonded to me and liked the comfort.
They didn’t fight again. Neigey understood that she was the boss and luckily he is faster than her. He would just run off from then on in, and so I was able to move them to a larger space where they spent long daily sessions with each other.
I confined them together in the beginning of each sessions for about 20 minutes inside an NIC cube to force them to be touching one another. This was helpful to me too because the cube is easy to take on a car ride, or around the house. it sort of became my portable bonding unit.
They hated it but it helped get them closer.
As the sessions in the room became longer and longer and they were able to stay in that space without chasing each other, I started small sessions between Lint and Neigey…
I will post more of that.
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I like the cube idea, I’ve been hunting for a better carrier for my 2 to be in for car rides, but the ones at the pet store are usually in bad shape from people playing around with them. I have some leftover grids and connectors, so maybe I’ll build a cube thing too
Thanks for the idea! And I agree with MarkBun.. Neigey hiding there is kinda funny
Poor little dude! -
A larger rabbit is harder to stop in an attack. They are more powerful. Before each session make a plan as to how you are going to stop the rabbits if they want to fight.
Deirdra and Neigey didn’t cement a bond as a pair but they came to an understanding. Deirdra called the shots. She got first dibs on everything and secondly Neigey was not supposed to get too close. Neigey’s curiosity got him in trouble with the second rule but he kept coming back like a bouncy ball. In the beginning Deirdra chased him but she gave it up over time.
Neigey whinced and thumped a lot during this phase
Neigey is the first bunny I bonded that binkied in the sesions
I started Neigey with Lint. Lint played plushy in a corner while Neigey hopped about in a spacey manner wondering what to do.
I switched them to confined sessions. The cube…
suspended
nippy….
on top of the washer during a spin cycleAfter daily sessions like these I tried them out in the big room.
Neigey plucked Lint and growled, chased, and generally disrespected him. Lint really disliked Neigey by then.
Lint designated for himself a time-out zone on the bed where he would not permit Neigey.
See the tense body language even in a flop on the bed.
I went back to confined sessions. I held several meetings between them in a puppy crate not expecting too much but bonding is always a surprise…
It was a breakthrough.
Lint tolerated Neigey’s dominance.
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I don’t know if Neigey knew what he wanted. He was so excited over Lint that invariably if Lint didn’t run off, Neigey would pinch Lint all over and poke him with his nose and teeth.
He got angry at me in this video because I wouldn’t let him bite Lint over and over.
I joined Deirdra in with them at that point. I cut the size of the pen in half so they had to share a small space without forming ‘camps’.
Neigey stopped the incessant advances towards Lint and spent the sessions dashing back and forth between him and Deirdra. Lint and Deirdra ignored him.
During the sessions of Neigey, Lint & Deirdra I kept Mops in Neigey’s cage.
Mops was shocked at first when smelling Neigey on Lint and Deirdra when they were reunited in their condo after the sessions, and Neigey appeared frightened going into his cage to find long angora hairs from Mops.
I started Neigey with Mops then. Mops lunged at Neigey in the bathtub repeatedly even if Neigey played plushy. — I switched them to the dry sink (drain closed so no feet can get caught).
I moved from sink sessions to motion stress on top of my running dryer…
Mops nippy on car rides, too…
I set them up eventually in my deck corner to see where they were at. Mops was unchanged, ramming Neigey.
Plus, the arctic cold snap hiit us and it was too cold to be outside at all. So I moved the snow into my tub hoping it would break the ice between them… Mops loves snow more than anything. I thought it would be a positive distraction. See how incredibly scared Neigey was by then.
I thought things were picking up but I was wrong. Mops had fooled me.
So it was back to more close sessions in the cube sitting on my lap with lots of stroking and calming down. During this time I focused solely on those two because their relationship was so problematic.
I needed a larger space where they hadn’t been before to test if Mops’ attitude was changing with time and sessions. Here they are in my dogs’ cage and this was when I knew they were on their way to bonding!
Notice how close they get wiithout Mops attacking.
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Once Mops had quit charging at Neigey, I had Neigey meet my old trio of Deirdra, Lint and Mops together.
It was a freeze-out.
Neigey stuck at the sidelines.I continued the paired sessions, especially between Mops and Neigey for another week. I had them on the couch with me at night, in the NIC cube with me in my office, and pretty much anywhere around the house. Neigey was afraid of Mops and wouldn’t be able to mingle with the trio until he overcame this fear.
I held stress sessions on my stairs that had helped me in the past with Clifford and Valmore because of the steps functioning as levels of escape. The stairs are only safe to use once a hierarchy has been worked out. If your rabbits are still wanting to fight the stairs are a bad idea.
Eventually, I was able to graduate Neigey to being in a pen with the trio. It had to be smalll enough for him to blend with them, but big enough for him to get away if he panicked.
The trio let him be.
I made the pen smaller. Neigey was still shaking in his boots when Mops came close.
It was time to cement them; they had to be left together to really bond. I took down my trio’s condo and put up another pen in a different spot in my basement.
Mops and Neigey never had problems again which really surprised me.
Neigey was fully integrated with everybunny.
Poowars are ongoing….
in closing I will link the bonding of a different quartet here that was harder to do.
https://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/a…fault.aspx
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Jersey — not bossy!
not at all. The other quartet was one step up and two steps back to begin with, had 2 similar-looking lops in it, my camera was not loading for a month, I hardly knew the rabbits, and the use of initials added to the mess. Monkey, it didn’t matter much who went in first for me. If you want to make a choice based on anything, I personally would always put the girlbun in last.
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Jerseygirl, your question got me thinking about the quality of the different bonds between my four. It is hard to spot when mine are all together, they are very peaceful and loving with each other. But there were some poowars going on and I couldn’t figure out who left them. This is a whole new challenge when you’re dealing with multiples: you never know who’s to blame.
I can put Deirdra and Mops together and there will be no stray littering, the same goes for Deirdra and Lint, Deirdra and Neigey, Mops and Neigey, and Lint and Mops. But for the first time yesterday since the bonding has been completed, I put Lint with Neigey, just the two, in the exercise area.
–This is what Lint did, he is Julius Caesar of the poowars.
I am hopeful he will give these wars up in the future.
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Jersey, I took your advice and avoided using initials this time for my write-up. It was confusing the last time around…. so why are you starting it now??
Did I tell you not to do that? Geez, I’m bossy!
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