Nelli seems withdrawn

[Dee]

  I have noticed since last night that Nelli isn’t her usual self. Yesterday she was fine, bouncing around everywhere after Ludicrous and eating everything in sight. Then last night, I noticed she wasn’t doing any binkies, and that she was just sitting in the corner or hiding in their play box a lot. I didn’t think much of it, since she’s very shy and will hide when she thinks I’m “after” her. But when I put her to bed in her cage and she wouldn’t touch her greens or pellets, I was very worried. I thought she was sick and that I would be hitting the vet’s this morning. During the night, however, she did gobble up all hger greens and pellets.

  But today she is still rather quiet and spending lots of time in the box. Lude is being nice to her, just occasionally circling and kinda laying across her back, grooming her from head to toe. He was much rougher with her at first! Do you all think she might just be moody? Or could he be bullying her in ways I don’t see? She is eating and pooping fine, so I think her health is OK. I’m concernd that my little fluffball is unhappy though… 

[Beka27]

have you checked her over for any injuries, scratches or bites, from the bonding process?

[Dee]

Hi Beka,
I checked her over the best I could- Nelli is VERY shy and doesn’t deal well with being inspected! I’m happy to say that today she seems much better. Perhaps she is just a moody woman- lol. I can relate to that! Especially living with a man like Ludicrous who spends most of his time sniffing her butt… poor thing. I guess I’d sulk and hide too.
She is back to following him around everywhere, though- I think cuz I’m new at this, I overreact a bit. The bonding is going great- they are together all day now! I think tonight I might try them sleeping in the same cage… wh\ish me luck!

[MarkBun]

Once you put them together for 24/7, you should really try not to seperate them again. Save A Bunny suggests 24/7 cage/xpen time in neutral territory for 2 weeks straight. Not being away from one another helps reinforce the bond to the point that they learn that they’ll never be rid of the other rabbit.

[Dee]

Never rid of the other- sounds like human marriage- lol. I took your advice and it worked well! Ludicrous and Nelli are officially bonded- together all day in the house and sleeping in the same cage at night. They are so cute together- Ludicrous is calm and graceful, where Nelli is so jumpy and always leaping into things and knocking food/water bowls over. Lude just kinda watches her like, hmmm, what have I gotten myself into? But he is very patient with her and is even teaching her to come up to us to be petted. Ludicrous comes running when we call his name, like a dog- lol.
They are just so awesome. The only thing I wish we could see is Nelli grooming Lude- perhaps some banana baby food on his head…? But then she tends to bite us humans so maybe not . Perhaps I’ll just leave it to fate…

[MarkBun]

Maryann is also a ‘non-groomer’ – to the point that whenever she’s cleaning herself, Dono pushes his head towards the dirty spot hoping that she’ll just continue to him when she’s done.

Now, I HAVE caught Maryann grooming Dono by coming into the room suddenly. However, the moment she sees me, she stops and then begins to ignore him. It is as if she doesn’t want me to think another boy has taken my place as first guy. I wouldn’t worry about the grooming. It is probably happening when you’re not looking.

[Dee]

Lol- Maryann doesn’t want you to get jealous, huh? Boy, if only she knew how thrilled you must be that she’s being nice to Dono, after all you went through bonding them. I don’t know if I have that kind of patience, but I sure do admire it .
I won’t worry about Nelli not grooming Lude in my presence then. Also, being as she is the fuzzy lop, she needs to be groomed a lot more than he does. I can’t wait til she’s tame enough to sit still for a brushing- I worry about my boy Ludicrous getting a hairball from her.

[Beka27]

if she has long fur, it’s very important that you keep her well-groomed b/c Ludicrous can ingest that fur and that’s not good. long-haired bunnies should be groomed every day or two. it’s not likely that she will ever really enjoy it, but it must be done.

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