Oskar and Annabelle Bonding Journal

[OskarAnnie]

Oskar – very happy and intelligent 8 month old dwarf rabbit who is a little less than four pounds. He’s neutered and loves being around people and always welcomes me home when I walk into the door. He’s very cute and responsible as he gets free reign of the house and always uses his litterbox. I’ve had him being born, so he’s very special to me since I was there for him since day one. I got him after my friend’s sister’s rabbits had rabbits, and since he was the only boy out of the babies, he was given to me.

Annabelle – a regular sized Hotot who is about twice the size of little Oskar. She is neutered and is my new rabbit who I rescued on Friday. She was in a hoarding situation in Philadelphia and there were so many rabbits that not all of the shelters could take them in, so other shelters specializing in other animals were given one or two rabbits to take care of. Annabelle was given to a rat rescue where she did not have a lot of time outside of her cage and is not finally getting used to runing around, but never wants to be put back in her home because of this.

Oskar and Annabelle Bonding

Day 1
Getting used to their surroundings in a neutral area with Timothy Hay. Oskar sort of went to the Hay because he’s a fatty but Annabelle is not very used to people or well…anything.

Day 2
Brought Annabelle into my room for quality time with me. I want to see how she is interacting with an environment and if she can jump or show any signs of being as active as Oskar (I’m realizing that Oskar is pretty crazy). Annabelle attacked Oskar today to the point where Oskar was screaming to get out and actually let me hold him. Annabelle was trying to mount Oskar and he didn’t like it at all. It happened so quickly, but now I’ll be sure to arm myself with the proper equipment so that will not happen again.

Day 3
Traveling day, the two were together in the car for a ride and seemed to get closer. We had to stop for food and I separated them, but when we were back on the road they were put back together. Not much was done.

Day 4
A lot of swapping of cages which really helped the two rabbits get to know each other’s smell. They both seem to be okay with sharing territory with each other. Annabelle and Oskar had their first bonding session today in neutral territory and the entire time Oskar was thumping away. At first the two did not pay any attention to each other then they started to groom themselves. Whenever Annabelle approached Oskar he would get angry and thump, but Annabelle did not seem to mind. There was a small breakthrough when Annabelle started to groom Oskar but he ran away and thumped angrily, so my guess is that he hasn’t totally forgiven her for the whole attacking him thing on Day 2. No mounting has happened yet. The session lasted about 40 minutes.

Day 5
I let Annabelle out during Oskar’s usual time out in order to get used to the surroundings. She was content being  alone for a while then went up to Oskars cage and the two seemed like there might have been a little skirmish, but nothing bad. After that, I put Annabelle in her cage and she seemed very content as she flopped over and Oskar did the same. Oskar tends to show his unhappiness, and did not thump when Annabelle was near him.

Annabelle finally mounted Oskar twice on the head, but seems to want to get him from behind which is the last thing that Oskar wants. They ended on a semi odd note, Annabelle seemed to try to attack Oskar but it wasn’t anything bad and they both ended up being unhappy. I saw Annabelle do her first Binky around Oskar so that’s a good sign and Annabelle licked Oskar a lot. I let them both out today in Oskar’s territory and it was fine for a while until I think I interpreted a sign wrong and got them both angry. I hope that they forgive me for that and for our bonding session tomorrow everything goes well.

[Elrohwen]

Grooming is very good! It sounds to me like Annabelle is a bossy one. Hannah was very similar when I got her and it made Otto afraid, but she eventually learned better manners. She still chases him from time to time, but she learned not to harass him. I think you’re on the right track so I don’t have much more advice than to stick it out.

[Author]

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