Penelope & Thumper

[bwild]

Well, I brought home Thumper today. While I was getting everything into his cage, I guess I didn’t have the carrier I had him in closed all the way because he got out. Penelope, who was also not in her cage, immediately started to attack him. Fur was flying everywhere!  Thumper, who had no idea what was going on, ran for cover, inside Penelope’s cage! I quickly snatched up Penelope before she got a chance to run in there after him, and put her in the carrier I orginally had him in. Now, Penelope has NEVER EVER thumped at me. I was pretty sure she didn’t know how to thump. But boy was I wrong!! For the three minutes she was in the carrier, she thumped at me SEVEN times! And ever since I got Thumper out of her cage and put them each in their respectful cages, all she’s done is thump! 

I know this is all my fault, I should have made sure that his cage was all the way shut, but man, it looks like I have an interesting trip in front of me!

And just in case you don’t know my babies:

Penelope:

 

and Thumper:

[bwild]

Last night I ended up having to let Penelope sleep with me. As I was laying in bed, I started counting how many times she ‘thumped’. Once it got to 100, I decided, ‘GGAAAHHH, NEED SLEEP!’ so I went and got her and once she was in my bed she immediately starting grooming me, which is another weird thing for her, and settled down. Whew, I haven’t even really started bonding and I’m already stressing out! lol

[Opal's Mommy]

That’s awful!!! I know everything will work out though! Sometimes there’s a rough spot towards the beginning. Something similar happened with my friends’ buns, but they’re bonded now and super snuggly.
They would be too cute a pair for it not to work!
Stay strong!!

[LittlePuffyTail]

That’s perfectly normal. Bunnies are super territorial, the females even more so. She was just upset because a strange bunny appeared out of nowhere and was near her stuff. Olivia acts the same way if one of the boys gets out and is near her cage. Penelope was thumping because she felt that she was in danger.

Just start with a very careful, slow bonding process. A lot of bunnies show at least some aggression in the beginning.

[bwild]

I let Penelope and Thumper meet for the first real time today. I didn’t do a tub session because I am waiting for Thumper’s wound to heal before I have them meet meet. But I let them sniff each other through some NIC cubes and it went pretty well. I was afraid there would be some nipping involved since it wasn’t on neutral territory, but there wasn’t. I’m even pretty sure I saw Penelope reach out and lick the bridge of Thumper’s nose at one point

[TriBun]

Awww, look at them. I was worried for you considering Penelope’s first reaction. Thumper looks so much healthier since you fist got him!

[bwild]

I was worried too! I thought Penelope was going to be a rough one to try and bond, but she did really well. I guess we’ll see how it goes when they meet without the barrier! lol And Thumper is doing extremely well! He’s already put on 3/4 pound and his fur seems to be getting thicker (although he already sheds like a freaking yetti!!)

[bwild]

Well, I let the buns meet each other for the first time. It went pretty well. There was no aggression, which was surprising, and some humping, not so surprising lol Overall I feel like it was a very successful first one on one meet Also, am I right in pushing Thumper off of Penelope or should I let them continue and sort it out for themselves?

 

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS MILD RABBIT PORN LOL

[video src="https://s1093.photobucket.com/albums/i429/bwild92/?action=view¤t=SDC12880.mp4" /]

(can’t get it to show up but here is the link)

 

[bunnyfriend]

Heehee they are both so cute! How much does Thumper weigh/how big is he? (I’m just curious because I have no idea how big my lop Wilbur might get)

[bwild]

When he flops he’s about a foot and a half long and weighs about 4 1/2 pounds (i think, i’ve been trying to put weight on him because he was underweight when I got him) I’ll see if I can’t get him to stand next to something to give you a better idea

[bwild]

So I moved their bonding sessions to my bed, which is semi-neutral territory for them. Well, it kinda is, it’s one of Penelope’s favorite spots, so I was slightly unsure about it but it seems to be going pretty well. Their still is no outward agression. Penelope does still thump at thumper occasionally but that’s as far as any agression goes. Thumper seems to have gotten over his “I’m going to hump you NOW” phase, which is good. Right now they are laying on the couch next to me (not snuggled but ish side by side lol) I seem to be having one problem. About eight out of ten times Penelope is too busy trying to get me to love on her that she completely ignores Thumper. I feel that I’m more of a distraction and may be hindering their bonding (Thumper could care less that I’m there). I would have someone else watch them, but none of my friends have bunnies and I feel they would panic and not know what to do if there was a fight. Is this okay or should I start bunny-coaching someone? lol

[Deleted User]

They are so cute together

[bwild]

The buns are having their first ‘alone time’ session. I’m kinda nervous..

[bwild]

I just realized that I forgot to post on here that – THEY’RE BONDED! They have actually been bonding since the night I let them have their first alone time session. I accidentally fell asleep while sitting outside their room, spray bottle in hand. After the mini heart attack I had when I woke up and realized what had happened, I looked in, and they were laying on top of each other sleeping. I got a death glare for waking them up though! Luckily I was off work for the next two days so I was able to keep a constant eye on them to make sure there wasn’t going to be any tiffs (which there wasn’t) I’ll see if I can’t get some pictures of them together to post on here (Thumper is camera shy)

[Lintini]

You have a really adorable pair!!! Congrats!!!!

[Sarita]

That happens sometimes! Congratulations. They are a cute couple.

[Author]

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