Semi-Neutral?

[BunnyFriends]

So I’m about to put Winter and Licorice together. They’re past neutral (was master bathroom) and are ready for semi-neutral space. The problem is, we have an open floor plan and Licorice thinks the house is his. We don’t have an x pen to block off any area either, so how to make semi-neutral space baffles me.

The closest room to semi-neutral is kind of a room they’ve both been to on separate occasions, but neither frequently. It’s the master bathroom, which Winter goes to occasionally for a room to exercise in and Licorice on his own desicion. There’s only a few things I’m wondering about.

· Is the area truly semi-neutral? (I have an idea to make it if not…)

· Licorice likes chilling under the bed there (it’s the master bedroom). Is that okay, or should I prevent them from going there?

· Can I let them have the run of the master bed and bathroom?

· Out of the two, Licorice is more likely to consider it “his”, and has been in it most recently. Would putting a few of Winter’s out of cage toys (she doesn’t use them much) help make it semi-neutral? Or is semi-neutral really both rabbits recognizing the area but not going there much? I doubt either is territorial of it as they were together there on their first bonding session part of the time (went well). But they recognize the place FOR SURE.

· It is 2:23 PM as I write this. Do you think I could possibly marathon bond it? Just, a long time there until they get together. I couldn’t do the final plunge as tomorrow is Monday, but I could this Friday (leave them together for the night close by). They haven’t fought in ages, occasionally groom each other, but are constantly coming close and following (not chasing) the other rabbit on their will. They also eat together. I would only do it if all goes well today though.

In case you’re wondering how long we’ve been bonding, it’s been roughly four months with a month break. We stuck them in Winter’s territory in the beginning and that got us off to a bumpy start, but they’ve been having excellent sessions for two months now. I was just too scared about moving fast.

[Vienna Blue in France]

You are right about not wanting to bond to fast that can sometimes backfire. The only thing I can think of is to change everything around in your Open Plan so that licorice doesn’t realise where he is. I know it sounds silly and simple but it can work.
It did with another member whose bedroom was the only place left they were fighting in (mega territorial) but by moving the bed around, putting some cardboard (or boxes) making the ‘landscape’ different, suddenly there was no problem…..

My sofa is currently in the kitchen in my open plan downstairs, so trust me, i know its a pain… but what we bunny slaves got through eh?! Lol

[Author]

Messages