Starting new bond- Shadow an Butterscotch

[Irina]

A bit of background: Butterscotch is a 51/2 month old male, neutered almost 2 months ago. Shadow is the same age, female, spayed about 3 weeks ago. They are litter mates who were housed together until Butterscotch was discovered to in fact be a boy, not a girl, prior to his neuter (oops!). Butterscotch was then quickly and easily bonded to his brother about one month ago. They lived happily together for 2 weeks until Tofu died suddenly 2 weeks ago. Shadow and Butterscotch have been housed next to each other for the past two months when they have not been living together. They have always gotten along and have never been aggressive towards each other. They flop side by side (between their pen bars) and lick each other a lot. I know it is not yet four weeks… But I started bonding my boys after three weeks too… So I decided to give them a go today.

I put them in a neutral space in a 4ft x 4ft x-pen. They seemed to be so familiar with each other that they just started walking around exploring. There was absolutely no aggression, no chasing, nipping etc. They groomed each other, as they have done through their pen, but no bunny demanded grooming. During the first 20 minutes there were 3-4 occasions when Butterscotch mounted Shadow. Shadow did not mind- but I did take Butterscotch off twice because he was mounting her face. After that, it was a LOVE FEST! They groomed each other, sometimes at the same time. After 2 hours, even though I know we are not normally supposed to add these things in the neutral stages, I added a litter box, a feeding station with pellets and water, gave them greens, and put down a blanket. They shared the greens, and food, and flopped next to each other in the blanket and fell asleep. They have been together for over three hours. I will have to put them in their own pens now, (I have company coming for supper)- but it breaks my heart to separate them again.

I think tomorrow I will move to semi neutral space, and if all goes well, will move to semi-permanent/cementing later this week when I can fit it in to my schedule.
Does it sound like a good plan?

I will post progress for anyone who is interested or who may have suggestions. I would love to post pictures, but despite my best efforts (and a lot of help from BB technical forum), I cannot seem to get it to work from my iPhone and my computer hates me right now.

I do have one question-when they are able to be put together- the pen I have planned will be 12ft x 8ft. I think this will be too big a space for cementing? If so, what is a reasonable size and how long do I keep them in a smaller pen before they can be put into their permanent pen?

Thanks in advance!

[Irina]

Picture attempt:

[Irina]

Ha! It worked!

Will try more:

[hannahc_11]

they are both so pretty

[Irina]

Trying again:

[Irina]

Thanks Hannahc- I think they are beautiful!

Sorry about the upside down picture… Don’t know what happened!

[Dobby]

You have some pretty cute bunnies too! They look like giants compared to my two. Sounds like things are going incredibly well!

[MoveDiagonally]

Dobby – Your two are so itty bitty! I love them.

Irina – I’m officially in love with Butterscotch. His coloring is amazing. Shadow is like an uppy eared Inara. Very aptly named rabbits!

I think your plan sounds great. On cementing pen size I would use at most half that space while you’re supervising just to be on the safe side. After they are “officially” bonded I think you will be able to open it up without any issues. It doesn’t sound like you’re going to have much of a problem bonding these two at all.

[Irina]

Dobby- I love your minis! Mine are only around 3 pounds- I thought they were small (especially compared to MDs quintet!)- but your are itty bitty! I want to squire their fluffiness!

MD- Butterbuns is handsome- he had almost no black or grey when he was a baby… Getting darker all the time! WRT bonding- thanks- I figured the pen should be smaller- just did not know how small. Sounds like you are doing great with yours too! I am so wanting to get more bunnies- but my husband put his foot down for the first time with the bunnies- he said I cannot get anything else that can get sick or die for a whole year! Hmmpphhh! We’ll see. ?

[Irina]

This morning Shadow and Butterscotch were in a semi neutral area in the same xpen for almost 3 hours. It was much the same as yesterday, except no mounting. There was lots of love to go around:

Sharing greens:

[Irina]

For some reason I can only load one pic per post. Sorry… But they are too cute to leave out! (And I apologize for the upside down picture?)

Shadow under Butterbunny:

<img src="http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag128/ighenea/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps8772a76d.jpg&quot;

[Irina]

Grooming:

<img src="http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag128/ighenea/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsc31d5685.jpg&quot;

[Irina]

And flopping;

I am really happy with how they are doing. I am going to see if I can move to their semi-permanent space/cementing tomorrow after work. Depends how tired I am by then…
(MD- I never would have considered starting cementing at night.. But I guess it’s a reasonable option ?? Or perhaps if they fight all night, I will curse at you under my breath… ?…)

[Irina]

So, Shadow and Butterscotch are in a smaller version of their permanent pen! We did semi- neutral sessions again yesterday and this morning for 2-3 hours each. They love each other! They lie together and snuggle so close together / on top of each other that I sometimes wonder if the one underneath can breathe. They have 2 litter boxes and two feeding stations in their new space, but seem to like eating from the same bowl at the same time, and using the same litter box together, at the same time. Sooo cute! They also eat greens out of the same bowl, chewing on the same piece.
We have not passed the 24 hour mark yet- but I don’t anticipate anything going wrong! ?

[Author]

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