Starting over!

[jellyrose]

I thought as we were starting over with the bonding I would start a new thread! Right, well Edward and Josephine have spent about 2 weeks apart but still with their cages next to each other at night. We had a little trip to San Francisco at the weekend so thought it would be perfect to reintroduce them. It seems to have gone very well. They were in a divided pen and were give play time together about 4 times a day for about 30mins to an hour each time. Then they did the journey home toether. Now we have them back at home they seem to be improving. There has been a few tail up and circling incidents but no actual fighting. Oh and Edward seems to be insisting on sticking his nose up Josephines butt? She hasn’t reacted badly yet but always jumps up out the way. Why does he do this? Is he just trying to get her to move?

I was thinking I would continue with shorter more frequent sessions… but I still feel so nervous about getting to the stage when I would be leaving them alone together. After seeing them fight I would hate to come home from work to an injured bunny! Dose any body have problems leaving their bunnies together when they are out? 

[x liddo bunny x]

the only times i leave my buns together is when i let them play in their pen in my living room. however, i have to watch them while they play. at the time my bun emo would hump Mochi and mochi will run around frantically and then a fight breaks loose. so i try to pervent that by being there so when Emo tries anything funny i just move her face from Mochi and say no so now ( well before i spayed them) all i needed to do was point at Emo and say no and she will back off till i turn away… but ofcourse i trick her and look at her again…. so she knows i am always looking but she thinks she is so smart… =P

[jellyrose]

Ok…. We’re going for it tonight! The bunnies have been having lots of short periods together and seem to be better with each other so we’re gonna try an over nighter tonight! They managed the whole day together with no problems. Wish me luck!!

[lilmizzsnickerz]

good luck !

[Gravehearted]

how did things go last night??

[Lucy]

I hope everything went well- I’m sorry I didn’t see this post til now.. We left our newly bonded bunnies together during the day alone for about two weeks before we locked them up in the pen at night. At least when they have full range of the house they can get away from each other.

They are awesome now. Patina still mounts Fujoe, and he’ll chase her. But in two mins they’ll be laying together, with her grooming him. It was really stressfull, but now I have no worries.

[BinkyBunny]

Jellyrose – Hope all went well!  I wonder how anxious you were and if you slept well.   Rabbits do tend to figure out what the other is about by checking out their anal scent glands. I think that sometimes they may do this during a bonding process as a pre-mounting behavior and the other bunny will let them know how far they will be able to go.

Fujoe – Congrats on Fujoe and Patina working things out.  Sounds like Fujoe and Patina are a strong willed pair that seem to settle down and hang out in the end.   (sounds like a lot of human pairs too)

[jellyrose]

They did pretty well last night (although I didn’t sleep at all!). In a reversal of my previous problem, Edward is now mounting Josephine (sometimes backards). She dosen’t have the same agressive reaction as he did to being mounted- she usually runs off or turns around and licks his face, which tends to surprise him a bit and she always ges back to sit beside him so she can’t mind that much. Should I just live with this? I’m so worried about leaving them alone when I’m out incase they start fighting! I wonder if I’m being over cautious?

Fujoe- sounds like mine are a bit like your two…… do you leave them alone together when you’re not at home? I hear you about this being stressful. I often wonder if I’ve done the right thing for Edward but I guess I’m stuck with it now. Josephine has become such a part of our family I could never give her up : ) Sometimes I think having children would have been easier… maybe not!?

[Lucy]

HI jellyrose! yes. I do leave them home when I’m not home. In the beginning, and I think I mentioned this, is that I left them alone- during the day- for a few weeks before I caged them together at night. I don’t know if you cage ur bunnies at night or not.. Mine have one of those organize cube condos with an x-pen around it. So they do have plenty of room.

I wanted to make sure that they had enough room to deal with their dominance issues during the day- but I noticed there was less and less mounting we put them together. The thing is, Patina still mounts Fujoe. I don’t think it will ever stop – though I might be wrong. There has never been any fights between my bunnies though. So she’ll mount him, then run away, then mount him again, he’ll get angry and turn around and chase her and that’s it. In a few mins she’ll be grooming him. In the morning I can’t wait too long to let them out of their cage because i’ll notice more mounting and chasing than usual. I think they get annoyed with eachother and want to be fed.

Also, I used to break the mounting sessions apart, but now I don’t. You might want to get more feedback from others before doing this. I found that letting them deal with it worked well. Because it seemed that Patina and Fujoe would get even more riled up if I stopped either of them in mid-mount. But I was certain that no one would get hurt if I let them mount.

I don’t know if I should expect a perfect pair with no mounting, because i’m not. I have no doubt in my mind they are very much in love right now- binky you’re right.. they are just like a human couple! ; )

[x liddo bunny x]

now here is something alot like mochi and emo. emo will mount mochi and hump her. however sometimes (ok, most of the time) backwards. mochi would frantically run and be in garding position but she would not nip. what ends up happening is as mochi wiggles while emo is humping, emo would nip mochi. she got quite a few nips on her back but the vet said they wernt that bad and said i can put the anteceptic powder to prevent infections but she should be fine. then later after the niping actually occured (before i discovered the nips on mochi and i was away at school while they were fighting. and they were fine for about a week) they were licking and cuddling with each other. doing fine. what gave it away was all the fur all over the cage. did not look like sheading…… now i am scared to put them together at all because as soon as i put them near eachother…. emo would immediately chase. i feel bad for mochi… all she wants to do is be friends…. =(

[jellyrose]

They still see to be doing ok… although I still can’t bring myself to leave them alone together. Edward is still humping Josephine (wrong way, right way. side ways!) but not as often…. do you think this will stop eventually… because of what we wnt through with all the fighting I don’t think I could leave them alone together while there is a chance some bun might get hurt! She hasn’t fought back yet she just moves out the way. Should I just let them sort it out or should I separate them when he starts humping? They seem to be fine if they are in the bunnyroom and we’re in another room- no fighting yet! I’m sure that they do love each other as they spend a lot of time snuggling and grooming each other. I just wish I could stop worrying about leaving them alone!

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