Thanks to all of you!

[iriswarrior1]

Thank you all for your advice and kind words.  I am working on getting pictures of both bunnies together, as soon as I have a pic, I’ll post it!

Ziva is making progress.  We locked her up for three days, which she did not appreciate.  We let her out for the first time this morning, after creating a ‘potty plan’ that we could all follow.  As soon as she was free, she reunited with Smokey , and they binkied for five minutes straight!  After flying through the house like a reindeer for another five minutes, she said good morning to all of us,and hopped up onto the sofa to see my husband.

As soon as she sat next to him, she peed on him.  We burst into action-I ran and put her litterbox back in the cage, my husband went to change, and my daughter gently told Ziva no, and put her back in her cage.  We all agreed that if she ‘baptized’ anybody, she would have to go back in the cage for one hour.  The ‘marker’ pills are okay, but a ‘poo pyramid’ earns Ziva a half-hour ‘timeout’.

After her timeout this morning, she hasn’t stepped out of line today, and even went up on the sofa without spilling a drop on my hubby.  If she gets this, we’ll give her more freedom around the house.  Wish us luck!

PS–are ‘boomerang’ binkies normal?  Ziva jumps up, cavorts away about three feet, then bounces back, ending with a stunning half twist flip.  She’s rather clumsy about the flip, and will ‘springboard’ off any surface, like the wall if she’s too close, or your back or leg.  She looks like a little furry Spiderman climbing the wall…

[Sage Cat]

He, he, poor hubby.
Sounds like a good plan.
I think most buns have their own binky style. Kay does the high jump, while Winston’s are more like a wiggle.

[Beka27]

can i make a suggestion? please don’t use the cage and locking up as punishment. rabbits don’t have the same cause and effect reasoning that humans have, so punishment in the cage is not likely to work, and may only make the rabbit come to resent the cage, you, or both. the best way to cement those proper potty habits is by slowly expanding the playspace. so first the bunny is in her cage. once the cage habits are good you can let the bunny have an xpen play area plus the cage. put an additional box in the xpen. after awhile of that limited freedom, reposition the pen so the bunny gets a quarter of the room, then half the room, and so forth. if bunny has an accident, you can shoo her into her litterbox, either in the room or the box in her cage, but i would not lock the door after her. let her sit in the box then come back out. you may reconsider letting her on the couch. the couch is your territory so it is more likely she will try and mark it and claim it as her own. rather than putting her on the couch, try sitting (you and your husband) on the floor so she can come and explore you as she pleases. this is a much less threatening way to interact.

[iriswarrior1]

Beka27-thanks for the advice! In case you didn’t get to see my recent post, Zeva is now Fang, and a he, which changes everything, since he’s marking because of hormones.

My bunnies never live in the cage, but they do like to use it as a ‘waystation, on their way to another part of the house. Even after incarceration, Fang will still go in and eat, use the litterbox, and stretch out to sniff the top of the cage, but maybe that’s because I only put him in the cage once, and he stopped peeing after that. Unfortunately, he started spraying SOMETHING ELSE all over the place, which is how we figured out she was a he.

Okay, I’m confused now.

Anyway, cage + punishment=bad for bunny. Got it.

Ohh, can’t use a spray bottle, when the water hits him, he creates an instant poo pyramid, then thumps once and streaks away, sending all the poo flying like shrapnel……….can’t decide if it’s funny or disgusting.

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[Author]

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