The Charlie and Layla saga begins

[Cassi&Charlie]

I bought Layla home today, she is so beautiful, I can’t believe it!

Charlie was unimpressed to say the least. In fact he was pacing up and down his enclosure last time I saw him. Obviously they’re not close enough to each other for him to attack her, but he can see her and smell her and he wants blood!

Layla on the other hand was totally cool and calm considering everything that has happened and being in a new house. She just sat there munching hay and considering her new house while Charlie paced up and down in her eye sight. She isn’t even concerned about Charlie’s stunt double in her hutch so thats a good sign.

The wierd bit (that I don’t understand) is that Charlie doesn’t mind the Layla stunt double and I’ve seen him grooming it at least once a day for the last week but as soon as he saw and smelled Layla the tail went up and he went into attack bunny mode.

Is this going to be a difficult bonding? Lucky for Layla she has a month before she’s properly healed from her spaying and until her hormones have decreased so she wont have to meet Charlie just yet.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

It’s hard to tell…he might just be nervous seeing another bunny…since she seems calm-you never know!!

[osprey]

Whenever you are trying to bond a new bunny to an existing bunny, you have to see how they react to each other in neutral territory, a place where the existing bunny hasn’t been.  If he is in his usual space and sees another bunny, he’ll immediately think “intruder” rather than “friend”, so you can’t really gauge his interest until they are near each other in neutral territory.

 

[Cassi&Charlie]

Ah, they’ve started having groom-offs in their cages. It’s hilarious to watch. She’s such a special edition to our family and so full of love.

[Cassi&Charlie]

Charlie licked her through the cage! I’m not sure how good a sign this is but it’s better than launching at her everytime he sees her. I’m suprised because I thought he would establish himself as the dominant one straight away but maybe Layla is just too pretty for him to resist.

[Cassi&Charlie]

Well the bonding has seriously begun because I saw them yesterday lying next to each other through the bars and Charlie was licking Layla. We had a few meeting and greeting sessions over the weekend and it went really well. Pictures of the happily snoozing together soon to be posted.

[kimberleyanddarren]

licking is a good sign! have u tried switching them in their cages? he may just want to get out and play rather than fight

[Beka27]

update please?

[Cassi&Charlie]

Hi Beka, sorry I’ve been so engrossed in their bonding that I’ve forgotten to update!

Charlie and Layla met in the bottom of my shower and were instantly friends. In the first bonding session they were lying down next to each other and Charlie was grooming Layla. These sessions continued all weekend and I eventually got sick of being in the bathroom (no heating, winter) and we moved them to a carpeted NIC pen in our living area. The licking and lounging continued until Charlie realised that Layla thought she was boss and then came the humping, nipping and bossiness that has always been a shining part of Charlie’s personality.

Now we’re in semi-neutral space and they’re getting along great. Occasionally there is a power struggle but they seem pretty equal now, both grooming each other and stuff. The only problem there is that Charlie seems to be food possessive and it’s impossible to feed them some things when they’re together (pellets, tomato, carrot but lettuce and hay is ok…strange bunnies)

They aren’t ready for free roaming yet cause the rest of the house is Charlie’s house and when ever we attempt to put them together Charlie chases Layla around and bites chunks of fur off her fluffy bottom so I’m following markusdark’s advice and leaving them in semi-neutral space 24/7 for two weeks, hoping that afterwards Charlie will be so used to Layla that the biting will stop.

So it’s going better than I expected and Charlie is really happy to have another bunny around, he lies on/beside her all the time and has become her shadow and hopefully they’ll be out and about in the house very soon without any problems

[Beka27]

once “kinda getting along”, i kept mine together in their double-wide pen for a full two weeks, and they’ve been inseparable since then.

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