Tigger n Thumper are Bonded – Update

[LuvMyLops]

We started bonding our Holland Lop male siblings Tigger n Thumper 3 weeks ago:

4/12 – 4/24: Bonding sessions in neutral space 4 times a day increasing from 15 min to 30 mins to 1 hour and then 8 hours during the day sessions (no night time together). Sessions went well, lots of grooming, laying next to each other or apart etc, except for the humping. Tigger mostly just takes it but somethimes they would run n chase but we always broke that up.

4/24 – 5/1: We kept them in the pen together all day & night only time they came out was when we put them together on the couch and petted them together and then they went straight back. All was well with the humping getting less and less. The last 2 days we didn’t see any signs of humping or any issues at all.

5/1 to present: We thorughly cleaned out and rearraged their permanent home and moved Tigger n Thumper in. All seemed good for a bit then………Thumper started the humping and Tigger wasn’t having it. Running and chasing ensued, we break it up and 5 mins late they started again……then they would groom, sit next to each other etc until the humping started again. Sometimes Tigger would take it but mostly not. That went on most of the night then next day they were ok but they started up at night time again…….and each time we would break it up. Yesterday, again daytime was fine so we decided to stress bond them before bedtime,  I placed them in a box on top of the washer in a spin cycle for 10 mins. They peed and pooped in the box, so they were definately stressed, after we put them back into their home it was a quiet night. So far today all is well, they are of grooming, laying next to each other etc. I plan to stress bond again before bedtime tonight.

They are sharing 1 litter box, 1 water bottle and 1 food dish with no issues at all. We have not had them out of there home for any playtime in the pen since 4/24……..if all goes well tonight, I was hoping to start giving them their playtime in the pen etc.

How close are we to them being bonded??

Anything we should be doing different?

[sarahthegemini]

I would try giving them two of everything: two litter trays, two water bowls, two feeding stations etc

[LuvMyLops]

Posted By sarahthegemini on 5/04/2018 5:20 PM

I would try giving them two of everything: two litter trays, two water bowls, two feeding stations etc

Sharing these things doesn’t seem to be an issue at all, they both eat from the food dish at the same time without fighting over it. The litter box is large enough for both with plenty of hay in it…….again no fighting over it or the water bottle above it.

[LuvMyLops]

Update:
There has been no more humping/chasing etc at all since the 2nd stress bonding on the 4th. They are doing great, lots of grooming, eating together, laying next to each other etc……..both want to be petted together.
They are bonded………yayyyy

[Author]

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