What is going on??!!

[Deleted User]

In my bonding thread I had posted about how they were doing better and Bunny was starting to groom Alistair a bit, and he was grooming her a bit.  But now I have moved them together into their bonding area permanently until they are bonded.

Since doing that Bunny is not being good at all.  It’s like she’s really going backwards.  She nips at Alistair whenever he is near her.  He still wants to be friends with her, but she seems to not like him at all now, whereas before she seemed to at least be curious about him.  She is ok, as long as he doesn’t get too close to her.

Today I just had a bonding session with them and she had nipped at him once, and I told her sternly “Bunny no!  Be nice to Alistair”, then everything was ok for a bit.  After a while Alistair was eating lettuce and Bunny was laying down so I petted Bunny for a while then Alistair came over.  Bunny didn’t go after him because I was petting her, so when he layed near her I started petting him too, and everything was fine…..  until I got an itch and used the hand I was petting Bunny with to scratch it.  When I stopped petting her she groomed herself for a second and then sniffed Alistair and nipped him while I was petting him.  She went to nip him again immediately afterwards and I pushed her away with my other hand (I was wearing oven mits) and said “Bunny NO!”.  Then Alistair ran away, and I held Bunny gently to stop her from going after him.  When I let her go I was about 12 inches from and she lunged at my hand and nipped the oven mit!!!

Bunny has NEVER shown any aggression towards people at all.  When she did this the water bottle was right beside me so I immediately said Bunny NO! and gave her a little squirt of water on the face.  Then she just sat there looking so upset that I’d done that to her.  She didn’t even try to groom herself or wipe it off, she just sat there with a big drip of water on her face.

I figured at this point the session was not going to end on a good note no matter what, so I put Alistair back on his side of the room.

Now I’m soo upset   What is going on?  Why is Bunny behaving this way all of a sudden?  Does this mean the bond won’t work out?  Does she hate me now, or is she just stressed out from being moved away from her room where she’s been living for the last year since we bought this house?

 

[Beka27]

I wonder if your previous set-up was a big interference to bonding. It almost sounds like you are needing to start over with bonding in neutral space before moving them into the semi-neutral space. Continue to house them in the same area, but remove them from there for bonding.

[MarkBun]

Is the permament enclosure you put them in in neutral territory?  When she nips at him, don’t seperate them but push her head down to the floor and say NO.  Hold it there for about 10 seconds then let it up.  If she does it again, do it again.  She’ll begin to understand that a nip means that you are taking the Alpha position and no bun wants that to happen.

Maryann only nipped me once and that was when I surprised her from behind while she was intent on Dono. Well she’s done it more but it has always been to a sock enclosed foot and while I’m laying down, I don’t think she realizes it’s attached to me.

[MooBunnay]

It sounds possible that she is stressed out by not being in her old cage, so I wouldn’t get discouraged right away. Bunnies don’t really like change. I’m a littl confused by what you mean that you’ve moved them permanently into their bonding area? So they are together all the time, or they are both in separate cages in the same room you do bonding in?

Even though there has been a little bit of a set back, that doesn’t mean that the bond won’t work out, it just means it is going to take a bit more time. I’d just keep at it with the bonding sessions, and use the trick that markus recommended about the pushing the head to the ground.

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