Bavarian Bunny
Wise Old Thumper
I am hoping to get some input here, especially from people who have bigger groups of bunnies. I recently added a 4th bunny to my group and now I am not sure if she is happy.
I adopted Penny and Snoopy about a year ago, it was love at first sight between them and they are now about one and a half years old. A few months ago I adopted Luna, who was 8 weeks old then. Janice did the bonding for me, and all went well. It took a few weeks until Luna was fully accepted, but now she is part of the group and seems to be quite in love with Snoopy, too. Penny chased her a bit for a while, but never got too aggressive with her. They are friends now, too. Luna was sitting apart from the others for a couple of weeks, until she got fully accepted, and I felt sorry for her. I thought that by adding another baby, she may have a friend, too.
So I adopted Sunnie. I bonded the 4 in our kitchen, all went well. Then I kept them in a dog crate for a few days, and things were ok, too. I cleaned the hutch and run as good as I could. When I put them all in the hutch, Penny started chasing Sunnie whenever she got the chance. She nipped her a few times and I found bitemarks on Sunnie's back. Since then Sunnie is scared of Penny. Even if Penny just wants to sniff, she runs off and that annoys Penny. Sunnie is allowed to eat with the others, and she is ok with Snoopy and Luna in the hutch. But she hardly ever dares to go down the ramp. Today I saw her sneaking down into the run, but Penny spotted her and chased and attacked her immediately. So Sunnie spends most of her time upstairs and the only exercise she gets is from being chased from one corner into the other. She seemed much happier when she was on her own and binkied around her own run. Although she is eating well, she does not seem to be growing much. She is about 3 months old now.
There are 3 options for Sunnie I can think of, and I would like to know what you would recommend:
1. Give her more time and hope that she will get more confident with age.(They will all go to holiday boarding for a week soon, maybe that might help?)
2. Separate her and Luna from the group and keep them as a pair. But Luna really likes Snoopy and Penny, I don't want to rip them apart.
3. Separate her from the group and find her a boyfriend.
Options 2 and 3 would mean that I could not foster for ARC any longer, unless they can provide a hutch. And holiday boarding would be more expensive and more difficult to find with two groups. I do have enough space, time and money for two groups, but am I giving up too soon? Has anyone been in a similar situation? I bonded Sunnie with the others about 5 weeks ago. It took 4 weeks until Luna was fully accepted, but Penny was not as aggressive towards Luna as she is towards Sunnie.
Sorry for the long post. Just not sure what to do.
I adopted Penny and Snoopy about a year ago, it was love at first sight between them and they are now about one and a half years old. A few months ago I adopted Luna, who was 8 weeks old then. Janice did the bonding for me, and all went well. It took a few weeks until Luna was fully accepted, but now she is part of the group and seems to be quite in love with Snoopy, too. Penny chased her a bit for a while, but never got too aggressive with her. They are friends now, too. Luna was sitting apart from the others for a couple of weeks, until she got fully accepted, and I felt sorry for her. I thought that by adding another baby, she may have a friend, too.
So I adopted Sunnie. I bonded the 4 in our kitchen, all went well. Then I kept them in a dog crate for a few days, and things were ok, too. I cleaned the hutch and run as good as I could. When I put them all in the hutch, Penny started chasing Sunnie whenever she got the chance. She nipped her a few times and I found bitemarks on Sunnie's back. Since then Sunnie is scared of Penny. Even if Penny just wants to sniff, she runs off and that annoys Penny. Sunnie is allowed to eat with the others, and she is ok with Snoopy and Luna in the hutch. But she hardly ever dares to go down the ramp. Today I saw her sneaking down into the run, but Penny spotted her and chased and attacked her immediately. So Sunnie spends most of her time upstairs and the only exercise she gets is from being chased from one corner into the other. She seemed much happier when she was on her own and binkied around her own run. Although she is eating well, she does not seem to be growing much. She is about 3 months old now.
There are 3 options for Sunnie I can think of, and I would like to know what you would recommend:
1. Give her more time and hope that she will get more confident with age.(They will all go to holiday boarding for a week soon, maybe that might help?)
2. Separate her and Luna from the group and keep them as a pair. But Luna really likes Snoopy and Penny, I don't want to rip them apart.
3. Separate her from the group and find her a boyfriend.
Options 2 and 3 would mean that I could not foster for ARC any longer, unless they can provide a hutch. And holiday boarding would be more expensive and more difficult to find with two groups. I do have enough space, time and money for two groups, but am I giving up too soon? Has anyone been in a similar situation? I bonded Sunnie with the others about 5 weeks ago. It took 4 weeks until Luna was fully accepted, but Penny was not as aggressive towards Luna as she is towards Sunnie.
Sorry for the long post. Just not sure what to do.