This week I am not doing any new bondings. I have taken on a pair of bunnies who were rehomed about 7 weeks ago, they were intitially fine together and were living as house rabbits in a bedroom. A few weeks ago they started having scuffles together which were slowly getting worse to the point where they were having about 6 or more scuffles a day with quite a lot of fur loss. Immediatly after these scuffles they were apparently grooming each other. The owners have been in contact with me now for a few weeks seeking advise to see if they can do anything to improve the situation.
We descided that the best thing to do was for them to come away from their home so that I can see exactly what is going on in totally neutral territory, so last night they came over to me. They have both got a number of small scabbed bite marks but no other obvious injuries from what had been going on.
The other advantage in getting rabbits off their home territory is that we can provide a neutral territory and also check whether any other influences are interfering with the buns. From my own previous experience some smell of products in the local enviroment can upset rabbits including 'deepheat' which can result in fighting. As far as I can assertain the only products used in this enviroment have been an air freshener which was added a while after the scuffles started and the owner sprays on her deodorant in the room.
Initially Honey was quite stressed which could easily have been the car journey. So far there has been no chasing, no fur loss and no food aggression. Interestingly enough Honey who was meant to be controlling when it came to food times is the one who tends to get food last as it is her partner who makes the move first.
This morning everything remains very calm although they are sitting apart .... I will add some pictures and some videos later ....
We descided that the best thing to do was for them to come away from their home so that I can see exactly what is going on in totally neutral territory, so last night they came over to me. They have both got a number of small scabbed bite marks but no other obvious injuries from what had been going on.
The other advantage in getting rabbits off their home territory is that we can provide a neutral territory and also check whether any other influences are interfering with the buns. From my own previous experience some smell of products in the local enviroment can upset rabbits including 'deepheat' which can result in fighting. As far as I can assertain the only products used in this enviroment have been an air freshener which was added a while after the scuffles started and the owner sprays on her deodorant in the room.
Initially Honey was quite stressed which could easily have been the car journey. So far there has been no chasing, no fur loss and no food aggression. Interestingly enough Honey who was meant to be controlling when it came to food times is the one who tends to get food last as it is her partner who makes the move first.
This morning everything remains very calm although they are sitting apart .... I will add some pictures and some videos later ....
