Newbie Bonding Jimmy & Lola

Hiya

we're bonding Jimmy & Lola at the moment . . . finally! and wanted to let u know how its going and see if anyone has any tips

we looked into bonding before hand . . . kept them seperate, got both spayed when old enough, gave them recovery time before attempting to bond them etc

but there have been a few hitches along the way ! . . .

Lola is a naughty little minx and escaped from her cage one day when we were at work, sneaked into the spare room and met Jimmy!! we found her all excited outside his cage while he looked a bit traumatised :lol:

because of the escaping minx, and Jimmy getting into a room he shouldnt have when he was out for a play - we had no neutral rooms left to bond them in! we dont have a car either.

so one day about a week ago, Lola escaped again and broke into the spare room where Jimmy has been living. she stayed there all day under a cupboard, the only way to get her out is to herd her with a broom and we didnt want to do that so just decided to go for it and bond them.

we let Jim out, Lola looked happy to see him but Jimmy kind of ran at her with a 'come and have a go' attitude. so not like Jimmy! he's a wee chilled affectionate softy, and Lola is usually the one with a bit of attitude. anyway, she gave him a nip and he lept 3 feet in the air with shock. nobody had ever treated him like that before lol. after that she tried to go up and be friendly but he was scared of her and ran away any time she came near.

so we eventually put Jim back in his cage and built Lola's cage onto the side of his. when i say cage they're kind of home made pens, a good size, with a 'fence' seperating the buns. this was good for a couple of days, but yesterday i came home from work and Lola had vandalised the fence and broke into Jimmy's cage! she was monopolising his fave carpet and he was timidly sitting in a far corner. no sign of any fighting though. we watched them together that evening, and although Jimmy still seems nervous Lola is the happiest I've ever seen her.

this morning i went in and they were snuggled on the carpet together!! Lola was all stretched out legs kicked out in relaxation. Jimmy was snuggled up next to her.

does this look good??

it does to us! but we realise its been an amature bonding so far

we think Jimmy is more a people bunny while Lola is a bunny bunny

but hopefully they'll be best of friends

Awwwww!! snuggle bunnies looks promising

Are all Lolas "naughty little minx's"???:lol::lol::lol:

Seems like they are happy together. Success!

Are all Lolas "naughty little minx's"???

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i would have to say yes to that :lol:

it does seem a success so far (touch wood)

Jimmy is quite chilled with Lola in his cage now and she is still loved up with him

they're eating food out the same bowl happily

its really cute

the only thing they dont really do is groom each other, they're not too good at that yet.

Jimmy is used to getting groomed by his humans whenever he asks - he just comes up to me and the bf and puts his little chin down and that means 'pat my head and my cheeks and stroke my ears and give me an all over massage!'

little Lola wont have us do any more than pat her head twice while she's eating, then she gets shy and runs off. so we think she's maybe out of grooming practice

well we were watching them the other day and Jimmy approached Lola and put his chin down in the 'groom me' pose. Lola totally dingyed him! some time later she gave his head a lick tho. . . . . theres hope!

If anything goes wrong, I heard taking them for a car ride in a cardboard box together can help really well. I tried this with mine on the way home from the rescue centre and it certainly worked (but then they were both really young, and it was a male-female bonding).

thanks Furries, but we dont have access to a car for that. everythings going good so far tho - touch wood

Lola even tried to steal a pak choi leaf out of Jimmy's mouth yesterday and he took it very cool & didnt go for her, he just turned his back so she couldnt get it!

glad everything went well with your buns xx