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Aarrgghhh- buns not getting on

huppie

Mama Doe
Hi all

I am struggling to cope! I have been bonding Sierra and Rambi for the last 11 days. On Saturday we were able to put them in their new home supervised. They are in separate hutches next to each other for brekkie, dinner and at night. The rest of the time they hang around in their proper home (hutch blocked off, minimal toys, nowhere to get trapped etc). Most of the time they ignore each other happily going about their business, sometimes there is (mutual) grooming but other times they get into scraps.

I can't leave them alone together until the scrapping has stopped but what if this never happens? I feel very trapped in the house these days and hubby and I haven't been able to go out at the same time since we got them.

Please help!

Emma

PS I have tried posting bonding questions in the proper thread but the traffic there is so slow there are never many (if any) replies so please forgive it here just this once. I am at my wits end!
 
Hi all

I am struggling to cope! I have been bonding Sierra and Rambi for the last 11 days. On Saturday we were able to put them in their new home supervised. They are in separate hutches next to each other for brekkie, dinner and at night. The rest of the time they hang around in their proper home (hutch blocked off, minimal toys, nowhere to get trapped etc). Most of the time they ignore each other happily going about their business, sometimes there is (mutual) grooming but other times they get into scraps.

I can't leave them alone together until the scrapping has stopped but what if this never happens? I feel very trapped in the house these days and hubby and I haven't been able to go out at the same time since we got them.

Please help!

Emma

PS I have tried posting bonding questions in the proper thread but the traffic there is so slow there are never many (if any) replies so please forgive it here just this once. I am at my wits end!

Where is the bonding taking place? Sorry, bit confused :oops: are they living separately and being bonded in the new joint territory? I would personally slow things down a little, but that's just me. How serious are the scraps? Enough to cause injury or just nipping and chasing?
I would personally move them back to 'neutral territory' for bonding somewhere completely strange (not this new joint territory that may now be associated with territorial aggression) and separate if serious fighting ensues and start again the next day, building up time together slowly, and only returing them to their new joint territory (thoroughly washed down and neutralised first) once all aggression and upset has finished for good. Others may say to keep them in the 'neutral territory' without separating until the upset has disppeared and they've worked things out. You should do whichever of these methods you are most comfortable with. :)
 
Where is the bonding taking place? Sorry, bit confused :oops:

My fault, sorry and thanks for replying :D

They were in neutral territory for 6 days at the end of which they were eating, sleeping and lying together flopped out with no angst at all :love: All was right with the world. We thought the aggression was all gone...

Now they are in their permanent home and for the first hour or two they didn't do so well but were still much better than when we first begun (difficult bond!) so we persisted. They are getting better but very slowly! On Wednesday I have to go back to work (OH and I both took days off to be with them) and I am worried that they will spend too much time locked in their temporary hutches :(

The only neutral territory we have left is the hall where we started with them. We can't keep them there though because there are six doors in the hall and by the end of the week Sierra was getting very agitated being trapped whenever we walked through! It was also bad for Rambi's hocks even with the flooring we put down especially.

We don't have anywhere else left...

Emma
 
We don't have a car at the minute - we periodically borrow one from the in-laws. Maybe I'll try that in a couple of weeks when we get it next. I am hoping they will be ok with each other by then though, it is so sad to see them sitting apart when they could be snuggling :(
 
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