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Help - bunny being bullied - advice please

Hi all,

Need some advice re Bo and Barnaby as Bo is really starting to be a little git to Barnaby - it's a bit long winded but here goes - sorry

The new home for the Four Amigos is very nearly ready - just need to section off the 'run' bit into two so they can all have their binkying space :) (it's a dog kennel so we are splitting it in half top and bottom as they are two bonded pairs not a group of four - they don't all get on)

In the neantime we decided to let Barnaby and Bo have the use of the run bit as they are in the lower part of the double hutch Lee made a while ago and it was easy to make a hole in the side giving access to the run with a ramp.

So, they now have 24/7 access to their run .... they didn;t really explore it for the first couple of days so on Tues morning when I got in from work I took both of them in there and sat with them whilst they explored and figured out the ramp leads back into their hutch - no problems, they figured it out pretty quickly --- this is where the problems have started :(

Bo has now become really possessive over the hutch bit. She doesn't like coming out of it into the new run (I think the ramp might be a bit slippy for her and we're rectifying that this weekend when Lee can bring his tools home) but Barnaby has been using it no problem - apart from when he wants to come back into the hutch and she chases him straight back out again. She's always been dominant over him - Barnaby is a very timid, gentle rabbit - a little love - but this is going beyond a joke. He's out int he run nearly all the time just sat in a corner looking all woeful.

Their food is given in the hutch but I wasn't sure she was even letting him get that so I've started giving him his food in the run so at least he has some but when I've tried bringing Bo into the run with him she just turns and goes back into the hutch and sits at thedoor of it looking all sulky and bullying him if he goes back in.

Please help, he looks so woeful and hurt .... they're usually very cddly with each other and snuggle up at night but at the moment that isn't happening and I'm at a loss what to do?

Sorry for another epic post

Tammy x
 
No, unfortunatley not - the hutch by virtue of where it is, has to be side on to the run and there's only room for one opening :(

Kind of hoping it migt be coz she's jealous he's going out but she knows how to get out there so think that's false hoping *sigh*

Tammy x
 
I'd feed them and do everything thats communal in the run, so that she doesnt get to posess the space or things in it as much - makes the run more appealing than the hutch. You could also try a rebonding session, where you confine them somewhere neutral for 24 hours, then neutralise the hutch and run, then let them in there again. Kind of like resetting the ownership. If you do that i'd confine them to the hutch for a day too so they both spend time in it and he doesnt just instantly go out into the run again.
 
Thanks Vikki, I'll give that a go over the weekend when the OH is finishing off their run with all the platforms and things that I have asked him to make :) I love having a joiner as an OH - 'please can you make a run this weekend / evening / NOW?' ;)

I have an indoor cage they can spend some time in and in the living room whilst i neutralise the hutch.

Thanks Pretty Lupin, I've replied ont he other thread too

Sorry for the double threads - I didn't know which one was best to post on so I went for both - I'm good at confusing people sometimes :oops:

Tammy x
 
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