My two are ready to move in together! I have two dwarf lops which I have been bonding over the last couple of months. They currently share a room, but each has their own cage which the other one is not allowed in. They still both appear territorial over their own cage, and this is the only time that fur flys. I am therefore going to get rid of both these cages (they are not big enough for two anyway) and replace them with a bigger one. Before I do this however I was thinking of setting up a pen for a couple of nights to make sure they get on 24/7 to save me shelling out on a new cage if it does'nt work. I am afraid however that if I do this I am going to confuse them - they do think of their cages as their safe havens! Am I better just getting the cage now and going for it? or don't you think it really matters? :roll:
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Cage Dilema !
- Thread starter Furballs
- Start date
Liz47
Wise Old Thumper
Sorry I'm not an expert on this but bunnies do need to be bonded in a neutral space so they will be terratorial over their own cages so a pen would be a good idea, do you have a seperate room to place the pen and buns in so it's neutral? Then neutralise their old area and pop the big cage in if they are fine being in the pen for a while I think?
The room which they are currently in should be fine I think!? They play happily together in there for hours, cuddle, groom etc - its just the cage thing thats the problem - hence one of the reasons for a brand new cage.
Summer&Skye
Mama Doe
Don't know if this will work as u have said they r territorial but when I bonded my 2 I purposefully allowed them to explore eachothers hutches (outdoor bunnies) and I swapped toys and bits of bedding from one to the other so their smells mixed. Both hutches were in Summers enclosure so I didn't strictly use a neutral territory but it worked. One day after they had been running around together, I went to shut them into their own hutches for the night and Skye had just settled herself into summers hutch and they looked so comfortable together that I didn't have the heart to move her. It was a nerve racking night but they'vd been happy together ever since! 
Unfortunately its not really possible to adjoin their cages together! She has been in his cage before without there really being an issue (he is a big softy), but when he got in her cage she went absolutely beserk at him (which set us back weeks!) I have to admit since then I have stopped them doing it. They love being together at all other times in their room (cudde together, sit in cardboard boxes together, he grooms her all the time (shes the selfish dominant one), which is why I thought starting with a brand new cage/pen would do the trick?
Just to give you an update, decided to go for it yesterday and went and bought a new cage! Last night they had their first full night together! All went well until about 5.30am this morning, when he kept trying to hump her. He has only done this a couple of time before - I thought they had established she was the dominant one! She did'nt really retaliate just ran away - I let them out of the cage and it stopped! Going to give them breakfast now in the hope that they will then have a nap! hopefully I can too!!
Just spent their second night together - and again the humping began! They spent all day yesterday cuddled up happy as larry, and then about 1.00am this morning he started trying to hump her again. I let them get on with it as she did'nt seem overly stressed apart from running out of his way all the time. I have noticed she has actually started to groom him a bit now, and he is not grooming her every time she asks (which was the case before). Am I doing the right thing by letting them get on with it? I am just concerned that all of a sudden a fight will break out and I won't be by their side to split it up. I am back at work tomorrow so cant be running to them all night tonight. Obviously don't want to split them up now when things are going reasonably well.
