• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Bonding Marnie and Hovis - accepted defeat

Rhianna

Wise Old Thumper
Sam brought Marnie over this morning and I have started bonding.

Sadly, it isn't going to be as easy as I had hoped. There is a lot of aggression. Initially Hovis humped Marnie who just lay there but then Marnie started chasing Hovis and this has continued. Hovis is terrified and keeps trying to jump out of the pen :( I hate seeing a bun that scared. He is panting and looks really anxious. Marnie, on the other hand, is flopped out and is eating hay.

Neither have been hurt - there is no blood, just lots of fur flying.

They are separate at the moment as the way they are I wouldn't be happy leaving them alone even for a quick loo break as they are upstairs and my loo is downstairs.

I have a feeling I am not going to get much sleep tonight.

Vibes for a successful bond would be greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:
Thank you.

I have had to put a panel pen between them. Marnie kept humping Hovis - but quite violently - and Hovis jumped out of the pen and huddled up to me trembling. I put him back four times and then decided he had had enough. He is completely terrified - poor little bun.

I've had buns look scared before when I've bonded but not as frightened as Hovis. He flattens himself against the side of the pen trying to get away from Marnie and then jumps out. Putting him back feels like abuse.

I will try again tomorrow but I am feeling quite despondent at the moment :(
 
Thank you.

I have had to put a panel pen between them. Marnie kept humping Hovis - but quite violently - and Hovis jumped out of the pen and huddled up to me trembling. I put him back four times and then decided he had had enough. He is completely terrified - poor little bun.

I've had buns look scared before when I've bonded but not as frightened as Hovis. He flattens himself against the side of the pen trying to get away from Marnie and then jumps out. Putting him back feels like abuse.

I will try again tomorrow but I am feeling quite despondent at the moment :(

This is what happened when my sister was bonding her trio. In the end we did dating and always ended it on a good note. It took a long time. Putting them in a carry case helped her and the final time she bonded them she did a long journey with them in the carry case before bonding them traditionally in neutral territory. I don't know if that would help you.
 
Poor sweetheart :( I hope that being side by side over night will help. I might text Kris and see how Marnie was when she was bonded with Blue.

Has he eaten anything yet?


I feel terrible that he is so frightened :cry:
 
Am just about to feed the cats and buns their supper and put the outdoor buns to bed.

I hate seeing Hovis so terrified too. When he kept jumping out of the pen and snuggled up to me I felt like an ogre when I put him back in with Marnie who then humped him.

I will probably have Hovis up on the bed with me for a while as his part of the pen is tiny - much smaller than the area Marnie is in because she has that huge litter tray.

I will try giving them both some reiki tomorrow before I put them together again - see if that helps at all.

Hovis must be totally bewildered - poor bunster. He is such a gorgeous boy too.

Marnie is totally laid back and is flopped in her litter tray nomming hay.
 
Bless him, it's horrible when you get a bun who is terrified by the bond, isn't it :( I would suggest stopping Marnie before she chases him first thing in the morning, give him time to relax a bit and realise that she isn't going to chase him every time he moves - I find that just by resting my hand across the 'aggressor's' back it calms them down so that they start to relax and don't feel the need to chase either.

Good luck for tomorrow x
 
Aw poor things, perhaps the swapping pens method after a good nights sleep?
Bonding rabbits I think should be top of the list of most stressful things. Moving house and getting married was NOTHING in comparison to how stressed I was bonding Dolly Boobies and Bod!

Good luck tomorrow, please keep us updated:love::love:
 
I must admit I am finding this stressful - and although I have a week off work I do have some things I need to do during the week.

I think this bond is going to have to be a slow dating one. Hovis has eventually eaten a couple of SS and a fenugreek crunchie. Marnie has nommed her way through SS, broccoli, fenugreek crunchie and an astounding amount of hay. She is flopped out in the litter tray looking quite happy.

I will give them both a cuddle before bedtime and check them over to make sure there are no injuries hidden by fur. Marnie has seen quite a lot of me since I became friends with Sam so I guess she isn't too phased by her move to my bedroom. At Sam's she has free range access to a whole house - and is now in a small pen so I am surprised she isn't more grumpy.

I did try stroking Marnie to stop her chasing Hovis - and that worked but as soon as I stopped off she went

It is so frustrating as I know they both want bunny company.
 
Bless him, it's horrible when you get a bun who is terrified by the bond, isn't it :( I would suggest stopping Marnie before she chases him first thing in the morning, give him time to relax a bit and realise that she isn't going to chase him every time he moves - I find that just by resting my hand across the 'aggressor's' back it calms them down so that they start to relax and don't feel the need to chase either.

Good luck for tomorrow x

This is what I was going to suggest..it takes a lot of involvement but if you can stop Marnie from going to close to they boy, so maybe just a sniff at first, he will learn that she isn't so scary and she'll learn that he doesn't go away if she humps/chases.

I would not let it escalate to humping/chasing.

Good luck!
 
I know how you feel...when bluebell was so lonely and grief stricken I thought it'd be a doodle bonding her with Baxter as I've had several bun pairs bond themselves through grief! Bluebell was bonded to bertie within four days of her sister dying and three days of merlin being admitted very very I'll. Bertie was sick for two days...the stress triggered his pasturella. But neither him or bluebell fought they just slept closer and closer to each other and shared food water and hay.
Both wend and I were horrified when bluebell tried to savage Baxter before he'd even got out of the box properly!
It's a slow way were doing it but I cannot handle the savageness of two out for blood frenchies!

Marnie is a typical doe ...ESP during bonding! Maybe because she knows you so well and your scent that she considers your place as hers! Swap them round and round in pens...so they end up using each others bowls and litter trays and try not to make hovis rely on you for comfort....marnie may resent that....you know how jealous bunnys can be...ESP the does!

Do the usual hold them both on your chest together....snuggle them both side by side with their heads up under your chin....pop them both up on a dresser or table where it isn't so easy to get traction.concentrating on slipping feetsies takes their minds off killing each other! Start them off in your bath? Then the pens....then the bath.....then the pens.....swap swap swap.....try and make the only "play" time they ave is together....and they soon think...hmmm ok. We will be nice...eventually. Pop them in a carrier and take it outside and pop it on the ground.....then if they've started scuffling pick the carrier up walk around with it then pop it down again. I used our pet stroller like that...it was brill...but BIF kept unbonding herself at new years cos of fireworks etc...dentals and in the end I'd pop the buns in the bunny mobile and walk them round the footpaths ESP when it was dark...nothing like fear shared to stress bond...but you can't stress bond every bunny.
Ha I still need to rebound merlin and phoebe before bonding the biggies......I dread it even tho the two littlelies have been bonded before and love each other through the bars when one is loose and one caged up.
Bluebells a ferocious sneaky moo but baxters standing up to her and terrorised her for five minutes without major biting....we actually felt sorry for her so I know how you feel.

Broom....half slept catnaps and packets of biscuits to keep you going as breaks during bonding impossible!

Good luck Karen xx
 
Hope you managed to get some sleep.

I'm really glad Hovis is eating.....poor chap. Marnie does eat a lot of hay...she's a little piggy....but she does beautiful poops :love:

I'll try not to pester you today :oops:
 
They are still separated by a pen panel. I really wanted Hovis to eat more before I started bonding again - it concerned me how little he ate yesterday and the last thing I want is him going into stasis. However, this morning, he ate the bottom of one of my favourite tops through the bars of the pen :(:( - not quite the sort of eating I had in mind.

He is clearly more relaxed now and his personality is starting to shine though - and the naughtiness. He loves periscoping - which I noticed when he was on his own last week.

I am just going to swap them over so they are in different halves of the pen and then later I will put them together again but holding Marnie so she can't keep chasing Hovis. I have some parsley I am going to use as bribery for them both.

This is going to be a very slow and gradual bond - and I know Sam is impatient to have her Marnie Moo back:oops:
 
awww, sending calming vibes to all Xxx bonding can be stressfull, Gypsy was a nightmare with Storm at first, a proper little madam, but now they are an old married couple and so in love :love:
 
Back
Top