Beatrix Potter
Mama Doe
I've been attempting to bond Spudsey my hand reared female widlie with Harrison a small black nethie recently adopted from honeybunnies.
They were living as close as I could get them in separate accomodation for almost a week, then I put them in a neutral run in my garage on Thursday around mid day. It seemed fairly positive with both grooming and eating, though spudsey was the dominant female and did a lot of chasing and fur pulling. She also made attempts to move closer to him but Harrison would stamp his feet and leg it. The same happended when I bonded her with BB who I lost a few months back, also a black nethie.
As there was no signs of them bonding on Thursday evening I reluctantly put them back in their normal homes as it was too cold to stay in the garage for me, normally I leave them together and keep supervising them in the house. Friday seemed ok at times they were quite relaxed sitting less than a rulers length apart, though there was still chasing.
Overnight I separated them but they could see and smell each other.
Put them back in the run this morning but made the run smaller so to reduce chasing, it didn't work! As soon as I put Harrison in before SPudsey he was obviously frightened and knew what was in store for him! I put Spudsey in and again lots of chasing, but then it looked like they were in a potential fight. I clapped my hands to startle them and just moved spudsey out and put her in a carrier leaving Harrison in the run. Neither have injuries and I may be wrong, maybe he jumped over her when she grabbed his fur and they toppled over I just don't know.
She has been bonded before, 3 times and 2 were successful though with BB she always chased him even when they had been together for a year and with her first bond the male who was bigger than her was more dominant. The one that failed was when they kept fighting though this was immediate.
I have had two days off work to do this so quite disheartend, I can't do a slow bond really as its too much to try and pick spudsey up everyday to put her in a carrier plus I have no where really for Harrison to stay long term as he is only in a run at the moment with a very small hutch so its not ideal.
They were living as close as I could get them in separate accomodation for almost a week, then I put them in a neutral run in my garage on Thursday around mid day. It seemed fairly positive with both grooming and eating, though spudsey was the dominant female and did a lot of chasing and fur pulling. She also made attempts to move closer to him but Harrison would stamp his feet and leg it. The same happended when I bonded her with BB who I lost a few months back, also a black nethie.
As there was no signs of them bonding on Thursday evening I reluctantly put them back in their normal homes as it was too cold to stay in the garage for me, normally I leave them together and keep supervising them in the house. Friday seemed ok at times they were quite relaxed sitting less than a rulers length apart, though there was still chasing.
Overnight I separated them but they could see and smell each other.
Put them back in the run this morning but made the run smaller so to reduce chasing, it didn't work! As soon as I put Harrison in before SPudsey he was obviously frightened and knew what was in store for him! I put Spudsey in and again lots of chasing, but then it looked like they were in a potential fight. I clapped my hands to startle them and just moved spudsey out and put her in a carrier leaving Harrison in the run. Neither have injuries and I may be wrong, maybe he jumped over her when she grabbed his fur and they toppled over I just don't know.
She has been bonded before, 3 times and 2 were successful though with BB she always chased him even when they had been together for a year and with her first bond the male who was bigger than her was more dominant. The one that failed was when they kept fighting though this was immediate.
I have had two days off work to do this so quite disheartend, I can't do a slow bond really as its too much to try and pick spudsey up everyday to put her in a carrier plus I have no where really for Harrison to stay long term as he is only in a run at the moment with a very small hutch so its not ideal.