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Bonding G&T, final update & thank you

J

Jenny Jump

Warren Scout
Thomas appeared back on form for the last few days after his recent eye problem and food refusal. Good days out in the garden seem to have lifted his mood no end. As I still have a few days holiday this seemed like a good time to start bonding him with Gwyneth. So here we are in our utility room. I put a partition so that they are restricted to an area about 2 foot square. We are about 3 hours in now. Thomas has nipped at Gwyneth a few times, but nothing to draw blood or pull fur out. There has been a little bit of tentative grooming from each bun. I have just doubled the space, which they initially explored, but they are now settled at the furthest point from me, Gwyneth stretched out, Thomas sat grooming himself. Interestingly there has been no humping. Any thoughts?
 
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Sounds promising! Don't rush things though - they need time to get acquainted with one another and feel relaxed. I am bonding today as well, very stressful but they have both gone to sleep in the sunshine - fingers crossed as I need a hutch for my indoor bunnies.
 
Sounds pretty positive to me. If they're relaxed enough to sleep and groom themselves then that's a good sign. As Tonibun has said, don't rush ahead too fast though and increase space almost by inches at a time rather than by feet. In my experience, you can increase by a couple of inches every hour or so and they hardly seem to notice, whereas if you give them another 2 feet after half a day then they start chasing etc.
 
Yes, definitely only increase the space very slowly. My three boys have been in the same size pen for about 30 hours, despite having had no fights at all and just a little chasing yesterday.
 
Thanks for the advice. All is quiet right now. I won't increase the space again by so much next time. I only have 3 more feet before they have the whole room. If all continues like this how soon do you think I can move them to a pen outdoors, or Thomas's large hutch and run? Are there key behaviours I need to look for? Must the nipping stop. Thomas has just nipped again :-(
 
Jenny Jump said:
Thanks for the advice. All is quiet right now. I won't increase the space again by so much next time. I only have 3 more feet before they have the whole room. If all continues like this how soon do you think I can move them to a pen outdoors, or Thomas's large hutch and run? Are there key behaviours I need to look for? Must the nipping stop. Thomas has just nipped again :-(
Click to expand...

I always wait for the nipping to stop, as it only takes a second for the other bunny to get annoyed and for a fight to break out x
 
I always wait until they've been together permanently for at least 48 hours with absolutely no signs of aggression and, preferrably with signs of mutual grooming and choosing to lay together, before I attempt to move them into their permanent accommodation.

But it's a bit like saying "how long is a piece of string?" Every bonding will be different and I can hand-on-heart say that when I brought Imogen home, I just had a feeling it was going to be a piece of cake and just popped her straight onto the floor in Benji's enclosure (which is the whole conservatory). I wouldn't have done this with ANY of the other bonds I've done but this one just 'felt' different. They were brilliant together from the get go.
 
I am not sure - perhaps he's a bit scared of her. Try leaving them together before you move them on until all odd behaviour has stopped.
 
Day 2 - the bunnies are looking fairly relaxed, not always choosing to sit next to each other though. I think Thomas might still be giving Gwyneth the odd nip :-( I have seen him humping her this morning too. She just hopped away, no chasing. Right now they are laying down together with some mutual grooming. I am going to scrub out Thomas's hutch run later today. The plan is, when they are ready, to introduce them to part of the run initially, and if they still seem fine, then gradually give them access to the whole complex.

Bonding day 2 by Beads by Mari, on Flickr
 
It definitely sounds promising, but if there's still nipping and humping I wouldn't be moving them anywhere just yet x
 
Looking much more settled in the bonding area now. Feeding time seems to get them animated though, I feel I have to get the food in quick or Thomas is going to nip Gwyneth. (He hasn't, it could be me reading things wrong) They circle excitedly looking for the food to come from above. They sit side by side to eat even though I have spread the food around.
 
All looking good. Thank you so much for urging caution. They look pretty settled and are moving from the utility room to a section of their hutch. :)
 
Good advice, I will. In any case the move seems to have stimulated their appetites. Meanwhile I am trying to get our lawn in better shape, ready for that happy day when they are ready to let out.
 
Oh it will tonibun :) Thomas is such an athlete, he entertains us all with his antics. He can't quite understand why he must wait. I hope Gwyneth will be equally impressed. We don't know much about her history, she was found as a stray, so I'm not sure if she will be as keen as Thomas at dashing about and general binkying.
 
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