Kosu
Warren Scout
Some people may have seen my post about bonding Zodiac with Salt and Stig, unfortunately Zodiac was removed from the group as he and Stig were busy humping all the time and Salt was getting stressed. As shes an old lady i decided to remove him.
So i waited a few weeks and decided to try Zodiac with Pepper, Alaska and Phoenix. Im pretty confident bonding, i love studying animal behaviour so i like to think i can read signals quite well. Its what im studying after all! :thumb:. I have bonded plenty of pairs and a few trios. A quad i haven't attempted before until now.
So anyway, i wanted to make sure the rabbits all went back into the shed, so i decided to give it a new paint job and tile the floor to create a nice neutral area. The first coat of paint was done on day 1. The original 3 were moved into a small hutch overnight and Zodiac was kept in his. On day two the bonding started! I used my smallest run and left it on the grass. Phoenix went in first as the calmest female. Then i introduced Zodiac. We started with a bit of humping but the fresh grass won their attention. (They hadn't been given anything to eat that morning). Alaska went in next followed immediately by Pepper.
A bit of humping but the grass won again. Soon the bellies were full and this happened.
Pepper and Zodiac
I carried on working in the shed with them nearby... (the dogs helped too, can you see their footprints)
There was a bit of fur pulling about 3 hours after i put them all together from Pepper and Zodiac but they settled back down very quickly when i intervened.
They spent the rest of the day in the run while i tiled the floor. That evening i moved the run into the shed. They were in there for a week from that night.
There was a bit of fur pulling the first two days, but nothing serious. Most of the time was spent avoiding each other. To distract them i was giving them food every hour to get them eating together (small portions!).
I moved a larger run into the shed, they then spent a few days in there with a bit more space. Then another few days with half the shed. 2 weeks later they now have the full shed and the run! :thumb:
This is them this evening. (Excuse the mess i did actually clean all this up this morning!)
Im fairly sure these 4 are going to stay together. Happy happy!
And because i can't leave them out, here's Salt and Stig enjoying the sun.
Sorry for the long post!
FYI:
Pepper (M) - Grey butterfly Dwarf Lop - I promise i do brush him, he just insists on looking like a hedgehog.
Zodiac (M) - Black Lionhead
Alaska (F) - White DL
Phoenix (F) - Harlequin DL
Stig (M) - Dutch
Salt (F) - White DL
So i waited a few weeks and decided to try Zodiac with Pepper, Alaska and Phoenix. Im pretty confident bonding, i love studying animal behaviour so i like to think i can read signals quite well. Its what im studying after all! :thumb:. I have bonded plenty of pairs and a few trios. A quad i haven't attempted before until now.
So anyway, i wanted to make sure the rabbits all went back into the shed, so i decided to give it a new paint job and tile the floor to create a nice neutral area. The first coat of paint was done on day 1. The original 3 were moved into a small hutch overnight and Zodiac was kept in his. On day two the bonding started! I used my smallest run and left it on the grass. Phoenix went in first as the calmest female. Then i introduced Zodiac. We started with a bit of humping but the fresh grass won their attention. (They hadn't been given anything to eat that morning). Alaska went in next followed immediately by Pepper.
A bit of humping but the grass won again. Soon the bellies were full and this happened.
Pepper and Zodiac
I carried on working in the shed with them nearby... (the dogs helped too, can you see their footprints)
There was a bit of fur pulling about 3 hours after i put them all together from Pepper and Zodiac but they settled back down very quickly when i intervened.
They spent the rest of the day in the run while i tiled the floor. That evening i moved the run into the shed. They were in there for a week from that night.
There was a bit of fur pulling the first two days, but nothing serious. Most of the time was spent avoiding each other. To distract them i was giving them food every hour to get them eating together (small portions!).
I moved a larger run into the shed, they then spent a few days in there with a bit more space. Then another few days with half the shed. 2 weeks later they now have the full shed and the run! :thumb:
This is them this evening. (Excuse the mess i did actually clean all this up this morning!)
Im fairly sure these 4 are going to stay together. Happy happy!And because i can't leave them out, here's Salt and Stig enjoying the sun.
Sorry for the long post!
FYI:
Pepper (M) - Grey butterfly Dwarf Lop - I promise i do brush him, he just insists on looking like a hedgehog.
Zodiac (M) - Black Lionhead
Alaska (F) - White DL
Phoenix (F) - Harlequin DL
Stig (M) - Dutch
Salt (F) - White DL
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