Bunny grieving?

On Monday after Caramel died, her boyfriends Joey & Smirnoff, were hiding in a box & didn't come out for quite some time. (I don't know how much they saw/heard). I put their food down as normal (pellets, carrots, cucumber,rocket) & they didn't touch it all night - though it looked like some hay had been eaten. On Tuesday night, we moved the potentially-dangerous hutches out of the bunny room, so that we could go back to having the bunnies loose. Joey is really curious, but he's been really quiet these last couple of days. Last night they didn't touch their food again.This morning, I got Smirnoff to eat an oatcake-cracker thing, but Joey wasn't even interested in toast, which is his favourite. Smirnoff was grooming Joey too, which I have never seen before. Usually Smirnoff gets groomed by all his subjects!

All the other bunnies are fine & eating as normal, though not loose with the boys, who are part of a bonded group of 5.

Any ideas?

I have a grieving bun at the moment, When I lost Mr Thumps last week Poppy who I was in the process of bonding with him as gone all quiet, however she is still eating. They do get over it but it does take a little time. Try giving him everything he likes.
Hope you are ok as it must have been such an awful shock for you.
Take care
Love
& hugs
Kayxxx

I agree with Kay, it must have been a shock, but they do get over it in time. Gypsy grieved over Bilbo last year like you wouldn't believe, it was just so sad she hardly ate a thing, just small bites, and her personality changed for a while, she was a lot more jumpy and nervous. It took a few days to eat properly and a few weeks to calm down. ( took me a lot longer though! )

.

If you remember Libby who came to me after her partner was killed by a fox, she acted very strangely for a while, and when rehomed the first time would not accept any other rabbits anywhere near her. I think that was a response to her grief and/or fright.
She is now happily settled in a lovely home and accepting a new partner...so it just takes time It must be hard for you though Angie xx

Here's a true story. When my last bunny passed away, my lovebirds was looking at him while I hold him in my arms. Even my lovebirds expression was totally silent after they look at the passing of my rabbit. Of course, w/ those 2 birds, it only last 10 - 15 min. or so. But when they were looking at my last bunny, it's clear they can sense what's happening too. I was very surprise at that

I have so far only lost one bunny that was bonded. When he died on the operating tarble, I took Charlie afterwards to see him so she could understand why he had gone. And it seems to have worked; she was no different afterwards to what she was before. I do believe that letting them see that their partner has died helps, rather than when they just disappear and they don't know what's happened to them. I would do the same again in the future.

Vera

My now group of three are grieving the loss of my beloved bear. They seem to be getting over it slowly and the only difference i see in their behavior is some chasing and they like staying in their cage more now.

Fudge was very miserable after Treacle died not moving around and started to loose his fur I paired him with Amy straight the way and 3 weeks on he's back to his normal self!