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Any ideas on bonding??

bellatrix

New Kit
i am bonding my 'foster' bunnies Miffy and Mork. They have been living next to each other in runs and they have had many cage swaps. I put them together (neutral terratory) yesterday and Mork terrorised Miffy. He chased her and pulled her fur out. He didnt actually bite her but she got pretty stressed.
Today i put them together again (in another part of the house) Mork was very good considering how he acted yesterday and didnt try to nip her as often (only 6/7 times in 30mins) and didnt chase her at all but Miffy was so scared of him that she wouldnt let him near her :roll: . What else can I do? She is REALLY scared of him now!!!
Should I just keep trying every day and hope she calms down?

Also, what do you do when you have used up all the neutral terratory in your house. I have used the hallway (it is quite small) and I sectioned off an area of the utility room but I cant think what else I can do when I run out of places to introduce them.
 
You don't need to use a different place each time - just one place that neither of them has been in on their own. I would perservere, trying to put them together for several sessions a day if possible and just giving her lots of reassurance. Make sure she has somewhere to hide if she wants to. If there is no agression then it's not going badly. Thre is often fur pulling and chasing - it should settle down after a while.
 
She'll calm down.
Peter was petrified of Petta (but then he was afriad of his own shadow :roll: ) but I kept them in a neutral run and hutch over night and just kept them together thereonthen. Although he was terrified of her bully (mounting, nipping and fur pulling) he would approach her after he calmed down and it would start again and he'd thump at her if she looked at him, then they would calm down and he would approach again and the cycle began. :roll:
But he got over it and after a week he was less nervy of her.
Now they're unsepable.
 
Keep going. Oli was scared of Sylvia for ages (not suprising since she is twice his size!) but they have settled down a lot now. She was chasing him for a while over the winter and this scared him, but they have been very settled for months now. They have been together over a year now and are totally in love. Sylvia is naturally dominant although Oli has been trying to assert his dominant streak of late... in the most obvious way I mean!! :shock: Naughty bun, he's never done this before! :lol:
 
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