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Sleepless Night - time to give up?

Mad Bunster

Mama Doe
Hey everyone

Well I thought the group bonding was going well with Maddie Fozzie and Archie, there had been a bit of grunting, but i thought they were getting better.

I've been awoken every 15-20mins overnight to the sound of them all chasing each other around, banging into the cage bars etc. So now i'm really put off by this - they've been together since Saturday, so surely this is a step backwards? This was as bad as it got when they were on Fozs territory so i thought it was a territory thing - they've been on neutral since SUnday evening.

If don't feel I can leave them unsupervised today so I know its probably a bad thing, but i've put a divider into the pen - was hoping for some sleep too but its time to get up now!

Sorry for the ramblings - anyone got any ideas?
 
It may just be them working out who is the Boss. Is it just a lot of chasing, or is it more serious than that. I would only step in, if you feel that the fur is going to fly. They should work it out themselves.

Our 3 have been 2gether since last year, but every now and again MooMoo has a funny day and wont stop chasing DooDoo and Sniffs.
 
It is ALOT of chasing and lots of fur being ripped out. I'm just concerned that they've been together for 3-4 days and its still scary to watch. Am I being a wimp?
 
No you are not being a wimp.. I'm the same as you with my two I'm so nervous of one of them getting hurt I don't know what to do for the best.... My Bertie is a house rabbit & has the run of the place so when we brought Molly home over a week ago he flipped & my two ended up having a full on fight ...
 
a car ride helped my two alot, and a water gun although holly enjoyed being sprayed and would bite flopsy then run over to me and wait for the squirt :lol:
 
I agree, try taking them for a car ride and maybe letting them run round a friends bathroom where there is no bunny smells and is completely neutral. If they are not actually hurting each other I think it is a case of letting them get on with it and sorting out their heirarchy. Are they usually indoor buns? It might be an idea to get them into the home and run you have planned for them so they can settle and start getting used to living with each other. Maybe get a baby monitor in there so if there is a lot of banging and thumping you will know and can keep an eye on them that way but also give them a bit of space?
 
Car ride sorting my two out - it was berluddy scary tho, a bit of shouting from me cos I was sooo scared! Anyway spent a few hours in the car driving around our village, but it did work as it forced them to be near each other and after a while they tolerated each other.
 
As far as I cn see the only "damage" is that Maddies fur is all over the floor of the pen :shock: Foz chases her relentlessly until they're both panting and have to lay down.

We did have them in the shed where I want them to live eventually but Fozzie was too territorial in there (shes always lived there) so they are in the neutral spare bedroom (and have been since Sunday!)

I've tried rubbing them in Tea tree lotion - no good. Tried just the two girls in together last night - same result. So they are fenced off when i'm not there to supervise - don't want to risk needing stitches for 3!!!

I'll try a car journey tonight actually - going to collect a spare cage from Kays house - so thats a god ride out for them.

Is it possible that Foz is seeing the spare room as her territory now and will go back to defending it again??
 
I dont think it sounds too bad really.

The bonding before my most recent, i thought they would never like each other. They were on neutral territory for 9 days and although there was no fighitng they just didnt make friends.

One of them needed to go to the vet anyway, so I took them both in a carrier and it really seemed to help.

I dont think Foz is seeing the spare room as her territory, its probably just going to take a while longer. Although, saying that, it may cause territory issues fencing them off from each other because then they start believeing that the part they are in is theirs.

Are they all neutered BTW?

I think I would go for trying the car journey tonight (all in same carrier), pop them back in the spare room for the night. Then in the morning do another car journey and put them in the (disinfected) shed. Then you have the day to check on them and make sure they will be ok together overnight.

Could you also get some new things to put in the shed, like boxes/toys etc so it doesnt even look the same?

Good luck x
 
Updated to say that poor Maddie actually has a few bites on her bum - I thought it was just the fur coming out, but it is that Foz is getting to her skin too.

They're in the bathroom now, all ok for 30mins, started with Foz grooming Maddie!

Maddie is the only one unspayed - she will be done soon, just wanted to get her into the group first as I didn't have separate pens for her inside to recover - hmm I've been forced to make some now!
 
I'm no expert having never done any bonding alone but if Maddie is getting bites I wouldn't leave her in with them, I don't think it's fair on Maddie :(
 
(Grr damn pc just lost my reply) :evil:

I was saying..... I've already thought it over again and again about poor Maddie getting bullied then once I spotted her bites I was so annoyed at myself for letting it happen - I thought it was just fur pulling which is normal bonding so tried to leave them to it. :?

I'm only allowing the two girls together when i'm there to intervene - they have been in the bathroom (another new neutral area) since 3pm today with no incidents :) and also been on a car journey which was fine too :D

I'll be separating them overnight and when we aren't here to watch, but I am moving the pens about and swapping over everything so they don't start to call one area "home" too.

We'll see how things go this weekend, but I've now got an indoor cage on loan from Kay if things don't work out :(

The shed is re-painted and ready for use with loads of new toys - just one problem.... the varnish said to sand the wood if it'd been varnished previously - I didn't read this till I'd already varnished it. Its still sticky now after 3days!! :shock:
 
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