I should start by saying that this is a long post!
I am bonding my sweet and cutsie bunnies Pumpkin and Snow Drop. Things have been going really well (mostly) but I need some help knowing the signs of an early bond and what to do at this point.
Here is the story so far:
I've had Pumpkin (male dwarf lop, gentle, affectionate, easy going, thoughtful) for a year and got Snow Drop (female mini lop, whirlwind, crazy, hyper, highly sociable) from a rescue in January (she had been spayed about a month previously). Both are about 13 months old.
I tried to put them together quite soon afterwards but it was still too soon after Pumpkin's op; he was too hormonal and Snow Drop pulled fur in response!
I tried a month after his neutering and put them into a huge cardboard box in my music room on neutral ground for daily visits. These visits included much mounting by both of them, often with a nip thrown in by Snow Drop or a fur pull and I would have to intervene. Eventually, Pumpkin began to groom Snow Drop and they started to lie down together, though her nipping continued.
Pumpkin lived in the sitting room and Snow Drop lived in the dining room so I decided to decrease their territory and put them in their cages side by side in the hallway and only let them out to meet in the cardboard box. However, both were bored and miserable and not able to exercise.
A friend suggested I move both cages into the sitting room and alternate with letting them out in there. This of course had been Pumpkin's territory for a year but it did mean both would get to have exercise and human attention and so over the next several weeks I let one out and then the other during the course of the day/evening, so that both got to know the sitting room and know that it was shared space and that the other was in there too. I also bought a massive new mat which arrived before I moved them in there which was new for Pumpkin. In the evenings I would put them together with me in a pen in the centre of the room for a few minutes so that they would continue to have daily visits until I could commit to a 3 day solid bonding session. In the pen things generally went well. Some mounting by both of them, grooming by both of them, still some nipping from Snow Drop but I kept things calm.
After a few weeks of doing this I then on Sunday at 4pm I embarked upon what I planned to be a three day supervised bonding time with the understanding that after this time they will never be separated again and will be besets friends. So, I have been giving them constant supervision since Sunday afternoon which, as I write this, puts them at 88 hours together since I started!
I put them both in the pen in the sitting room with new toys, food, hay, litter, water and I stayed out of the pen. I watched them closely and they got on pretty well.
Snow Drop did most of the mounting at the start and most of the grooming but then it changed so that Pumpkin was doing all the mounting and along with it lots of grooming. At certain times he might as well have been called Humpkin but he always accompanied mounting with lots of grooming and although some chasing went on often she was happy enough to let him mount her. On a few occasions, Snow Drop would nip if the mounting got too much and Pumpkin would stop. As time went on, just turning her head around to him would signal she was not impressed and Pumpkin would comply and get off.
At times, Snow Drop would also nip to assert some dominance. When she did nip Pumpkin, he would give her a little nip back and it seemed to stop there and not escalate. Again, as time went on, if Snow Drop nipped Pumpkin, he would be more likely to turn to her to say 'no' instead of nip her back.
At 68 hours I set them free into the whole sitting room (which I had sprayed and neutralised that morning) and also introduced a thoroughly disinfected and scent free cage with cleansed litter trays and hay.
This increase of space went really well and for 12 hours they both went to the other one for company, relaxed and slept side by side, both asked for grooming and received it from the other and both have freely groomed the other one without even being asked.
It seems there has been no noticeable fur pulled, no injuries, no frightened rabbits and I am really grateful and blessed to see them getting on so well for the most part.
However, last night (Wednesday) after midnight Snow Drop mounted Pumpkin's face and he lunged at her and nipped her. It happened very fast and there was some sort of scuffle and I intervened with a loud 'no' and held them apart (not easy). I got the pen out and put them back in there and they were fine with each other.
So here we are at 8am Thursday, 88 hours of constant supervision with them still in the pen (which they will be in for the immediate future). I have spent 4 nights on the floor and although I work from home which means I can monitor them I am starting to wonder if they will ever figure it out and if I will ever be able to leave the room?!
The latest:
This morning (Thursday) there was a lot of Snow Drop pushing her head in his side/back as though she was going to nip him and Pumpkin doing the same and the two of them kind of going clockwise in a circle of 'I might nip you'. I haven't really see this before this morning and perhaps it is a positive non-violent way of asserting dominance which looks probably worse than it is but all the time I am having to watch that nothing escalates.
Pumpkin is still having bouts of relentless mounting and although she allows it there has been some chasing and Snow Drop is still likely to give a little nip. Both of these can potentially escalate and who knows what will happen if she decides to mount again. They are still meeting head to head with 'groom me' requests so I guess they have not totally established a hierarchy.
Oh here we go, another mounting and grooming and mounting again from Pumpkin and Snow Drop has turned and nipped him and he has stopped. Okay…. and another, this time she has just turned to say 'no' to him… and another …. I have intervened to calmly stop it…. and another intervention… oh and another!
To add to the mix Pumpkin is on medication for dental issues and his chewing has got a little worse again over the past couple of days. I am not sure that he is in actual pain (probably discomfort) but he is not eating much hay and really needs to. Obviously I want him to be well but additionally I don't want his chewing issues to have an effect on the bonding.
If I get a chance I will upload some of the cute pics I have on my camera of them chilling together. They do genuinely enjoy each other's company.
So, my questions are:
Is Pumpkin ever going to stop mounting Snow Drop?!
Are they ever going to figure it out? Is there hope?
Are they both 'top bunny' and do you ever get a situation where two 'alpha' bunnies can be bonded, or two very closely matched ones can get on?
What should I be seeing or no longer be seeing which tells me a bond is there/strengthening and which would mean I can leave them alone for increasing periods of time without direct supervision?
Will I ever get a night's sleep again?
I suppose it is an inexact science and a bond once made then strengthens over time and is reinforced by all the positives they experience together. It may sound like I am being overly cautious as to look at them much of the time you would think they have been best pals for years. It is just in those very few instances where nipping occurs that concern me, probably based on the fur pulling I saw way back weeks ago, and Pumpkin's relentless bouts of mounting.
Thank you so much for any wisdom you would be able to give. I am totally knackered and delirious and need to get on with my work but I love my bunnies and the sacrifice of a few days to facilitate a good bond is worth every minute (plus I got to see lots of really cute moments!).
I am bonding my sweet and cutsie bunnies Pumpkin and Snow Drop. Things have been going really well (mostly) but I need some help knowing the signs of an early bond and what to do at this point.
Here is the story so far:
I've had Pumpkin (male dwarf lop, gentle, affectionate, easy going, thoughtful) for a year and got Snow Drop (female mini lop, whirlwind, crazy, hyper, highly sociable) from a rescue in January (she had been spayed about a month previously). Both are about 13 months old.
I tried to put them together quite soon afterwards but it was still too soon after Pumpkin's op; he was too hormonal and Snow Drop pulled fur in response!
I tried a month after his neutering and put them into a huge cardboard box in my music room on neutral ground for daily visits. These visits included much mounting by both of them, often with a nip thrown in by Snow Drop or a fur pull and I would have to intervene. Eventually, Pumpkin began to groom Snow Drop and they started to lie down together, though her nipping continued.
Pumpkin lived in the sitting room and Snow Drop lived in the dining room so I decided to decrease their territory and put them in their cages side by side in the hallway and only let them out to meet in the cardboard box. However, both were bored and miserable and not able to exercise.
A friend suggested I move both cages into the sitting room and alternate with letting them out in there. This of course had been Pumpkin's territory for a year but it did mean both would get to have exercise and human attention and so over the next several weeks I let one out and then the other during the course of the day/evening, so that both got to know the sitting room and know that it was shared space and that the other was in there too. I also bought a massive new mat which arrived before I moved them in there which was new for Pumpkin. In the evenings I would put them together with me in a pen in the centre of the room for a few minutes so that they would continue to have daily visits until I could commit to a 3 day solid bonding session. In the pen things generally went well. Some mounting by both of them, grooming by both of them, still some nipping from Snow Drop but I kept things calm.
After a few weeks of doing this I then on Sunday at 4pm I embarked upon what I planned to be a three day supervised bonding time with the understanding that after this time they will never be separated again and will be besets friends. So, I have been giving them constant supervision since Sunday afternoon which, as I write this, puts them at 88 hours together since I started!
I put them both in the pen in the sitting room with new toys, food, hay, litter, water and I stayed out of the pen. I watched them closely and they got on pretty well.
Snow Drop did most of the mounting at the start and most of the grooming but then it changed so that Pumpkin was doing all the mounting and along with it lots of grooming. At certain times he might as well have been called Humpkin but he always accompanied mounting with lots of grooming and although some chasing went on often she was happy enough to let him mount her. On a few occasions, Snow Drop would nip if the mounting got too much and Pumpkin would stop. As time went on, just turning her head around to him would signal she was not impressed and Pumpkin would comply and get off.
At times, Snow Drop would also nip to assert some dominance. When she did nip Pumpkin, he would give her a little nip back and it seemed to stop there and not escalate. Again, as time went on, if Snow Drop nipped Pumpkin, he would be more likely to turn to her to say 'no' instead of nip her back.
At 68 hours I set them free into the whole sitting room (which I had sprayed and neutralised that morning) and also introduced a thoroughly disinfected and scent free cage with cleansed litter trays and hay.
This increase of space went really well and for 12 hours they both went to the other one for company, relaxed and slept side by side, both asked for grooming and received it from the other and both have freely groomed the other one without even being asked.
It seems there has been no noticeable fur pulled, no injuries, no frightened rabbits and I am really grateful and blessed to see them getting on so well for the most part.
However, last night (Wednesday) after midnight Snow Drop mounted Pumpkin's face and he lunged at her and nipped her. It happened very fast and there was some sort of scuffle and I intervened with a loud 'no' and held them apart (not easy). I got the pen out and put them back in there and they were fine with each other.
So here we are at 8am Thursday, 88 hours of constant supervision with them still in the pen (which they will be in for the immediate future). I have spent 4 nights on the floor and although I work from home which means I can monitor them I am starting to wonder if they will ever figure it out and if I will ever be able to leave the room?!
The latest:
This morning (Thursday) there was a lot of Snow Drop pushing her head in his side/back as though she was going to nip him and Pumpkin doing the same and the two of them kind of going clockwise in a circle of 'I might nip you'. I haven't really see this before this morning and perhaps it is a positive non-violent way of asserting dominance which looks probably worse than it is but all the time I am having to watch that nothing escalates.
Pumpkin is still having bouts of relentless mounting and although she allows it there has been some chasing and Snow Drop is still likely to give a little nip. Both of these can potentially escalate and who knows what will happen if she decides to mount again. They are still meeting head to head with 'groom me' requests so I guess they have not totally established a hierarchy.
Oh here we go, another mounting and grooming and mounting again from Pumpkin and Snow Drop has turned and nipped him and he has stopped. Okay…. and another, this time she has just turned to say 'no' to him… and another …. I have intervened to calmly stop it…. and another intervention… oh and another!
To add to the mix Pumpkin is on medication for dental issues and his chewing has got a little worse again over the past couple of days. I am not sure that he is in actual pain (probably discomfort) but he is not eating much hay and really needs to. Obviously I want him to be well but additionally I don't want his chewing issues to have an effect on the bonding.
If I get a chance I will upload some of the cute pics I have on my camera of them chilling together. They do genuinely enjoy each other's company.
So, my questions are:
Is Pumpkin ever going to stop mounting Snow Drop?!
Are they ever going to figure it out? Is there hope?
Are they both 'top bunny' and do you ever get a situation where two 'alpha' bunnies can be bonded, or two very closely matched ones can get on?
What should I be seeing or no longer be seeing which tells me a bond is there/strengthening and which would mean I can leave them alone for increasing periods of time without direct supervision?
Will I ever get a night's sleep again?
I suppose it is an inexact science and a bond once made then strengthens over time and is reinforced by all the positives they experience together. It may sound like I am being overly cautious as to look at them much of the time you would think they have been best pals for years. It is just in those very few instances where nipping occurs that concern me, probably based on the fur pulling I saw way back weeks ago, and Pumpkin's relentless bouts of mounting.
Thank you so much for any wisdom you would be able to give. I am totally knackered and delirious and need to get on with my work but I love my bunnies and the sacrifice of a few days to facilitate a good bond is worth every minute (plus I got to see lots of really cute moments!).