Natalie83
Warren Scout
Hello all :wave:
I wondered if could glean some advice from many of you experts on the forum with regards to my first ever bond? Any help would be SO appreciated! Sorry for such a lot of detail but didn't want to leave anything out!
On Saturday we took our five year old spayed lop called Harriet (who lost her sister in April) to meet Reuben who has been in rescue since the beginning of the year. The first meet involved putting them in a neutral area in a small run. Both bunnies were indifferent to one another and Harriet was the more relaxed of the two and began munching the grass and offerings of curly kale (apparently Reuben's favourite!) They continued to be indifferent and were put into two further smaller areas where they were quite calm with each other. This took about an hour in total and as all other checks had been completed we were allowed to bring him home to continue the bonding here. The journey was from Romford up to Suffolk so was approximately an hour and twenty minutes and we had a large sturdy cardboard box in the back of the car which we popped them both into. There was plenty of hay in there and I sat in the back with them to monitor things. I had a neutral cloth that I rubbed over each of them intermittently throughout the journey for them to familiarise themselves with each others scent. Harriet continued to be more relaxed and munched away on the hay but both bunnies eventually flopped out and lay next to one another.
When we arrived home we set the box down in the garden with a bowl of water and allowed another hour in the box. We then constructed a small pen around them with interconnecting wire panels and popped them both into the area after rubbing a dab of vanilla essence on their heads to encourage grooming. A neutralised litter tray was added along with some forage treats. They continued to sniff one another and munch together and in some cases were quite close while surveying their pen! As this was continuing along nicely we extended the pen by two panels a couple of hours later and this did then result in some superficial scuffles with tail raising, thumping and fur pulling. During these episodes we had a towel handy to cover one of the bunnies over to diffuse anything that looked like it might escalate. Once these had died down they then approached each other and cautiously Reuben put his head down for Harriet to groom him which she eventually agreed to doing. They snuggled and ate together when dinner time came and there was no food aggression. Reuben is quite clumsy and heavy handed about putting his head down under Harriet's tummy / chin for licks but Harriet is probably positively responding to this with grooming about 60% of the time but there are occasions when she is reluctant.
As the evening approached on day 1 we brought them into another small penned neutral area of the house and watched them until bedtime. The litter used through the day was brought in to continue transferring scents etc. There were two further scuffles and on the second one we decided to pop them in the bath which worked very well because Reuben groomed Harriet for a lengthy period and they snuggled up close. Harriet also groomed him. We rewarded them with a couple of blackberry leaves to end the day on a good note. We secured and separated them overnight with a pen of doubled up wire panels to prevent any bites through the wires and in order to have a little bit of respite. But of course they were in the same area and could see / smell one another. We also evenly distributed the used litter from the day into each of their individual trays.
On day 2 we topped up the dab of vanilla on their heads and began with the large cardboard box again and a couple of superficial scuffles ensued with the usual fur flying, thumping and circular chasing with some nipping I think. In order to try and diffuse the situation we used a towel but also calmly stroked both of them to ease any tension. This seemed to work well and after about 90 minutes we then popped them into the same neutral penned area in the garden with a neutral tray, hay and willow sticks. For the majority of the day they behaved exceptionally and I had a chair in their pen to sit on which they both snuggled up underneath and flopped together. There were no further scuffles until after they had eaten their dinner and were munching on the grass as the evening approached. However, I know this is more likely to happen at dawn and dusk so felt relatively secure in that the day had gone well.
On the evening of day 2 we separated them again as before but swapped beds and litter trays around as well as the water bowls and ended with a treat. Unfortunately due to work I cannot at the moment commit to uninterrupted bonding so have had to commence scheduled bunny dates only until the end of the month when I have four full days together.
So yesterday morning (day 3) they had their breakfast in their separate areas and I then swapped the bunnies themselves into alternating pens. I can nip back home from work at lunch so did so to check on them and swapped them over again. When I came home in the evening I swapped them for a couple of hours again and then introduced them to the indoor neutral area again complete with dab of vanilla essence just on Reuben to try and confirm Harriet's ongoing grooming of him and establish some sort of hierarchy / dominance. Just to clarify there has been no attempts at mounting from either apart from a very halfhearted attempt by Harriet which she abandoned.
This was the most tense of all the meetings so far and resulted in multiple scuffles of the same variety with nipping which I had to intervene with and got caught up in causing a chomped hand! In the end I got in the pen with them and persevered with the stroking of both that calmed the situation down and eventually Harriet groomed Reuben on request. There was some mutual munching of hay following this and the meeting ended again with a blackberry leaf treat. As this was pretty hair-raising this meeting only lasted an hour and we then popped them back in their separated areas again.
I will continue to swap them over in their pens but wonder if I should continue the bunny dates through this week or leave it a few days and then re-try with some dates? Alternatively should I allow them to settle with living in the same area only but commence the bonding fully at the end of the month when I will have four full days without interruption?
Just a bit of background info both bunnies are neutered. Harriet is five and Reuben is three and a French lop cross. Reuben lost his partner in Nov and became depressed. As his owners did not want another bunny they asked the rescue to take care of him. He was tried with a large female but she apparently attacked him and I think this is causing him to be anxious with Harriet. I don't know if she is then picking up on this and although appears to be submissive in being the groomer of the two, he has not asserted his authority by mounting her so I think she is a bit confused and may be taking advantage of his nervousness. In contrast Harriet is confident and not easily phased and is not showing aggression until his tail goes up (I think more out of fear on his part really) and she inevitably retaliates. Neither of them have had any injury at all and both show interest in each other through the panels.
I think this may be an example of a less straightforward bond but am I on the right track? I know it can be one step forward two steps back so prepared for difficult times but still probably need a bit of reassurance!
Thanks so much everyone! X
I wondered if could glean some advice from many of you experts on the forum with regards to my first ever bond? Any help would be SO appreciated! Sorry for such a lot of detail but didn't want to leave anything out!
On Saturday we took our five year old spayed lop called Harriet (who lost her sister in April) to meet Reuben who has been in rescue since the beginning of the year. The first meet involved putting them in a neutral area in a small run. Both bunnies were indifferent to one another and Harriet was the more relaxed of the two and began munching the grass and offerings of curly kale (apparently Reuben's favourite!) They continued to be indifferent and were put into two further smaller areas where they were quite calm with each other. This took about an hour in total and as all other checks had been completed we were allowed to bring him home to continue the bonding here. The journey was from Romford up to Suffolk so was approximately an hour and twenty minutes and we had a large sturdy cardboard box in the back of the car which we popped them both into. There was plenty of hay in there and I sat in the back with them to monitor things. I had a neutral cloth that I rubbed over each of them intermittently throughout the journey for them to familiarise themselves with each others scent. Harriet continued to be more relaxed and munched away on the hay but both bunnies eventually flopped out and lay next to one another.
When we arrived home we set the box down in the garden with a bowl of water and allowed another hour in the box. We then constructed a small pen around them with interconnecting wire panels and popped them both into the area after rubbing a dab of vanilla essence on their heads to encourage grooming. A neutralised litter tray was added along with some forage treats. They continued to sniff one another and munch together and in some cases were quite close while surveying their pen! As this was continuing along nicely we extended the pen by two panels a couple of hours later and this did then result in some superficial scuffles with tail raising, thumping and fur pulling. During these episodes we had a towel handy to cover one of the bunnies over to diffuse anything that looked like it might escalate. Once these had died down they then approached each other and cautiously Reuben put his head down for Harriet to groom him which she eventually agreed to doing. They snuggled and ate together when dinner time came and there was no food aggression. Reuben is quite clumsy and heavy handed about putting his head down under Harriet's tummy / chin for licks but Harriet is probably positively responding to this with grooming about 60% of the time but there are occasions when she is reluctant.
As the evening approached on day 1 we brought them into another small penned neutral area of the house and watched them until bedtime. The litter used through the day was brought in to continue transferring scents etc. There were two further scuffles and on the second one we decided to pop them in the bath which worked very well because Reuben groomed Harriet for a lengthy period and they snuggled up close. Harriet also groomed him. We rewarded them with a couple of blackberry leaves to end the day on a good note. We secured and separated them overnight with a pen of doubled up wire panels to prevent any bites through the wires and in order to have a little bit of respite. But of course they were in the same area and could see / smell one another. We also evenly distributed the used litter from the day into each of their individual trays.
On day 2 we topped up the dab of vanilla on their heads and began with the large cardboard box again and a couple of superficial scuffles ensued with the usual fur flying, thumping and circular chasing with some nipping I think. In order to try and diffuse the situation we used a towel but also calmly stroked both of them to ease any tension. This seemed to work well and after about 90 minutes we then popped them into the same neutral penned area in the garden with a neutral tray, hay and willow sticks. For the majority of the day they behaved exceptionally and I had a chair in their pen to sit on which they both snuggled up underneath and flopped together. There were no further scuffles until after they had eaten their dinner and were munching on the grass as the evening approached. However, I know this is more likely to happen at dawn and dusk so felt relatively secure in that the day had gone well.
On the evening of day 2 we separated them again as before but swapped beds and litter trays around as well as the water bowls and ended with a treat. Unfortunately due to work I cannot at the moment commit to uninterrupted bonding so have had to commence scheduled bunny dates only until the end of the month when I have four full days together.
So yesterday morning (day 3) they had their breakfast in their separate areas and I then swapped the bunnies themselves into alternating pens. I can nip back home from work at lunch so did so to check on them and swapped them over again. When I came home in the evening I swapped them for a couple of hours again and then introduced them to the indoor neutral area again complete with dab of vanilla essence just on Reuben to try and confirm Harriet's ongoing grooming of him and establish some sort of hierarchy / dominance. Just to clarify there has been no attempts at mounting from either apart from a very halfhearted attempt by Harriet which she abandoned.
This was the most tense of all the meetings so far and resulted in multiple scuffles of the same variety with nipping which I had to intervene with and got caught up in causing a chomped hand! In the end I got in the pen with them and persevered with the stroking of both that calmed the situation down and eventually Harriet groomed Reuben on request. There was some mutual munching of hay following this and the meeting ended again with a blackberry leaf treat. As this was pretty hair-raising this meeting only lasted an hour and we then popped them back in their separated areas again.
I will continue to swap them over in their pens but wonder if I should continue the bunny dates through this week or leave it a few days and then re-try with some dates? Alternatively should I allow them to settle with living in the same area only but commence the bonding fully at the end of the month when I will have four full days without interruption?
Just a bit of background info both bunnies are neutered. Harriet is five and Reuben is three and a French lop cross. Reuben lost his partner in Nov and became depressed. As his owners did not want another bunny they asked the rescue to take care of him. He was tried with a large female but she apparently attacked him and I think this is causing him to be anxious with Harriet. I don't know if she is then picking up on this and although appears to be submissive in being the groomer of the two, he has not asserted his authority by mounting her so I think she is a bit confused and may be taking advantage of his nervousness. In contrast Harriet is confident and not easily phased and is not showing aggression until his tail goes up (I think more out of fear on his part really) and she inevitably retaliates. Neither of them have had any injury at all and both show interest in each other through the panels.
I think this may be an example of a less straightforward bond but am I on the right track? I know it can be one step forward two steps back so prepared for difficult times but still probably need a bit of reassurance!
Thanks so much everyone! X
