WeatherGirl
Young Bun
There are a lot of members on here who are very knowledgeable when it comes to bunny behaviour and what it means, so I'd like some opinions on something..
A few days ago, we lost our beloved Snow. We still have his brother Rain. Here's their history (sorry that it's a bit long)...
We got them at the beginning of 2009. They were both just babies. We made the mistake of going to a breeder.. as we'd never had a pet rabbit and had no clue what we were doing.. which will become evident when you read on... Anyway, they were sold to us as female litter-mates. We were told that they could live together. We brought them home, with a lovely big cage set-up in the corner of the living room for them to eat/sleep in.. and the rest of the room rabbit-proofed for them to run around during the day.
All was well for the first few months, then the aggression started and quickly escalated into full-scale war. Luckily, the cage was home-made and customisable so I was able to alter it and make it into two cages, so they were side-by-side but separated. I got advised to get them spayed, so I took one to the vet and discovered SHE was a HE! I got him neutered, and promptly brought the other one to be sexed and spayed/neutered too. At this point, I was panicking in case I had a m/f pair! However, it turned out that both were male. So I got both neutered, and brought them home, left them side-by-side so they could still see/smell each other, and gave them time to heal from the surgery and for their hormones to calm down.
I then tried bonding them again, and after several attempts, realised it wasn't going to happen.
Since I didn't feel that I had space in my house to keep them separately whilst still giving them enough space of their own, they had to be moved outside.
Fortunately, by this time, it was spring, and the weather was rather mild. So they had a hutch each and separate runs. Over the last few years, I've tried (and failed) many times to bond them again. It always went well for a very short time, then something would kick off and they'd be circling and biting. It's not nice.. and I've spent many hours sitting in the garden observing/supervising them and I have many scars from having to intervene when the fighting started.
I don't think I ever gave up on the idea that one day I'd be able to get them back together again, but I would leave months between each attempt.
Sadly, our little Snow went to the bridge earlier this week.
Rain used to leave his little poo pellets all over the place.. he'd stock-pile them along the fence separating him from Snow and although his litter tray is on the left side of his hutch, he'd also pile them up in the opposite corner.. (which was also the corner nearest to the dividing fence). Since snow left us, he's only doing poo in his litter tray. Now, don't get me wrong, I love that.. it's much easier to clean, since I change his tray daily and now I don't have to gather all the stray poo up with a brush as well!
But I wonder what it means...? I know they leave poo as a marker for their territory. Does he no longer feel the need to do it because he's the only bunny in the garden? Does this mean he previously felt threatened by Snow's presence? To be honest, I don't think I could cope with bringing another bunny into our family and trying to bond it with him, but I'd like to think he was happy to be on his own, and other than this, his behaviour is the same as always. If anything he's more people-sociable the last few days. Is it possible he's actually more content being on his own?
Any thoughts/opinions are welcome.
A few days ago, we lost our beloved Snow. We still have his brother Rain. Here's their history (sorry that it's a bit long)...
We got them at the beginning of 2009. They were both just babies. We made the mistake of going to a breeder.. as we'd never had a pet rabbit and had no clue what we were doing.. which will become evident when you read on... Anyway, they were sold to us as female litter-mates. We were told that they could live together. We brought them home, with a lovely big cage set-up in the corner of the living room for them to eat/sleep in.. and the rest of the room rabbit-proofed for them to run around during the day.
All was well for the first few months, then the aggression started and quickly escalated into full-scale war. Luckily, the cage was home-made and customisable so I was able to alter it and make it into two cages, so they were side-by-side but separated. I got advised to get them spayed, so I took one to the vet and discovered SHE was a HE! I got him neutered, and promptly brought the other one to be sexed and spayed/neutered too. At this point, I was panicking in case I had a m/f pair! However, it turned out that both were male. So I got both neutered, and brought them home, left them side-by-side so they could still see/smell each other, and gave them time to heal from the surgery and for their hormones to calm down.
I then tried bonding them again, and after several attempts, realised it wasn't going to happen.
Since I didn't feel that I had space in my house to keep them separately whilst still giving them enough space of their own, they had to be moved outside.
Fortunately, by this time, it was spring, and the weather was rather mild. So they had a hutch each and separate runs. Over the last few years, I've tried (and failed) many times to bond them again. It always went well for a very short time, then something would kick off and they'd be circling and biting. It's not nice.. and I've spent many hours sitting in the garden observing/supervising them and I have many scars from having to intervene when the fighting started.
I don't think I ever gave up on the idea that one day I'd be able to get them back together again, but I would leave months between each attempt.
Sadly, our little Snow went to the bridge earlier this week.
Rain used to leave his little poo pellets all over the place.. he'd stock-pile them along the fence separating him from Snow and although his litter tray is on the left side of his hutch, he'd also pile them up in the opposite corner.. (which was also the corner nearest to the dividing fence). Since snow left us, he's only doing poo in his litter tray. Now, don't get me wrong, I love that.. it's much easier to clean, since I change his tray daily and now I don't have to gather all the stray poo up with a brush as well!
But I wonder what it means...? I know they leave poo as a marker for their territory. Does he no longer feel the need to do it because he's the only bunny in the garden? Does this mean he previously felt threatened by Snow's presence? To be honest, I don't think I could cope with bringing another bunny into our family and trying to bond it with him, but I'd like to think he was happy to be on his own, and other than this, his behaviour is the same as always. If anything he's more people-sociable the last few days. Is it possible he's actually more content being on his own?
Any thoughts/opinions are welcome.
