Hi, my bunnies bond seems to have broken so I'd appreciate help or anecdotes from anyone with experience or who's owned bonded rabbits who had their bond broken.
So, my two bunnies Layla and Nuri have been bonded for 3 or so months now. The bonding went really smoothly, Nuri is a fair bit younger than Layla (he was not quite 6 months when we adopted him) and he was very timid, so Layla asserted dominance pretty easily and it has been that way ever since, though Nuri generally got a lot more confident, he never tried to overthrow Layla. However, this changed recently. Unfortunately 2 weeks ago Layla got very ill due to an ear infection, and, although he comforted her when she was at her worst as soon as she got slightly better and the vertigo went away he started nipping and chasing her, clearly trying to seize the opportunity to assume dominance over her. I quickly separated them, however Nuri continued to lick her through the bars when she requested. I have tried several times to reintroduce them now Layla is getting over her infection and seems back to normal health, and it often seems to go well with both parties grooming and snuggling with each for hours without conflict then all of a sudden Nuri will start chasing her, and poor Layla has seemed to loose all her self confidence and doesn't stand up for herself like she used to. However, she doesn't submit either, just runs away and when I see chasing and him trying to nip her I always intervene.
Over the past couple days I've tried reintroducing them in a bigger area (they are normally free roam), and they'd be fine for pretty much the whole day, grooming, flopping side by side etc, just 1 or 2 times a day Nuri would chase Layla. I figured enough was enough so now I've got them in a 2x2 playpen and theyve been happily coexisting with each other, it only seems to be when they are free roam that the nipping and chasing starts. I hate keeping them confined in a small space, but I'm guessing the process has to be keeping them in a small space for a day or so and gradually increasing it, splitting them into separate pens when unsupervised, so basically doing the whole bonding again? Also, is it right to stop the chasing or should I let it run its course? There was never much chasing with the initial bonding so it always throws me off a bit.
Thanks,
Lucy
So, my two bunnies Layla and Nuri have been bonded for 3 or so months now. The bonding went really smoothly, Nuri is a fair bit younger than Layla (he was not quite 6 months when we adopted him) and he was very timid, so Layla asserted dominance pretty easily and it has been that way ever since, though Nuri generally got a lot more confident, he never tried to overthrow Layla. However, this changed recently. Unfortunately 2 weeks ago Layla got very ill due to an ear infection, and, although he comforted her when she was at her worst as soon as she got slightly better and the vertigo went away he started nipping and chasing her, clearly trying to seize the opportunity to assume dominance over her. I quickly separated them, however Nuri continued to lick her through the bars when she requested. I have tried several times to reintroduce them now Layla is getting over her infection and seems back to normal health, and it often seems to go well with both parties grooming and snuggling with each for hours without conflict then all of a sudden Nuri will start chasing her, and poor Layla has seemed to loose all her self confidence and doesn't stand up for herself like she used to. However, she doesn't submit either, just runs away and when I see chasing and him trying to nip her I always intervene.
Over the past couple days I've tried reintroducing them in a bigger area (they are normally free roam), and they'd be fine for pretty much the whole day, grooming, flopping side by side etc, just 1 or 2 times a day Nuri would chase Layla. I figured enough was enough so now I've got them in a 2x2 playpen and theyve been happily coexisting with each other, it only seems to be when they are free roam that the nipping and chasing starts. I hate keeping them confined in a small space, but I'm guessing the process has to be keeping them in a small space for a day or so and gradually increasing it, splitting them into separate pens when unsupervised, so basically doing the whole bonding again? Also, is it right to stop the chasing or should I let it run its course? There was never much chasing with the initial bonding so it always throws me off a bit.
Thanks,
Lucy
