HarryRabbit
Young Bun
Hi everyone, I’m hoping that I can pick your brains for some ideas. I have two rescued rabbits who, until a couple of days ago, were totally loved up and absolutely adored each other. They are house bunnies with free reign and my flat is set up for them with a dog crate, tunnels, hay trays and varying cardboard box hides. Harry is an 18 month old giant continental, who I rescued at the start of the year. After he had settled in, had been neutered and vaccinated, this summer we adopted Amelia from the RSPCA. She is about 4 and a half and is a lion head-English spot cross.
While Harry is soft as anything and a total mummys boy, Amelia is very nervous of people. This isn’t a problem as we are a quiet, adult only home and she seems to have gained quite a bit of confidence from seeing how Harry behaves around us. Harry and Amelia were first introduced at the RSPCA and we brought Amelia home with us the same day. Harry fell in love with Amelia at first sight and although Amelia was less convinced initially, after a couple of days she was smitten too. I took a weeks holiday to bond them and after two days they were inseparable. This was two months ago and in this time they hadn’t had a single squabble.
Last night I got home from work to find fur everywhere, Harry lying sprawled out in the hay tray (as usual) but Amelia hiding in one of her boxes, very nervous. As the evening went on, as Amelia tried to get access to the hay Harry would lunge at her, she would shoot away and he would then chase her. This happened a couple of times with me breaking it up and Amelia clearly becoming nervous of Harry.
I put a second hay tray in the living room, in addition to the one they share (there is another one in the kitchen as well) and they seemed happier with this arrangement. This morning though, they had quite a fight, fur everywhere and Amelia was absolutely terrified. I couldn’t leave them alone unsupervised for the whole day, so I felt my only option was to split them up. As Harry is so big, I can’t do cages side by side as I would do for smaller rabbits, so Harry is in the kitchen and Amelia in the living room for today. I’m really worried that by splitting them completely today I could break their bond but the only other alternative was shutting Amelia in the dog crate and leaving Harry with free reign, which I thought might be stressful for Amelia and make her territorial of the cage and Harry even more territorial of the room. When I get home we’re going to take them straight out in the car to try and rebond them but I would really appreciate any suggestions.
Thank you for reading and I’m sorry that it is such an essay!
Sammy
While Harry is soft as anything and a total mummys boy, Amelia is very nervous of people. This isn’t a problem as we are a quiet, adult only home and she seems to have gained quite a bit of confidence from seeing how Harry behaves around us. Harry and Amelia were first introduced at the RSPCA and we brought Amelia home with us the same day. Harry fell in love with Amelia at first sight and although Amelia was less convinced initially, after a couple of days she was smitten too. I took a weeks holiday to bond them and after two days they were inseparable. This was two months ago and in this time they hadn’t had a single squabble.
Last night I got home from work to find fur everywhere, Harry lying sprawled out in the hay tray (as usual) but Amelia hiding in one of her boxes, very nervous. As the evening went on, as Amelia tried to get access to the hay Harry would lunge at her, she would shoot away and he would then chase her. This happened a couple of times with me breaking it up and Amelia clearly becoming nervous of Harry.
I put a second hay tray in the living room, in addition to the one they share (there is another one in the kitchen as well) and they seemed happier with this arrangement. This morning though, they had quite a fight, fur everywhere and Amelia was absolutely terrified. I couldn’t leave them alone unsupervised for the whole day, so I felt my only option was to split them up. As Harry is so big, I can’t do cages side by side as I would do for smaller rabbits, so Harry is in the kitchen and Amelia in the living room for today. I’m really worried that by splitting them completely today I could break their bond but the only other alternative was shutting Amelia in the dog crate and leaving Harry with free reign, which I thought might be stressful for Amelia and make her territorial of the cage and Harry even more territorial of the room. When I get home we’re going to take them straight out in the car to try and rebond them but I would really appreciate any suggestions.
Thank you for reading and I’m sorry that it is such an essay!
Sammy