No doubt there will be a few people on here who will know me and realise who I'm talking about but...
Doe is 10 years old and widowed. Her previous partner was her soulmate- they would yin-yang for excessively long periods of time just snogging. She is not aggressive by nature.
Buck is younger and good natured but has a bad bonding history. He was bonded and then after he went home to the owner's house there was an argument between buns (don't know any details or how serious it was) and owner immediately handed him back. His next bonding attempt (that I know of) ended in a well-aimed chomp to his ear that made the ear die and have to be amputated. The one after seemed to be going smashingly but then for some reason they decided they actually didn't like each other that much and started constantly fighting, ending in both rabbits receiving injuries that required multiple stitches. His wound was a chunk taken out of his back, which I think is probably relevant. He quite naturally ended up afraid of the ladies, so we thought this doe might be perfect for him. The first bonding attempt went like a fairytale- he seemed to realise fairly quickly that she wasn't a threat and started to treat her like they'd been friends for ages. She was a bit unsure at first but there was no aggression on either side and by the end of the week she was snogging him like she'd done her last husbun and we even saw him kissing her back. And then we found it- he'd torn a wound in her side. We didn't see it happen and it had probably occurred some time before but she had to go to the vets to have stitches and was kept under observation. In hindsight the person who was doing the bond said she should have taken the buck to the vets with her but she didn't and when the doe came back she was incredibly angry about her whole veterinary experience and was lashing out with the most stinking scowl on her face for weeks. The bond failed.
It's been a few months now and we are convinced that these two are made for each other and the bond very nearly worked until the whoops happened. My theory is that she came up behind him and decided to groom and nibble his back (as I observed her do later on) and this startled him as he's not used to receiving affection from a lady bun and might have thought she was attacking him. They presumably made up after it happened so we had no idea. I set them up today so they were separated by mesh and same again- he was behaving like he didn't mind her being there and of all the hay piles I left around her enclosure she kept choosing to settle peacefully on the one next to him. The issue is not getting them to like each other because they clearly do, but I'm concerned about history repeating itself. I don't want the poor little lady to get injured again. I think he'd be untrusting of any doe we put him with and she is the best one we have with regards to not being a threat to him (and making his trauma worse!). I don't know if anyone has any advice or reassurance about the next step- the point when she can actually have physical contact with him. I admit, I'm worried.
Doe is 10 years old and widowed. Her previous partner was her soulmate- they would yin-yang for excessively long periods of time just snogging. She is not aggressive by nature.
Buck is younger and good natured but has a bad bonding history. He was bonded and then after he went home to the owner's house there was an argument between buns (don't know any details or how serious it was) and owner immediately handed him back. His next bonding attempt (that I know of) ended in a well-aimed chomp to his ear that made the ear die and have to be amputated. The one after seemed to be going smashingly but then for some reason they decided they actually didn't like each other that much and started constantly fighting, ending in both rabbits receiving injuries that required multiple stitches. His wound was a chunk taken out of his back, which I think is probably relevant. He quite naturally ended up afraid of the ladies, so we thought this doe might be perfect for him. The first bonding attempt went like a fairytale- he seemed to realise fairly quickly that she wasn't a threat and started to treat her like they'd been friends for ages. She was a bit unsure at first but there was no aggression on either side and by the end of the week she was snogging him like she'd done her last husbun and we even saw him kissing her back. And then we found it- he'd torn a wound in her side. We didn't see it happen and it had probably occurred some time before but she had to go to the vets to have stitches and was kept under observation. In hindsight the person who was doing the bond said she should have taken the buck to the vets with her but she didn't and when the doe came back she was incredibly angry about her whole veterinary experience and was lashing out with the most stinking scowl on her face for weeks. The bond failed.
It's been a few months now and we are convinced that these two are made for each other and the bond very nearly worked until the whoops happened. My theory is that she came up behind him and decided to groom and nibble his back (as I observed her do later on) and this startled him as he's not used to receiving affection from a lady bun and might have thought she was attacking him. They presumably made up after it happened so we had no idea. I set them up today so they were separated by mesh and same again- he was behaving like he didn't mind her being there and of all the hay piles I left around her enclosure she kept choosing to settle peacefully on the one next to him. The issue is not getting them to like each other because they clearly do, but I'm concerned about history repeating itself. I don't want the poor little lady to get injured again. I think he'd be untrusting of any doe we put him with and she is the best one we have with regards to not being a threat to him (and making his trauma worse!). I don't know if anyone has any advice or reassurance about the next step- the point when she can actually have physical contact with him. I admit, I'm worried.
