Do they like each other?

[echitt]

My fiance and I have two buns. A female Netherland dwarf, Mimi.
And a male Holland lop, Nemesis. Both are fixed!

Their hutches are right beside each other so they can see each other
and sniff each other. They do wonderful together when they're out together.
They chase each other, jump on each other, sleep next to each other, etc.

But when Mimi bolts by Nemesis, he lunges at her! Sometimes he tries to bat her with his paw. He doesn't grunt or thump his feet. He just..lunges and sometimes bats at her. She doesn't seem to even notice..or care that he does it. He does the same thing when they're both in his hutch. Not as much, though.

Is this bad or good? We can't tell >.>

 

[Stator]

Some chasing is normal and as long as it doesn't turn into fighting then I wouldn't worry. If they're going to be let out together, why don't they share the same hutch? It's usually best if they are bonded fully that they stay together constantly with lots of space to run around. I wouldn't let them into each others hutches until they are bonded properly and then you would totally clean out the hutch to get rid of all the smells you can so that it becomes neutral again.

 

[echitt]

Thanks so much for a reply!

I'd gladly love to have em live together but Nemesis, who is rather large comapred to Mimi, gets defensive over his toys. Their vet said to bond them, and gave us instructions on how to do that, and we did what she said.

She said to put them together for a few minutes a day. After the initial intro. let them run around together. And they'll eventually become closer.

Did she tell us how to bond them incorrectly? =/
If so, by all means, please tell me how to do it correctly. >.<

 

[Stator]

It's not incorrect, but most people on this board recommend the following method:

• Prepare a neutral area that neither of them have been before. It should be quite small to begin with.
• Put them both in this area together and keep them together
• Watch them very closely for 3 days
• Only seperate them if proper fighting breaks out. Little bits of humping, nipping or chasing are fine.
• Gradually increase the area they have available to them
• Clean their permanent home and try to scrub out all the scenting. Change things around a little bit if you can. Try to make it a neutral area .You may want to replace their toys so they have new ones that don't belong to either of them yet.
• Once you are confident that they are fully bonded move them into their permanent home
• From that point on keep them together all the time. When you take them to the vets take them together. Try to avoid seperating them at all.