wildchild91
Young Bun
I'm having some problems with bonding my two bunnies, Mollie and Wellington...Dont know if some of you will remember I was on here a few weeks ago, digging through posts and requesting advice etc but I just havent had time to be on here regularly.
Basically when in a neutral place, the kitchen, the rabbits are fine...snuggle together, groom one another, share a food bowl...no problems. Put them anywhere else and all hell breaks loose.
First time i got them together in the house for a few hours, I was chuffed to bits, they were absolutely fine... then I put them in the same cat carrier, and had them in the doorway so they could get used to outside weather a bit more gradually...then put them back in their garage, at first they just ignored each other and hopped around, and then he started humping her, first few times she just sat there looking very perplexed (she was always the humper in her old partnership) and then the third time she nipped him...he nipped her back....then they started circling and nipping until it was on the verge of a fight when I broke them up...i let them both go again and he was just going after her and she ended up with him pinning her on her side with her kicking lumps of fur out of him, so i split them up.
gave it a few days and tried again at the weekend in the garden, thinking a bigger space might be better....he went straight to her trying to push her around so he could hump her and the same fight broke out so i had to separate again.
gave it two weeks of just living alongside one another and they settled down...I put it down to just maybe a power tussel got out of hand and thought il just try getting them more cemented together before trying the garage again as its their primary living space. Tried again today in the house, both bunnies were glued to each other, hopping round together, grooming each other, eating out of the same bowl...fine...so i put them both in the same pet carrier and walked around for a bit with them, then put them in a different room and vaccumed around them...both huddled together so i then took them outside and put them in a small pen i made in the garden...both were fine for about ten minutes or so while they realised where they were, and then they started spinning and nipping each other and then the next thing huge chunks of fur were flying and she was on her side again...i pulled them apart but kept them in the same pen, thinking maybe they needed to just get through it and sort out who was boss, but each time i stepped back, they just started again and in the end, i had to pull mollie out with wellington hanging off her bum.
both are fine as far as i can see, in fact mollies coat was moulting so its actually improved her a bit on that front :roll:...but now im stuck thinking what the heck do I do now? I dont know whether its me doing it wrong, they just hate each other...or what =/ I'd really appreciate some advice from people who are experianced in bonding because I thought I had it sussed and clearly I dont...
Basically when in a neutral place, the kitchen, the rabbits are fine...snuggle together, groom one another, share a food bowl...no problems. Put them anywhere else and all hell breaks loose.
First time i got them together in the house for a few hours, I was chuffed to bits, they were absolutely fine... then I put them in the same cat carrier, and had them in the doorway so they could get used to outside weather a bit more gradually...then put them back in their garage, at first they just ignored each other and hopped around, and then he started humping her, first few times she just sat there looking very perplexed (she was always the humper in her old partnership) and then the third time she nipped him...he nipped her back....then they started circling and nipping until it was on the verge of a fight when I broke them up...i let them both go again and he was just going after her and she ended up with him pinning her on her side with her kicking lumps of fur out of him, so i split them up.
gave it a few days and tried again at the weekend in the garden, thinking a bigger space might be better....he went straight to her trying to push her around so he could hump her and the same fight broke out so i had to separate again.
gave it two weeks of just living alongside one another and they settled down...I put it down to just maybe a power tussel got out of hand and thought il just try getting them more cemented together before trying the garage again as its their primary living space. Tried again today in the house, both bunnies were glued to each other, hopping round together, grooming each other, eating out of the same bowl...fine...so i put them both in the same pet carrier and walked around for a bit with them, then put them in a different room and vaccumed around them...both huddled together so i then took them outside and put them in a small pen i made in the garden...both were fine for about ten minutes or so while they realised where they were, and then they started spinning and nipping each other and then the next thing huge chunks of fur were flying and she was on her side again...i pulled them apart but kept them in the same pen, thinking maybe they needed to just get through it and sort out who was boss, but each time i stepped back, they just started again and in the end, i had to pull mollie out with wellington hanging off her bum.
both are fine as far as i can see, in fact mollies coat was moulting so its actually improved her a bit on that front :roll:...but now im stuck thinking what the heck do I do now? I dont know whether its me doing it wrong, they just hate each other...or what =/ I'd really appreciate some advice from people who are experianced in bonding because I thought I had it sussed and clearly I dont...
