Hello everyone, hope you have had a great weekend.
I brought Oscar home yesterday, a lop rescue from the RSPCA. He's been neutered and i've brought him home and I put him in a pen in the spare bedoom upstairs with the intention to pair him up with Maisy during an intense supervised pairing session but after seeing Maisy very stressed it was obvious that I should take the slowly, slowy approach. In neutral territory to them both, I have now placed them in cages side by side and I am swapping cages for them each day so that they get used to eachothers scent and don't get too territorial of their cages (not sure if this is common or a good idea but I liked the sound of it) - I do swap their litter boxes etc over but hopefully they can later both live in the single cage if all goes well.
Oscar has been neutered but there are still some urges there and basically he hasn't stopped hounding poor Maisy, who I have come to realise is a very stressy rabbit. I've let them get on with it and Maisy has taken some authority at times (she humped him for the smallest time in the RSCPA) but usually she just runs away and stamps her foot and makes some distress noises which is when I seperate them and try again the next day.
Oscar is thumping his foot a lot a lot and making some audible squaking noises which I am taking as sexual frustration?
He is very interested in her but she seems to just be running a way or tolerating him at the moment.
Encouragingly, in a socialising session in the RSPCA Oscar did cuddle up with Maisy and she didn't move (I put that down to her being stressed). And earlier today I'm sure Oscar licked Maisy's head for a second when he wasn't trying to get his wicked way with her for a brief second!
I let Oscar out earlier for a run around the room and he spent his time circling Maisys cage and biting the bars, thumping and squeaking as he went. She seemed to pay him more attention in the security of her cage and there was a lot of sniffing going on and a bit of clawing at the cage, from both of them.
Maisy is free ranging now and is having a nose at Oscar and to be casual about it I'd say (so proud!).
I'm feeling slightly positive about this, what would you say and am I going about this the right way? Free ranging in the room on their own is ok isn't it, while the other is in their cage and what about the cage swapping?
I'm also feeling guilty at the moment as Maisy usually has free range of a room for at least 10 hours a day (a room she has wrecked!) but now she has moved out of it and is in the spare bedroom I can't let her or Oscar have free range of it unsupervised and so they have to take it in turns. I know it's for the greater good and I do have a pen for them but I just want to be told that they won't mind too much and when Maisy (hopefully!) has a new husbun she will be grateful!
Any suggestions or advice greatly received
I brought Oscar home yesterday, a lop rescue from the RSPCA. He's been neutered and i've brought him home and I put him in a pen in the spare bedoom upstairs with the intention to pair him up with Maisy during an intense supervised pairing session but after seeing Maisy very stressed it was obvious that I should take the slowly, slowy approach. In neutral territory to them both, I have now placed them in cages side by side and I am swapping cages for them each day so that they get used to eachothers scent and don't get too territorial of their cages (not sure if this is common or a good idea but I liked the sound of it) - I do swap their litter boxes etc over but hopefully they can later both live in the single cage if all goes well.
Oscar has been neutered but there are still some urges there and basically he hasn't stopped hounding poor Maisy, who I have come to realise is a very stressy rabbit. I've let them get on with it and Maisy has taken some authority at times (she humped him for the smallest time in the RSCPA) but usually she just runs away and stamps her foot and makes some distress noises which is when I seperate them and try again the next day.
Oscar is thumping his foot a lot a lot and making some audible squaking noises which I am taking as sexual frustration?
He is very interested in her but she seems to just be running a way or tolerating him at the moment.
Encouragingly, in a socialising session in the RSPCA Oscar did cuddle up with Maisy and she didn't move (I put that down to her being stressed). And earlier today I'm sure Oscar licked Maisy's head for a second when he wasn't trying to get his wicked way with her for a brief second!
I let Oscar out earlier for a run around the room and he spent his time circling Maisys cage and biting the bars, thumping and squeaking as he went. She seemed to pay him more attention in the security of her cage and there was a lot of sniffing going on and a bit of clawing at the cage, from both of them.
Maisy is free ranging now and is having a nose at Oscar and to be casual about it I'd say (so proud!).
I'm feeling slightly positive about this, what would you say and am I going about this the right way? Free ranging in the room on their own is ok isn't it, while the other is in their cage and what about the cage swapping?
I'm also feeling guilty at the moment as Maisy usually has free range of a room for at least 10 hours a day (a room she has wrecked!) but now she has moved out of it and is in the spare bedroom I can't let her or Oscar have free range of it unsupervised and so they have to take it in turns. I know it's for the greater good and I do have a pen for them but I just want to be told that they won't mind too much and when Maisy (hopefully!) has a new husbun she will be grateful!
Any suggestions or advice greatly received
