Slipper & possible friend?

[Sarah1989]

I think some of you will have heard about Slipper by now, but here is a quick summary just in case.

Slipper is a 2 year old male dwarf lop x lionhead - NB I got her as a baby from pets at home who said she was a girl so you will see me refer to her, she, etc. Just can't break the habit

After my ex and I broke up, I had to move into a very unsuitable flat for a year whilst I got my life turned around. Slipper stayed with my ex at this time. I got her back in June when I moved into a lovely house.

Since then, I have had her neutered, vaccinated and moved into a larger cage. She is an indoor bunny, but I cannot have her free range as landlord/OH wouldn't allow it. I have switched her to Burgess Excel pellets from the Wagg bunny brunch my ex fed her.

She is tempermental to put it kindly. She is happy to accept nose rubs and things, but does not like her sides being touched as she will swing round to bite. If I brush her, she bites. I can pick her up to put her in her run and whatnot, but if I hold her for cuddles, she will bite me. Feeding time is a bit frightening. I have to stroke her with one hand and quickly whisk the bowl out before she notices. Ditto when I put it back in. If she notices, she bites. Someone on here suggested scatter feeding yesterday so last night I popped in a handful of pellets which distracted her whilst I got the bowl in and out so I will be continuing that unless she wises up.

I give her toys to occupy her, gave her a cardboard box filed with shredded paper to dig in, but she soon gets bored of these and ignores them. All my bunnies do actually, I give them toys, they play with them for a bit, then ignore them. Think I've gone through all the toys pets at home have to offer :roll:

When she was at bunny boarding when I was on holiday, she behaved perfectly and they loved her. She came back to me and two days later, back to her old tricks :roll:

She also used to be litter trained, and used her tray at bunny camp - they said she was the cleanest bunny they'd had. She comes back to me and delights in digging and throwing her litter tray around and using whichever corner doesn't have the litter tray. :roll:

I don't really know what else to do. I have tried everything I've seen suggested on here and thought the neutering would sort out the hormones. My OH can't stand her because of all her tricks mentioned here and would quite like me to rehome her She is more aggressive towards him and other people, I am the only one who can care for her and even then she does all this. But I love her despite all the this and would love to keep her with me.

So I got Blackavar about three weeks ago. Again, you will have probably heard about Blackavar, but another summary.

He is a 2 year old black mini lop. He is now an ex stud bunny (I "rescued" him from this) and is not yet neutered as I wanted him to settle in first and he was quite unwell when I first got him and so I've needed him to recover from that. He has been vaccinated last week (it was always on the cards, but for reasons just mentioned I was waiting a bit longer so as not to stress him out) due to reading on here of outbreaks of both myxi and VHD reasonably close to me. He was an outdoor bunny, but I brought him inside to nurse him through his illness and I don't want him back outside.

I intended to bond him in the future with Slipper, but now I am having doubts. My OH (who knows nothing about pet rabbits) thinks I should bond him with Slipper before neutering as he is already a laid back, placid bunny and says he will need those hormones to stand up to Slipper. I'm going on what I've seen on here that they should be neutered before bonding.

So I don't know what to do. I've never bonded bunnies before and I don't want to send Blackavar into a situation where he will get hurt, but I'm also hoping that having a friend would calm Slipper down. I also think Blackavar would be happier being neutered so he doesn't have the urge to hump everything within reach. Plus Blackavar is not a big eater and I don't want Slipper eating all the food and leaving Blackavar to starve to death.

Any ideas/thoughts/suggestions?

 

[RavenMoon]

Ideally you don't want him to have the hormones to stand up to Slipper. The more docile he is the more likely he may be to accept being the submissive one, and more quickly at that. Also, as a stud buck he may automatically try to mate with Slipper, and if Slipper wants to be dominant this won't go down well.

 

[tulsi]

I agree. Get Blackavar neutered. WAIT A FEW WEEKS then bond.

Sorry you are having such a hard time with Slipper. Why do you use a bowl to feed him? I just scatter feed my lot and hide pellets and veg in small boxes and under hay so that they have plenty of foraging opps.

Do you think he is nervous? You sound like such a caring owner. How is he when you sit on the floor? Does he ever come over to you? Will he accept treats from you?

Sorry for all the questions. Just wondering what is making him act like that.

Does he have loads of space?

Best of luck with the bonding when you get to it. Hormones are not helpful in bonding. My two bucks Frosty and Snowflake fell out big time because I didnt wait long enough after their castrations. Well worth the wait so give them the best chance of bonding.

 

[Sarah1989]

I agree. Get Blackavar neutered. WAIT A FEW WEEKS then bond.

Sorry you are having such a hard time with Slipper. Why do you use a bowl to feed him? I just scatter feed my lot and hide pellets and veg in small boxes and under hay so that they have plenty of foraging opps.

Do you think he is nervous? You sound like such a caring owner. How is he when you sit on the floor? Does he ever come over to you? Will he accept treats from you?

Sorry for all the questions. Just wondering what is making him act like that.

Does he have loads of space?

Best of luck with the bonding when you get to it. Hormones are not helpful in bonding. My two bucks Frosty and Snowflake fell out big time because I didnt wait long enough after their castrations. Well worth the wait so give them the best chance of bonding.

No probs re questions, I'd like to get to the bottom of his behaviour too.

I was going to get Blackavar neutered then wait for the hormones to die down. I can't remember from Slipper's neuter if it's 6 or 8 weeks, but they will either tell me, or I will ask them.

I'm not sure why I use a bowl when I think about it. I don't know, you just feed bunnies with bowls :lol: But scatter feeding may work well as it stops him being territorial with the bowl.

To be honest, I've never tried having him out and then sitting with him Nor have I dared to hand feed him in case he has my hand off. He's probably picking up on my nervousness if I think about it. I'm not he's nervous as when I'm cuddling him, I'm not on edge any more and then he suddenly bites me for seemingly no reason. I always put him back in his cage then. But sitting with him is a good idea and I will try that. I think the kitchen may be the best place for this - it's pretty big and I can't think of anything he can get to.

We just moved him into a 6ft hutch so he can stand up on hind legs, like he should be able to do and he can hop/run around easily and enjoys digging in it. He can also lay out properly now so I was hoping he would calm down now he has better accommodation, but sadly not Bonding him with Blackavar is my last hope.

 

[Sarah1989]

Ideally you don't want him to have the hormones to stand up to Slipper. The more docile he is the more likely he may be to accept being the submissive one, and more quickly at that. Also, as a stud buck he may automatically try to mate with Slipper, and if Slipper wants to be dominant this won't go down well.

That is a good thought, and something I do agree with. It was just with OH last night googling bully bunnies and saying Slipper could bully Blackavar and he would be better with the hormones, it just made me stop and think for a second in case it was a good idea, but I doubted it given what I've read on here. Ideally one needs to be submissive to the dominant but I don't want Blackavar to be so submissive that he is bullied and/or starved. I would split them up in that case, obviously!