With the help from you guys, I think I've done it. My two females, Lily and Elvira, appear to be willing to make it work living together. I just thought I'd post some thoughts on what helped us. I tried just about everything I read on this forum, other forums, and articles around. Here are the best lessons learned for this first time bonder:
1. Patience- I came here at the one month point thinking no progress was being made. Things started falling together after that. I think Elvira, the more timid of my pair, just needed a long time to gain her confidence. Once she had that, the relationship began to smooth out considerably.
2. Starting with a small space- I tried to start in a larger pen for dates and got a lot of chasing initially. We then went to a largish bathtub and that helped increase interaction. Elvira was forced to have a relationship with Lily of some kind and it got better from there. The first time I put them together in the pen, they had an all out fight. They never had any real scraps after that.
3. Interaction/activity- At first, I just put them together with nothing for them to do. After I got here, I decided to begin putting hay down and built a cardboard castle for them to play with. Having activity to engage in seemed to keep Elvira from just cowering in the corner and doing nothing. This helped with the confidence. Luckily, while Lily is dominate, she has never been out for blood, so the increased interaction taught Elvira she wasn't going to get pounced when she acted like a normal rabbit.
4. Small cage- Once Elvira's confidence picked up and we had multiple long and successful dates, I put them in our smaller indoor cage for a trial run. They did well in it and eventually settled into a good routine. I also became more confident that they were not going to go nuts on each other.
5. Patience again and love- It took two full months, but I'm fairly confident that we have accomplished a good bond. I spent a lot of time with them, as did my daughters, and this only increased our bond and love for the buns. They are funny little things and we are looking forward to a long life with these girls. The hard work was worth it.
That's not to say I don't expect bumps. Lily still steals fresh food, so we have to feed that only when we are cuddling with them one on one, or otherwise closely supervise those feedings. And I moved them into the small cage last night after several days in the outside enclosure because temps are dropping below freezing for a few days, and Lily immediately humped Elvira, which she hadn't done since early in the tub dates. But Elvira took it fine and Lily chilled out quickly, so I think we're all right.
Thanks again and for anyone bonding, keep the faith. It will work out with enough effort.
A couple of videos for your pleasure, right after they went into their queendom as fully bonded buns:
https://youtu.be/OB5HdvBKrOQ
https://youtu.be/ANdnVzqSBWk
Alice
1. Patience- I came here at the one month point thinking no progress was being made. Things started falling together after that. I think Elvira, the more timid of my pair, just needed a long time to gain her confidence. Once she had that, the relationship began to smooth out considerably.
2. Starting with a small space- I tried to start in a larger pen for dates and got a lot of chasing initially. We then went to a largish bathtub and that helped increase interaction. Elvira was forced to have a relationship with Lily of some kind and it got better from there. The first time I put them together in the pen, they had an all out fight. They never had any real scraps after that.
3. Interaction/activity- At first, I just put them together with nothing for them to do. After I got here, I decided to begin putting hay down and built a cardboard castle for them to play with. Having activity to engage in seemed to keep Elvira from just cowering in the corner and doing nothing. This helped with the confidence. Luckily, while Lily is dominate, she has never been out for blood, so the increased interaction taught Elvira she wasn't going to get pounced when she acted like a normal rabbit.
4. Small cage- Once Elvira's confidence picked up and we had multiple long and successful dates, I put them in our smaller indoor cage for a trial run. They did well in it and eventually settled into a good routine. I also became more confident that they were not going to go nuts on each other.
5. Patience again and love- It took two full months, but I'm fairly confident that we have accomplished a good bond. I spent a lot of time with them, as did my daughters, and this only increased our bond and love for the buns. They are funny little things and we are looking forward to a long life with these girls. The hard work was worth it.
That's not to say I don't expect bumps. Lily still steals fresh food, so we have to feed that only when we are cuddling with them one on one, or otherwise closely supervise those feedings. And I moved them into the small cage last night after several days in the outside enclosure because temps are dropping below freezing for a few days, and Lily immediately humped Elvira, which she hadn't done since early in the tub dates. But Elvira took it fine and Lily chilled out quickly, so I think we're all right.
Thanks again and for anyone bonding, keep the faith. It will work out with enough effort.
A couple of videos for your pleasure, right after they went into their queendom as fully bonded buns:
https://youtu.be/OB5HdvBKrOQ
https://youtu.be/ANdnVzqSBWk
Alice
