Zhar_Ptitca
Young Bun
Hello fellow bunny lovers! I have a question and I hope someone has if not solution then a couple of tips for me.
Here is a bit of backstory: three years ago I got two rabbits - Mira and Minnie, sisters from the same nest. Very quickly Mira got spayed and there was peace in the cage. I could not complain. A year ago, while working at the rabbit sanctuary I fell in love with one particular rabbit - it was a nest of half-wild rabbits that was hand raised but some mistakes were made and rabbits got too attached to humans, rendering them unsuitable to be released into the wild. The owner saw me fawning over them and asked if I wated to take one boy that had not been claimed by anyone. After thinking about it I agreed, with every intention of returning him if I notice he was unhappy. But Max wasn't. he enjoyed my house, ejoyed jumpig, binkied a lot. In fact, the bonding went miraculously easy and while Mira did chaise him around once in a while, he formed tight connection to her. Minnie was always a bit of a passive bun - she did her own stuff and was The Boss. Nobody was allowed to hump her and if they did, she had only but to throw a glance at them and the culprit would evaporate from the scene.
But this March Mira had unexpectedly and tragically passed away, leaving Max and Minnie alone. At first I though they will seek comfort with each other but that did not happen - both of them drifted even further apart and did not socialise much. Minnie was starting to get visibly depressed so I sucked it up and went on a bunny dating - the sanctuary had a rabbit I though would be a nice match to the pair. During the 'probe-bonding' it all went wonderful, Max was a bit twitchy, Minnie exibited healthy interest. I took them home and continued bonding there. After three days they were friends and shared the cage and I was super happy.
And then, three months later, the bond broke. I don't know what happened but Max started to behave agressively towards Minnie, while with Mila he was in love and cuddled up to her non-stop and would not leave her side. He was jumping, fighting and plucking her. He never showed such behaviour before, not during any of the bondings, not afterwards.Minnie was getting extremely skittish and twitchy as soon as anyone was getting close to her butt. I thought: "Hey, maybe it is because I have to un-spayed females." And so I spayed Minnie. Re-bonded them, or at least tried. With the help of Rescue Remedy (mostly for Minnie, who after spaying suddenly became nervous and unsure rabbit) there is relative calmness in the cage nowadays, I sometimes see Max and Minnie flopping near each other after having their food eaten.
BUT! I cannot let them out all together. Before that, if I or my boyfriend was home - the door to the cage would be completely open and bunnies could go in or out as they please. Now, as soon as Max and Minnie are together outside the cage he lunges agressively onto her (never saw any actual wounds otherwise they would ot be together in the cage right now) and rolls her all over the ground, obviously trying to fight. Minnie, of course, refuses and tries to run away. After many talks with the owner of the sanctuary ad my vet we came to a conclusion that perhaps since he is a half-wild bunny by blood, his instincts and behavioural patterns are somewhat different. He is also only a year and a half old, so bunny puberty is still calling, so to say. But he is so in love with Mila and just about tolerates Minnie, I don't get it. Especially because Minnie was longer with him then Mila.
I guess my questions are:
a) what are your thoughts about all of this
b) what can I do to maybe teach them to be friends outside as well. I am a bit unsure how to approach this, since I am scared that Max will spoil it all and I will have to get back to square one. I definitely don't want to separate them because now they are tolerating each other, while Minnie and Mila are even showing some signs of an actual attachment forming - Mila cuddles up to Minnie a lot and they lick each other. Max does not participate (he used to, when Mira was alive)
Thank you for reading this wall of text and thank you for any input ^^
Here is a bit of backstory: three years ago I got two rabbits - Mira and Minnie, sisters from the same nest. Very quickly Mira got spayed and there was peace in the cage. I could not complain. A year ago, while working at the rabbit sanctuary I fell in love with one particular rabbit - it was a nest of half-wild rabbits that was hand raised but some mistakes were made and rabbits got too attached to humans, rendering them unsuitable to be released into the wild. The owner saw me fawning over them and asked if I wated to take one boy that had not been claimed by anyone. After thinking about it I agreed, with every intention of returning him if I notice he was unhappy. But Max wasn't. he enjoyed my house, ejoyed jumpig, binkied a lot. In fact, the bonding went miraculously easy and while Mira did chaise him around once in a while, he formed tight connection to her. Minnie was always a bit of a passive bun - she did her own stuff and was The Boss. Nobody was allowed to hump her and if they did, she had only but to throw a glance at them and the culprit would evaporate from the scene.
But this March Mira had unexpectedly and tragically passed away, leaving Max and Minnie alone. At first I though they will seek comfort with each other but that did not happen - both of them drifted even further apart and did not socialise much. Minnie was starting to get visibly depressed so I sucked it up and went on a bunny dating - the sanctuary had a rabbit I though would be a nice match to the pair. During the 'probe-bonding' it all went wonderful, Max was a bit twitchy, Minnie exibited healthy interest. I took them home and continued bonding there. After three days they were friends and shared the cage and I was super happy.
And then, three months later, the bond broke. I don't know what happened but Max started to behave agressively towards Minnie, while with Mila he was in love and cuddled up to her non-stop and would not leave her side. He was jumping, fighting and plucking her. He never showed such behaviour before, not during any of the bondings, not afterwards.Minnie was getting extremely skittish and twitchy as soon as anyone was getting close to her butt. I thought: "Hey, maybe it is because I have to un-spayed females." And so I spayed Minnie. Re-bonded them, or at least tried. With the help of Rescue Remedy (mostly for Minnie, who after spaying suddenly became nervous and unsure rabbit) there is relative calmness in the cage nowadays, I sometimes see Max and Minnie flopping near each other after having their food eaten.
BUT! I cannot let them out all together. Before that, if I or my boyfriend was home - the door to the cage would be completely open and bunnies could go in or out as they please. Now, as soon as Max and Minnie are together outside the cage he lunges agressively onto her (never saw any actual wounds otherwise they would ot be together in the cage right now) and rolls her all over the ground, obviously trying to fight. Minnie, of course, refuses and tries to run away. After many talks with the owner of the sanctuary ad my vet we came to a conclusion that perhaps since he is a half-wild bunny by blood, his instincts and behavioural patterns are somewhat different. He is also only a year and a half old, so bunny puberty is still calling, so to say. But he is so in love with Mila and just about tolerates Minnie, I don't get it. Especially because Minnie was longer with him then Mila.
I guess my questions are:
a) what are your thoughts about all of this
b) what can I do to maybe teach them to be friends outside as well. I am a bit unsure how to approach this, since I am scared that Max will spoil it all and I will have to get back to square one. I definitely don't want to separate them because now they are tolerating each other, while Minnie and Mila are even showing some signs of an actual attachment forming - Mila cuddles up to Minnie a lot and they lick each other. Max does not participate (he used to, when Mira was alive)
Thank you for reading this wall of text and thank you for any input ^^