Could you elaborate further please? Any advice / comments gratefully received.
I got the impression from your above post that you had put them in their new house. Is everything ok?
Could you elaborate further please? Any advice / comments gratefully received.
They were indeed in there new house for about an hour before a bit of a chase and some fur pulling broke out (I didn't see it happen), I had been leaving them during the day in a different small pen with out any incidents. When I saw the fur (no injuries) I put them back in their separate pens, looking back, I believe I should have left them as they were both quite happily sat in their litter trays by then. Over protective parent syndrome.
Assuming I get a couple of days incident free in the new home, should I be able to trust them together for their first night in the new home?
I found the water spray method didn't help. It just made mine associate each other with something negative.
Fur pulling I just leave them to it. If you're worried about it being excessive just throw a towel over them, gentle separate them and then let them continue interacting.
Best starting small and very gradually increasing - try not to rush them into a larger space.I totally agree.......now. I spoke with a behaviorist yesterday who was not impressed with the water method spray method and gave me a good talking too. The sprayed rabbit will likely associate the other rabbit and the person spraying with something bad / negative.
I have returned them today back to their smaller neutral area with great results. The towel method works well without the shock. The one time she looked like she might for his fur I just held the towel in front of her and that was enough to prevent anything further. No other incidents today and they have been together 3 hours. I shall be using the same small area tomorrow and then back to the large new bunny shed Monday but with a smaller enclosed area to start with.
Keep it at that in that case. Wait until you're incident free for 24 to 48 hours before attempting to increase the space and when you do make sure it's only a small increase - about 1m works well.Thanks, their neutral place is about 10sqft at the moment, we made it that small as they just sat opposite ends and fell asleep! 10sqft means they have to interact - even if it is by accident.
If they were sat at opposite ends and had ended the argument by themselves it would have been more beneficial to leave them together. They'd just sorted a little of the dominance and now they're separated so when they're next put together they'll have to go through it again.Sunday - we had decided to do the same 2 hours today but they were doing so well we decided to leave them, then it happened, at the 4 1/2 hour mark I nipped out of the room for a few seconds and as I returned I could hear Charlie squealing, the usual fur everywhere, she was back sat in the litter try and he was in the opposite corner. A thorough check over revealed no harm done.
Upset that this happened again but on the positive side this was the longest they had spent together without incident. I shall keep putting them together this week aiming at only 2 hours and ending on a positive note before anything happens.
I really don't use stress bonding unless it's a last attempt.Popped them both in the car today for a 30 min journey, don't think they liked the roundabouts or the speed bumps but it sure makes them cuddle. They took it in turns hiding under each other. Followed by a calm & playful 2 hours in the small area