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bonding stalemate..

binkyCodie

Mama Doe
I was hoping some of the members of RU might be able to help with this bonding "stalemate"

to recap:
Luna is a 3 year old female rex doe, who was spayed in february 2016. (she is also 100% blind).
Orion is a 6 month old male rex buck, who was neutered in March 2018.
my current set up is a double hutch with a pen, Luna lives in the bottom with the pen and Orion in the top. however, every day one is put in the pen & hutch combo and the other in the top, so neither is really theres so to speak.

I've been doing some bonding sessions in the carrier as its a small and easy to grab space. there has been a lot of progress as at the start, we couldn't leave them alone nor with the door shut without interfering every few seconds. now, they both sit in there and much some hay, we even took both fo them to the vets recently in the same carrier and had no squabbles at all.

as we've had some nice weather outside, the pair of them are outside in two runs side by side for multiple hours a day. at first we had lots of squabbles between the bars but now they ignore one another and go on about their day. Luna has even been grooming Orion through the pen, and on our trip to the vets, which is a huge step forward.

but, I feel I've reached a serious stalemate.

I tried in a neutral area, the garage, to try a bonding session. they had a small pen and Orion was pretty chill about the whole thing but, Luna was terrified. Orion moved and she went full attack mode so I called it quits and let them cool off.

recently I've tried making a small pen outside as Luna knows the outside more than the garage. I was hoping she'd feel more comfortable there. I sat in the pen with her to see if that made any difference and I was honestly super positive. I was calm, Orion was wondering if he could reach the dandelion outside of the pen, and Luna was ready to accept death. not quite the reaction I was looking for. but with some reassurance and pets, she settled slightly better and actually began grooming Orion. they then had a little argument to which I told them to behave, and then they sat head to head for a little while.

and then the same thing happened, Orion went to go on about his day, Luna was terrified as she can't see him, and she attacked him.

I'm not sure how to take it any further from here. do I keep the meetings in the smaller pens with me inside? or do I try something else??

its hard to use a neutral area and it sends Luna into a frenzy and she honestly looks like a deer in the headlights. it puts her more on edge and causes her to strike at anything that moves. Orion on the other hand is incredibly calm and wants to be friends but, he isn't getting quite the same reaction back.

would neutralising Luna's pen, somewhere she's familiar with, and then doing bonding sessions help? or am I barking up the wrong tree??

I'm hoping to get them side by side soon if I don't make any more progress but, I need some more money to do that.
 
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