Hi, and thank you in advance for your help!
My wife and I have had a boy bunny called Ruth (yes he is a boy despite the name ) for two years now. He is a mini lop, and was neutered about six months ago. He has always been always a bit grumpy, but never aggressive, and usually likes to be groomed. We thought it would be nice to get a buddy for him.
We bought a girl bunny about four months ago, her name is Chise, she is five months old now, and seems to have reached her "final" size now. She has always been very cute, licks our face, loves to be groomed.
First we kept the Chise and Ruth in separate rooms, Ruth in the living room, Chise in the kitchen, they couldnt see each other, but could most likely smell each other. Ruth was very excited, binkied around and such. We spent a few weeks like this.
Then we set a fence between the kitchen and the living room, they could see each other but couldnt touch each other. They seemed to be interested in one another. When we lessened the space in the fence separating the kitchen and the living room so they could almost touch each others noses, there seemed to be a bit of growling, but just very quiet, didnt even sound aggressive.
After a little time we thought that we could try to introduce them in a neutral territory, in the bathroom. There was no aggression, but Ruth seemed to try to mount on Chise, who was rather trying to get away, not running, just moving away, so we ended the date, we thought that Ruth maybe has some hormones left.
Then after a bit of time we opened up the separating fence, so Chise was in her cage, and Ruth could go around in the kitchen. We kept a close look on them so they wont bite each other through the cages fence. No such thing happened, Ruth even lied down next to Chises cage, they were absolutely calm.
Then we did the whole thing the other way around. Chise could go into the living room while Ruth was in the cage. In this case Ruth was irritated, stomping, jumping around in his cage. We thought it would be best to put the cages next to each other in the living room, so Ruth could get used to seeing Chise in that room. This happened quite fast, after one or two days he was no longer irritated when he saw Chise running around in the living room, neither was Chise grumpy when she saw Ruth running around there. We always kept a close look on them so they wont get too close to each others cages.
Then after a time we thought that its time for letting them touch each other through the cages fence. Ruth was out running, Chise was inside her cage. Ruth went to the cage, their noses touched for a few seconds, and the Ruth has bitten Chise in the mouth. It seemed quite bad, but eventually it healed after two days without any problems, without scars.
We thought then that its best if they are kept separately for a little time again, one in the living room, the other in the kitchen as before, and they could see each other through a fence.
Then after two weeks or so, we moved the caged next to each other again in the living room, they could go out, one at a time, saw each other running around, but couldnt touch each other. This has gone for a few weeks. They seemed to be very interested in each other, if one of them ate, the other one began to do the same. When one of the drank, the other one began to drink as well. Same for cleaning themselves and so on. When one of them was out then he/she really wanted to be close to the other, tried to get so close to the others cage as possible. They couldnt do that because we set up an extra fence there (the one we used to separate the kitchen and the living room), so they couldnt bite each other again through the cages fence.
We even took them out to the nearby park in separate pens, so they could see each other but couldnt touch each other.
After several weeks time spent like this now we thought that its time for them to meet each other in the park, which is totally neutral territory. First we set up the pens separately again so they could see each other but couldnt touch each other. There was even a bit of wind, so they were really interested in the many smells they could sense, no sign of irritation or aggression. Then we opened together the two pens so they could walk up to each other, Chise walked up to Ruth and after about two or three seconds without any warning signs they began to fight like crazy, they were rolling around like an aggressive ball, growling, and it was almost impossible to separate them. When I managed to do it (I had lether gloves, but they did not care to bite me, just each other), they immediately jumped at each other again. This took about half a minute till we could separate them completely and close the way between the two pens.
Now it is Ruth who lost quite a bit of fur and has a wound on his back, Chise did not get any wounds. It seemed like she gave back what she got from Ruth the first time.
Now the pens are separated from each other again in the living room. When one runs around, the other one can see it and shows no sign of irritation or aggression, just lies, eats, drinks as usual. The one that is out tries again to get closest to the other as possible, but without any signs of aggression, they just seem to be interested.
During these months we tried the stress bonding as well, with vacuum cleaner. However Ruth has already gotten used to that, it was just Chise who was scared.
Now we are clueless. Despite this long careful process, they were fighting as soon as they could touch each other on totally neutral territory. We dont want this to happen again, we fear that next time one of them will be wounded really badly.
Can anyone suggest something, give some advice?
Or should we just accept that these two bunnies simply cant get along well?
Thanks in advance for any help!
My wife and I have had a boy bunny called Ruth (yes he is a boy despite the name ) for two years now. He is a mini lop, and was neutered about six months ago. He has always been always a bit grumpy, but never aggressive, and usually likes to be groomed. We thought it would be nice to get a buddy for him.
We bought a girl bunny about four months ago, her name is Chise, she is five months old now, and seems to have reached her "final" size now. She has always been very cute, licks our face, loves to be groomed.
First we kept the Chise and Ruth in separate rooms, Ruth in the living room, Chise in the kitchen, they couldnt see each other, but could most likely smell each other. Ruth was very excited, binkied around and such. We spent a few weeks like this.
Then we set a fence between the kitchen and the living room, they could see each other but couldnt touch each other. They seemed to be interested in one another. When we lessened the space in the fence separating the kitchen and the living room so they could almost touch each others noses, there seemed to be a bit of growling, but just very quiet, didnt even sound aggressive.
After a little time we thought that we could try to introduce them in a neutral territory, in the bathroom. There was no aggression, but Ruth seemed to try to mount on Chise, who was rather trying to get away, not running, just moving away, so we ended the date, we thought that Ruth maybe has some hormones left.
Then after a bit of time we opened up the separating fence, so Chise was in her cage, and Ruth could go around in the kitchen. We kept a close look on them so they wont bite each other through the cages fence. No such thing happened, Ruth even lied down next to Chises cage, they were absolutely calm.
Then we did the whole thing the other way around. Chise could go into the living room while Ruth was in the cage. In this case Ruth was irritated, stomping, jumping around in his cage. We thought it would be best to put the cages next to each other in the living room, so Ruth could get used to seeing Chise in that room. This happened quite fast, after one or two days he was no longer irritated when he saw Chise running around in the living room, neither was Chise grumpy when she saw Ruth running around there. We always kept a close look on them so they wont get too close to each others cages.
Then after a time we thought that its time for letting them touch each other through the cages fence. Ruth was out running, Chise was inside her cage. Ruth went to the cage, their noses touched for a few seconds, and the Ruth has bitten Chise in the mouth. It seemed quite bad, but eventually it healed after two days without any problems, without scars.
We thought then that its best if they are kept separately for a little time again, one in the living room, the other in the kitchen as before, and they could see each other through a fence.
Then after two weeks or so, we moved the caged next to each other again in the living room, they could go out, one at a time, saw each other running around, but couldnt touch each other. This has gone for a few weeks. They seemed to be very interested in each other, if one of them ate, the other one began to do the same. When one of the drank, the other one began to drink as well. Same for cleaning themselves and so on. When one of them was out then he/she really wanted to be close to the other, tried to get so close to the others cage as possible. They couldnt do that because we set up an extra fence there (the one we used to separate the kitchen and the living room), so they couldnt bite each other again through the cages fence.
We even took them out to the nearby park in separate pens, so they could see each other but couldnt touch each other.
After several weeks time spent like this now we thought that its time for them to meet each other in the park, which is totally neutral territory. First we set up the pens separately again so they could see each other but couldnt touch each other. There was even a bit of wind, so they were really interested in the many smells they could sense, no sign of irritation or aggression. Then we opened together the two pens so they could walk up to each other, Chise walked up to Ruth and after about two or three seconds without any warning signs they began to fight like crazy, they were rolling around like an aggressive ball, growling, and it was almost impossible to separate them. When I managed to do it (I had lether gloves, but they did not care to bite me, just each other), they immediately jumped at each other again. This took about half a minute till we could separate them completely and close the way between the two pens.
Now it is Ruth who lost quite a bit of fur and has a wound on his back, Chise did not get any wounds. It seemed like she gave back what she got from Ruth the first time.
Now the pens are separated from each other again in the living room. When one runs around, the other one can see it and shows no sign of irritation or aggression, just lies, eats, drinks as usual. The one that is out tries again to get closest to the other as possible, but without any signs of aggression, they just seem to be interested.
During these months we tried the stress bonding as well, with vacuum cleaner. However Ruth has already gotten used to that, it was just Chise who was scared.
Now we are clueless. Despite this long careful process, they were fighting as soon as they could touch each other on totally neutral territory. We dont want this to happen again, we fear that next time one of them will be wounded really badly.
Can anyone suggest something, give some advice?
Or should we just accept that these two bunnies simply cant get along well?
Thanks in advance for any help!