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Bonding Obi & Martha!

BattleKat

Wise Old Thumper
Martha and Obi had their first real introductions yesterday!

There were some squabbles I had to break up because they were really locking on to each other and claw fighting (mostly Obi on Martha) and Martha's dicky eye got really weepy but besides that it went pretty well.
Obi was mostly just concerned with eating. Martha was very wary of him after the repeated attacks but she stood her ground well and ignored him for the most part (even during said attacks). I think that worked really well because Obi doesn't really give a toss about other rabbits except when they move quickly/run away from him and then I think his nervous nature comes out as defensive attacks.
They stayed together for about six hours and by the end Obi seemed to have chilled out quite a lot. He obviously wanted attention from her but I think she was too nervous to give it. Hopefully when we give it another go on Sunday (next available opportunity) they'll warm to each other a bit more. After we put Martha back in her room Obi spent a lot of the day just lying down by her fence so I'm feeling hopeful.

Pics because they're so gosh darn cute

In the beginning, after initial attacks and before continued bullying made Martha too nervous to eat
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After Obi chilled out
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When Martha didn't come and pay him attention he got up and demanded grooming. She did not give it.
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I really hope this works for them!

Sounds like the session ended well.

Good luck for Sunday!

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She did eat in little bursts and I was sneaking her bits of fenugreek crunchie if she went more than about half an hour without nibbling to make sure she was ok :thumb:
Whereas Obi literally didn't stop chomping for four hours, took a little break and went back to eating. He's a machine!
 
She did eat in little bursts and I was sneaking her bits of fenugreek crunchie if she went more than about half an hour without nibbling to make sure she was ok :thumb:
Whereas Obi literally didn't stop chomping for four hours, took a little break and went back to eating. He's a machine!

Nawww but I did laugh at him being described as a machine lol
 
Had another date yesterday. Some initial squabbles but generally pretty good with both of them chomping away and quite comfortable with each other for a few hours. They both asked for grooming but neither responded. Obi did a big flop and Martha lay near him which felt really positive and then all hell broke loose. Relentless attacking each other and I've no idea what triggered it. It seemed pretty nasty and they were going for faces so we intervened with badminton rackets, waited for it to be calm for a few minutes and then split them.

When I thought it was going well:
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Hope you can get it all back on track. I thought I was going to have to split Frosty and Fern when bonding them because they had a spat but luckily it settled down. I used a dustpan slid between to split them up! It’s hard until they learn to trust one another! I had them together all the time and camped next to them!
 
That's heartening, thanks zoobec.
If we don't make any progress with the dating I'm going to try and get some time off work to do 24/7 bonding. I also intend on bonding in a third at some point so I'm wondering if I may as well just do that now.

When I did Eli with Lola and Rambo I camped in the bathroom with them for three days and slept on a beanbag but I don't think there was any need - they were bonded within a few hours and they never fought or anything.
 
That's heartening, thanks zoobec.
If we don't make any progress with the dating I'm going to try and get some time off work to do 24/7 bonding. I also intend on bonding in a third at some point so I'm wondering if I may as well just do that now.

When I did Eli with Lola and Rambo I camped in the bathroom with them for three days and slept on a beanbag but I don't think there was any need - they were bonded within a few hours and they never fought or anything.

You don’t get much sleep whilst bonding :lol: I slept on futon mattress on the floor. Thankfully apart from that spat it was uneventful so I didn’t need to camp :lol:
 
Wednesday we moved the bonding pen to the living room. I did steam clean and vinegar the floor but I think Obi was still defensive of it as "his". Things were more aggressive and there wasn't much of a gap between fights. Martha wasn't eating much so we put her back in her room and called it a day after a few hours.

Thursday we stayed in the living room but I got in with them and tried to placate Obi from the start. If it looked like he was going in to attack mode I'd stroke him until he relaxed. I know it's not a long term solution but it worked really well and I'm hoping it might help them to get comfortable with each other. We hardly had any scuffles and Martha was much happier to chomp away and even move a little.

Because Obi seemed fine with Martha unless she was moving I decided to rustle the hay frequently in the hopes he wouldn't be so reactive to it. Initially he was attacking me as well but eventually he really chilled out with it and by the end he wasn't reacting too often and was only lunging at me and Martha rather than biting and scratching.

We split them and put Martha home while we did dinner, then put Martha in the bonding pen on her own for the evening so that they could interact a bit more than when she's in her room. Obi was flopped out next to her almost all evening so I think we're going to keep putting her in there for the evenings and hope that helps them get a little closer. I also think it could help for it to become more her space than his but we'll see, definitely prepared to go back to a neutral space if we need to, it's just so much more practical if we can make the living room work.
 
Martha is going back to her owner tomorrow :cry:
I'm so upset we couldn't make it work but feeling hopeful about Obi having a new friend in the new year. I thought he was going to be the big problem but in the end it was Martha who wouldn't stop picking fights.

Bath bunny rescue do bonding for £8 a day (which seems so insanely cheap to me) so I'm going to send him off and hope he comes home with a wife.
 
I’m so sorry :cry: you tried your best to make it work, no one could have done any more. Fingers crossed for him at Bath xx
 
Oh dear. She looked so lovely. Hope the new bond goes well and that you soon have two blissfully bonded bunnies!
 
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