My 11 year old dwarf lop, Bella, lost her husbun of 8 years. She was miserable alone so I took her speed dating and she settled quickly with Jeff, a 7 year old lion head.
They’re house rabbits and started off living separately but able to see each other if they chose to. It progressed really well and they spent their time lying either side of the window watching each other. They were moved to a neutral place together and it all went well. In total this all took about 3 months.
When together, Jeff grooms Bella and she snuggles into him. She hardly ever leaves his side. They share a blanket, food, toilets and toys.
Despite this, we haven’t been able to progress to unsupervised time together. Bella communicates by “mouthing” (by this I mean not quite nipping, just putting her open mouth and closing gently). She does it to me when she’s excited for food and did it to her previous husbun when she wanted him to groom her. Jeff seems to misread this and will lunge at her with tail up, she will then do a quick turn and face him, one will then nip the other and they’ll jump into a brawling ball. I will calm the situation before this happens but it means I’m unable to leave them alone.
They sleep in their own areas and spend the day in the neutral zone or Jeff’s area (Bella’s isn’t set up for me to be there all day). We’re 6 months in now (9 total) and I’m exhausted. I spend from 8am (when they scratch the door to get to each other) until midnight (when Bella demands to leave) supervising them. When I have to leave the room I watch them on camera. If I don’t allow them to be together they both seem to sulk and have even tried to clean each other through the window but I also can’t leave them alone.
Bella is becoming increasingly vulnerable due to her age. She’s very wobbly and I’m desperate for her to avoid conflict and live the rest of her life happily settled, as she was for the majority of it.
I’d really appreciate advice on what to do next.
They’re house rabbits and started off living separately but able to see each other if they chose to. It progressed really well and they spent their time lying either side of the window watching each other. They were moved to a neutral place together and it all went well. In total this all took about 3 months.
When together, Jeff grooms Bella and she snuggles into him. She hardly ever leaves his side. They share a blanket, food, toilets and toys.
Despite this, we haven’t been able to progress to unsupervised time together. Bella communicates by “mouthing” (by this I mean not quite nipping, just putting her open mouth and closing gently). She does it to me when she’s excited for food and did it to her previous husbun when she wanted him to groom her. Jeff seems to misread this and will lunge at her with tail up, she will then do a quick turn and face him, one will then nip the other and they’ll jump into a brawling ball. I will calm the situation before this happens but it means I’m unable to leave them alone.
They sleep in their own areas and spend the day in the neutral zone or Jeff’s area (Bella’s isn’t set up for me to be there all day). We’re 6 months in now (9 total) and I’m exhausted. I spend from 8am (when they scratch the door to get to each other) until midnight (when Bella demands to leave) supervising them. When I have to leave the room I watch them on camera. If I don’t allow them to be together they both seem to sulk and have even tried to clean each other through the window but I also can’t leave them alone.
Bella is becoming increasingly vulnerable due to her age. She’s very wobbly and I’m desperate for her to avoid conflict and live the rest of her life happily settled, as she was for the majority of it.
I’d really appreciate advice on what to do next.