Bonding Barrie and Chibbs UD p37 all sorted :D

Barrie is lovely. He's what would happen if you stuck a Nethie-cross head and front paws on a really wide-bummed big rabbit body. He's a hilarious black triangle/pyramid/cone. He was very confident on meeting Chibbs, she was quite reserved and so he got on with humping her, nicely though No chasing really, no fur pulling, nothing. Got them home, no issues. In a dog crate outside, a bit more humping from Barrie, and then Chibbs got bold enough tom start on him. She was less polite, did some minor fur-pulling! We popped them in the de-Chibbs-ed playhouse to see if they'd get on with it but they were quite chasy, disruptive, unsettled, so we popped them back in the crate but in the house. After 10mins they'd settled again fine, so we went inside to get dinner, I checked 45mins later and they were doing alright, 1.5hrs after that they were sharing the litter tray (I put one in based on earlier behaviour). Both munching away, although Barrie's still a little put out that his humping merely resulted in him getting humped! :lol: He gets a bit nervous every time she goes up to him, but he doesn't run or go for her, neither seem to want to be aggressive at all She was the same with him at first as well. Nothing unexpected

So, it's going well. Really well. Not as well as Lopsy and X, but Lopsy was special. We'll check on them again at bedtime-ish but leaving them to it definitely works for me and seems to be working for them

ETA totally forgot to post the link to Twitter pictures: https://twitter.com/keletkezes/status/1466814625505284103

Aww they're lovely!

And going so fast! I'm amazed at your bonding skills!

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Sounds great and he's lovely

CarelessSquid07 said:

Aww they're lovely!

And going so fast! I'm amazed at your bonding skills!

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Oh it's not me, it's them! Also not really being anxious about it helps I think ;P Relaxed bunnies are the biggest factor.

It sounds like they're off to a great start, well done bunnies! I'm glad neither of them appear too nervous around the other and it's great that you've been able to put a litter tray in already.

Ahhahaaha it's all inevitably gone to pot! The introduction of pellet food, lots of bramble and a Snugglesafe kicked Chibbs off in a bad way and there was a lot of violent chasing and fur pulling. We've separated them by leaving Barrie in the crate and letting Chibbs have the rest of the house, so they're adjacent. Both eating and cleaning OK. We'll see what the weather's like tomorrow and where we go from there. Well I guess this is her bunnitude coming out :roll:

Oh how cute is he- I so want to stroke him

Oh no, bad bunnies!

Hopefully a little break will give them both a chance to simmer down. I'd take positives from the fact that they started off really well, so it clearly wasn't hate at first sight. They just need to learn to share nicely.

I know chasing is a normal part of bonding but, bloody hell, it doesn't half put the wind up you!

Best of luck for tomorrow!

Hope things work out OK in the end xx

I've moved this to Behaviour and Bonding as it's the best place for bonding stories too. :wave:

Gosh that was quick (adopting the gorgeous Barrie). Everything crossed they sort things out & play nicely

Hope it continues to go well!

Thanks everyone

KarenM said:

I've moved this to Behaviour and Bonding as it's the best place for bonding stories too. :wave:

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Oh thankyou!

joey&boo said:

Gosh that was quick (adopting the gorgeous Barrie). Everything crossed they sort things out & play nicely

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City life means plenty of rescues, although we are very lucky to have Burrowed Hearts the other side of the city to us, and that they have lots of lovely boys at the moment but there's no way I'd've passed poor Barrie up, he's perfect for our setup! Plus working from home means I can just get on with it ;P

Scrappy's Little Helper said:

Oh no, bad bunnies!

Hopefully a little break will give them both a chance to simmer down. I'd take positives from the fact that they started off really well, so it clearly wasn't hate at first sight. They just need to learn to share nicely.

I know chasing is a normal part of bonding but, bloody hell, it doesn't half put the wind up you!

Best of luck for tomorrow!

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The chasing isn't half as bad as Chibbs' tendency to nip EVERYTHING she doesn't agree with. She was having a go at his face at first today, the only nipping I really interfered with. That stopped thankfully but there wasn't a point today I was 'happy' with their (well Chibbs') progress. Not unhappy though, they did make progress, but just from full on face-nipping to humping, short chases and lots of thumping from Barrie.

So, it's all Chibbs' fault :lol: Any time something new happened, she asserted herself by giving poor Barrie a damn good humping from all angles. New hay, humpity hump. Add a water bottle to the outside, humpity hump. Come back out from lunch, humpity hump. Barrie sometimes tried to get away, sometimes turned on her (but never 'went' for her properly if that makes sense) and when she went away, he thumped at her lots. Sometimes he thumped at her when she came close, sometimes not. Sometimes they sat next to each other after a humping session, and that was OK as Chibbs was super relaxed anyway and Barrie relaxed after a few minutes as well There was a lot of eating and cleaning, some snoozing, Chibbs grooming Barrie but not getting anything back except contempt (understandable, poor Barrie!). She also nips him the same as she did Lopsy, going under his bum to move him on. I went in for lunch as they were very settled, taking it in turns having a groom, munch or snooze, and coming back out all seemed fine but I expected Chibbs to kick off at any moment and lo and behold, she did. I put them back inside the house at that point as it was due to chuck it down (just managed to get bunnies and equipment away in time!), in the same configuration as overnight, as they seem comfortable enough with that.

I just really need Chibbs to calm the down! :roll: :lol: As Matt told Barrie last night, these women, they come across as demure and sweet and then once you're stuck with them it's always the same :lol: Henpecked isn't a strong enough phrase XD

If there's been no real progress by next Friday I might see about asking Laura at Burrowed Hearts what her thoughts are Chibbs also came from there so I have repeatedly threatened her with just handing her back :lol: It's not too poor a suggestion as I reckon she's easier to rehome than Barrie ;P But equally, would anybun want her ;P

Oh, Chibbs! That's no way to treat a new friend! Wishing you lots of luck with the bonding, keletkezes. I hope Chibbs will calm down a bit. Barrie sounds lovely, and hopefully he and Chibbs can figure things out.

Going OK so far today. We've manhandled Chibbs into Barrie's crate in the playhouse and she is NOT happy about it XD She kept trying to escape, biting Matt's (gloved) fingers. Barrie was humping her, seems only fair. She groomed his eyes and ears but hasn't returned the humping favour yet. She grunted at him loads when he was looking like he was trying to hump her last time I checked on them, never heard her grunt before! No fur pulls anywhere so I was happy to leave them for a fair while. No fighting or aggression over food, and Barrie might be more food oriented than Lopsy :shock: When Chibbs sat on a bit he was eating, he just changed position to eat something else Hopefully they'll sort their lives out in that crate so I don't have to bring them in. Nobun was stressed when I left them, Barrie was the most relaxed since we brought him home and Chibbs was eating (and has drunk, pooed, weed) if not exactly happy. If this carries on getting better, I'll leave them until they're relatively loved up then let them out into the playhouse itself. Otherwise it's back to plan A of bonding in the back bedroom.

It sounds as though it's going reasonably well. I think the fact that Barrie seems to be laid back and wanting to be friends is key here

He's a very handsome boy, really hope they are soon all loved up

I'm glad things are a bit calmer today. Sounds like Chibbs has been somewhat aggressively asserting her dominance here! Hopefully she'll settle down soon. It's good that Barrie is starting to relax a bit more.

It sounds as if you are getting there, at least no real aggression, so give them another day or two and they should be friends. It isn't easy for a female to accept a strange Rabbit into her territory.

Thanks everyone! Putting Chibbs into Barrie's area in a place she already knew was the gold star option it turns out, they're friends this morning No more grunting last night, no fighting over food (see below), no possession of snugglesafe. I don't know if taking the litter tray out helped but it didn't do any harm (they have a nice digging substrate now XD). I think Chibbs knows the outside world around their setup too well (we have freeranged her a fair amount this year), so Barrie needed to be settled and happy before he'd man up to her :lol: He's been totally fine, and their sleeping next to each other, sharing food etc.

Barrie is an absolute darling. He's probably more food-obsessed than Lopsy, but he won't steal it off her :lol: We put the second half-ration of pellets in for them yesterday, just on the floor of the crate, and he was there gobbling them up, Chibbs was having a good go too, and then she stepped so she covered the rest and Barrie literally just tried to go around her to get them It was hilarious. He came with Haybox pellets which they both like, and he's wolfed down every Excel he can find XD He is SO excited about food, especially the dried mix he's been having at Burrowed Hearts, lots of dried forage, flowers, roots etc. I need to see how much it all costs because if I can get away with it I might move to doing it at some point, especially because I can forage a lot of it myself, it's just this year we've had no drying space and the OH is RUBBISH at soft foods. Barrie doesn't seem to want to chew sticks but I bet it's only a matter of time!

He's also hilarious in his actions. Because he's basically a small Dutch bunny attached to a larger bum, his body is all over the place XD He was on and off the snugglesafe last night and his front paws were all over the place. When he hops around Chibbs, his body movements are quite unpredictable! He was ears-up, ears-down yesterday evening in a hilarious signalling way, maybe he was secretly signalling Chibbs? His front paws seem to have longer tops of arms than he should, and he's got this weird sort of dewlap thing that's too far back into his chest to be a dewlap but seems to be some sort of weird muscle-skin combination. He really is a bit like Frankenstein's Bunny!

They're not FIRM friends yet, they might not ever be. Lopsy and Chibbs weren't that close, Lopsy loved her (becasue she left food for him XD) but she was well indifferent :lol: It's a Chibbs thing. I'm going to give them another 24hrs in the crate then let them out into the playhouse, although we'll see how Stormm Barra plays out... I don't like leaving them shoved in a tiny space, it seems REALLY boring, but too soon and it'll all go to pot! We also need to find a way of attaching a water bottle to the playhouse somewhere as Barrie has never been seen to drink out of a bowl...