Alyssa's Bunny Blog!

[JBun]

Naughty boy Bugs! I hope he didn't get too much of an upset tummy from all that sugar.

Yes it's normal to feel a bit anxious about the bonding process and leaving the two of them together. I always felt apprehensive about a fight possibly breaking out too. Once they are bonded, it's not like minor scuffles stop altogether, it's that the rabbits lowest in the pecking order learn to handle the 'boss' rabbit asserting it's dominance better to avoid conflict occurring. So with my rabbits, one bunny that's higher in the pecking order, will chase after one of the lower rabbits. She might just nip one of them to get out of her way, or chase after them if they don't move fast enough or she's bugged at them for some reason. And they just move out of her way or run away to get away from her. Now if one of them didn't move or run away and nipped back at her, then a full out fight could occur. So it's not that nipping and minor chasing isn't going to occur with Bugs and Evie, it's that one of them has to decide to be the submissive bunny and put up with or avoid the dominant bunny's behavior. I'm guessing Evie is probably going to be the 'boss' bunny, so Bugs needs to decide he's ok with her being in charge, then they will be able to be fully bonded.

 

[A & B]

Surprisingly, he was okay. He put on a couple ounces and will not be getting treats until he's back under 4 pounds which is where his weight's always been.

I did figure out why Evie nips at him and it'll be easy for them to overcome it. She does most of the grooming but occasionally she wants to be groomed back, which is understandable. They are now being put into the bathtub for sessions and there has been no scuffs and I haven't had to intervene (aside from petting them both when they seem tense). Saturday, Evie flopped into Bugs as he was sleeping in a loaf position. When he realized she was there, he went to the other side of her and flopped and rested his head on hers! There has been no chasing at all which surprises me. I'm guessing that when they're bonded and have my whole bedroom to run in that there may be some playful chasing because they're both very active. Evie is definitely the dominant one. I just ordered a ton of new toys that they will get when they're bonded. I enjoy watching Bugs play with a toy for a minute then lose interest and then giving it to Evie and letting her shred it to pieces. It will be fun having Bugs back to being free roam again and having Evie experience free roaming for the first time.

On a completely unrelated note, I have began growing cilantro and parsley and today it has begun to sprout!

 

[A & B]

Why is it that I'm finding bonding so hard? We're so close yet so far. It really makes me wonder how well I know my rabbits and rabbits in general. I'm so ready for it to be over now. We've gotten to the point where there are no scuffs and I can usually stop nipping by yelling "Be nice!" but before they can live together Evie needs to stop nipping Bugs just because she can. Bugs loves her so much and he will lay next to her whenever she's doing anything but instead of snuggling with him, she nips him. She ran up to him and nipped his foot after he flopped. The bunnies spent 2 hours together last night and Evie would nip Bugs whenever he's sleeping or just sitting next to her. She does it whenever she feels like it. I think that if after today if she's still nipping just for the fun of it even after I tell her to stop doing it, I'm going to use the spray bottle. I plan to keep them together for 6 hours today but we'll see how that goes.

 

[A & B]

Bugs and Evie drank out of the (small) water bowl at the same time with no nipping! This gives me hope that there won't be nipping over the litter box.

 

[A & B]

I was going to allow them to sleep together tonight because they went almost 2 hours without me needing to intervene but out of nowhere, Evie jumped on Bugs and humped him. I think it may be because we're in my room and she feels the need to protect her space. They made it past the bathtub stage and I wanted to use a bigger area but we will be going back to the bathtub for the next few sessions.

 

[shelley smith]

I'm also bonding at the moment and finding it very hard
When you say nipping is she biting him as mine seem to bite each other enough to peirce the skin

 

[Lionheadloady]

It will come together with time and patience! I definitely recommend letting them outside together in a pen as they are in a completely neutral territory. This worked for my buns! Hope this helps!

 

[A & B]

I'm also bonding at the moment and finding it very hard
When you say nipping is she biting him as mine seem to bite each other enough to peirce the skin

They never break the skin. There is fur pulled sometimes though. The only time skin has been broken was when Bugs and Lola fought during my previous bonding attempt.

 

[A & B]

It will come together with time and patience! I definitely recommend letting them outside together in a pen as they are in a completely neutral territory. This worked for my buns! Hope this helps!

I would take them outside but it's so humid! I can't imagine what the humidity would feel like with a thick fur coat!

 

[A & B]

My grandma just bought a house right down the street from mine. She's not currently living it as they're painting it and putting new flooring in. I can't believe I haven't thought to take the bunnies over there for sessions! Ugh, I'm so dumb.

 

[Butterscotch]

My grandma just bought a house right down the street from mine. She's not currently living it as they're painting it and putting new flooring in. I can't believe I haven't thought to take the bunnies over there for sessions! Ugh, I'm so dumb.

Great idea! You would have several choices of neutral territory over there.

 

[A & B]

They're doing well since doing sessions at her house. I even feel comfortable walking away for a few seconds. The only thing holding them back is Evie's constant humping. I'm not intervening at all now though. She will do it when he asks to he groomed. She knows he's going to run if she does it from behind so she does it on his head. When she does it he doesn't nip or try to get free and he just kind of accepts that she's going to do it regardless. I'm not sure what to do to get her to stop though. I'm guessing that it will stop with time. There will be some minor chasing after she does it, but they stop within a second or two. There was either honking or grunting during today's session when she was humping. It wasn't loud enough for me to decipher between the two though. It only makes sense that it was Bugs grunting.

As we get closer and closer to move in day, the more nervous and excited I get. My grandma is moving in on the 27th so I have until then to finish bonding. I'm going to try and get the bonding done this week and do overnights and cement next week. Cementing will be done in my room though. I'm going to be rearranging my room and washing literally everything before they're put in there. That means washing my blankets and basically inviting Bugs to pee all over them. Fun times.

 

[A & B]

We're having an overnight session! It's almost 2 in the morning and they've been together for 6 hours with only one hump and an attempt. They've been kissing, snuggling, flopping and sharing the litter box. There hasn't been any nipping! They both think it's fun to climb all over me while I try to sleep. I'm not sure if I should move them in together if she's still humping though. I'm going to have another overnight tomorrow night and then I'll begin cementing. I'll pay my sister to watch the bunnies while I'm at work.

The toys that I ordered from the HRS website came today and the bunnies have already shredded most of the toys. They've been sharing them and it's adorable. Bugs has this habit of taking the hay piece that she's eating out of her mouth and just dropping it so she can't finish it.

 

[Sunshine's Fine]

Wow! it sounds like you've been working really hard at bonding those 2. It also seems like they're just about ready to be together permanently. I have 2 girls who are now 4 years old. I adopted them as a pair, so they were already bonded. One thing I've noticed is you've been worried about Evie humping Bugs. My littlest girl Annika, humps her sister Pippi all the time. I tried to stop it many times when I first got them, but nothing seemed to work. Now, I can see when it's coming and I say, "Watch out, Pippi, she's getting ready to hump your head!" and when it's over, "Go ahead and chase her, Pip, she deserves it!" They do scuffle occasionally and sometimes quite a bit of fur is pulled out, but I've never seen any blood drawn. I think there is always going to be one dominant bunny in any group, and they need to let everyone know about it. I was quite appalled when I first saw it, but it's all about dominance. Maybe Pippi does something that offends her, so that's why she does it? I don't know, but there's no way of stopping that I know of. I've had these 2 rascals for 3 1/2 years now and it doesn't seem to cause any permanent harm. I would just let them be bunnies. You are so lucky to have an empty house to use! Perfect for what you needed. You'll have to take them over to visit Grandma when she moves in. Good luck, but I'm pretty sure you won't need it. I think all 3 of you are ready. <3

 

[A & B]

In all of the articles I've read, none of them mention humping after they're bonded. I get very anxious at the idea of humping occurring when I'm not home because what if it upsets Bugs and he attacks her? He doesn't mind it when she does it now though. It confuses me because they hadn't humped at all until I started doing sessions at her house. I know the owners of her house previously had dogs and the house smelled like pee. The pee smell has gone away for the most part but I know they can still smell it. Maybe the smell of dog pee has caused him to smell like another animal and Evie doesn't recognize his scent anymore and feels the need to establish her dominance on the "foreigner". In that case, the humping will stop when they're in my room.

Tomorrow will be move in day! I'm so excited and nervous. I know that right now is the perfect time to do so. I don't have work tomorrow and I only work 3 hours Thursday. On Saturday, my mom and I are going to the movies. That will be the first time they are left alone completely.

 

[A & B]

They fought and Bugs hurt Evie.

I woke up to find Bugs and Evie fighting and a ton of fur pulled. Above Evie's eye, there is blood. It's a little past 1 am and I have one carrier and I don't feel comfortable walking home alone. Before I fell asleep, I remember there was nipping and they seemed tense but I thought nothing of it. I'm so close to giving up. Maybe it wasn't meant to be. Again.

In the meantime, I have to wait at least 5 hours until my mom can bring me a second carrier. I'm definitely not going back to sleep. I just texted my brother though. Hopefully he decided to stay up late tonight.

 

[A & B]

Oh yeah, here's her eye. Don't mind my hand.

 

[A & B]

Picture didn't attach.

 

[A & B]

There's a lot of stuff I need to update you guys on so be prepared for a long post.

I'm so dissapointed about how bonding went. I really wanted Bugs to have a friend to improve his quality of life but it seems that I've made it worse. I love Evie so there's no way I'm giving her up. She's just perfect. I've wanted a bonded pair ever since I started researching rabbits when I was 11. I could have adopted a bonded pair and that would have made my life 100× easier but that completely slipped my mind. Bugs's whole life I've prided myself on (for the most part) knowing what I'm doing and to have 0 idea what I'm doing during bonding despite doing research got to me.

I can't continue bonding. There's no way I could ever trust them together when I'm not there to supervise. They did so well until they just weren't multiple times. I can't stop thinking about what would have happened if they fought when I wasn't home. They don't seem to be bothered about not being together. Evie's eye is healing nicely so that's great.

I'm redoing the pen and bunny area as soon as I have the money to (more on that later) and when I actually know how I want to do it. I know that for sure I want to get foam puzzle mats for flooring and new water bowls, probably the ones that clamp onto the bars because the next time I have to clean up spilled water I'm not going to be happy. I watched Evie tip the bowl over today because she wanted me to hurry up and go wash her veggies. The chicken wire and nails in the pen is actually becoming dangerous. I made sure everything was safe for the bunnies but not for myself. I get impaled by the wire and there's a nail holding the fake wood into the table (top of the pen) that looks like it's waiting for me to sit up under it. Ouch. I also want to have a giant cardboard box(es) going all around the perimeter of the pen like a tunnel. They definitely seem bored of the pen setup.

My sister (12) has offered to let Evie live in her room and I'm trying to decide if I am going to go that route. Bugs and I's relationship has been so bad since getting another bunny. He runs from me and won't sleep on my bed at all. It breaks my heart. The only issue is that my sister has a 3 pound dog that lives in her room also so the pen and condo would have to be secured very well. The dog is actually terrified of the bunnies but I can't risk her getting hurt. She would have time outside of the cage whenever my sister is in her room and a pen attached to her condo if she wanted to run. I need advice on this badly. If you need more information on this setup idea, let me know.

Okay, finally onto my money issues. I'm 14 working a minimum wage job. I'm legally allowed to work 18 hours a week (that number is higher in the summer too, I think it's 25 but I could be wrong) and I've gotten 3-5 hour weeks all summer and it was like that occasionally before summer too. That's like $30 at the most after taxes. I probably spend $20 a week at least on the bunnies so I have no money in my vet funds which is incredibly risky. Not to mention that I have no money for cage renovations or to buy them toys as often as I'd like to. It's frustersting. I've already asked for more hours and I still get the same. I'm in the process of getting another job but it's very hard to find another place that will hire me.

Please excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes. It's almost 1 in the morning and I'm tired. Thanks for reading

 

[Butterscotch]

I'd like to preface this by saying I know absolutely nothing about bonding yet but I get the impression from your blog that Bugs and Evie don't hate each other, they're still just working things out. Do you think that if you go back to taking it really slow you might have some success further on down the bonding road? I'm really disappointed for you too, I was so hoping this would work out for you and Bugs and Evie.