Bonding (hopefully) vol 3

[Catlyn]

The chance has finally shone upon me!
The first ever rabbit rescue in Estonia has its first larger batch of sp/eutered rabbits ready to be rehomed. I reached out to them and i have managed to arrange a date for tomorrow; between one of their rehomees and my own widow lady. Iris will take a bus with me that takes us roughly 80km from our home to meet this new possible buddy. If all plays out in the most perfect manner, i will be set to return later in the evening with a pair of bunnons. (link to the local shelter just in case anyone is curious about this little rescue https://rhvarjupaik.ee/paku-kodu/ ) There's this little loppy mister named Genka, that's the one we're going to meet.
Wish us all luck!

 

[Preitler]

Good luck

 

[Catlyn]

Excuse the toilet brush, but bonding is underway!
The rescuer really likes me and my lady, and the rescue man also seems smitten by her!
After a short-ish pre-date on the rescuer's kitchen, we deemed these two fit enough to travel back home for in-depth bonding to be continued at my rooms. The man was very eager to climb her, but shs showed the most 'don't give a fluff' attitude ever and just continued to munch on her hay.
Spent from the ride and shedding a lot; They look so lovely together!

 

[Catlyn]

Aaaand right now the bond has to be put on hold. Since it turns out the man was only fixed a month ago, he's still more hormonal than need be and the lady's patience ran out for a hot second. I'm not entirely sure who or what was the instigator, but i soon found that 'puny little rabbits' such as Genka can also pack some serious bite and punch. He weighs no more tjhan 2kg! He latched onto my pinky in a deep, bloody bite and boxed with me. Half my palm is feeling a little numb. Oww.....
" Better my blood than the bunnies' " i said and patched it up. Then proceeded to the hardware store for some torx screws, veneer board and square wire to turn my lower bunk into an aviary-esque little enclosure for the buck until his hormones can chill a little more, until he adjusts and Iris will hopefully stop seeing him as a threat to her space.
Not the most glorious amount of space, though still above the unventilated bathroom.

 

[Preitler]

Ah, well, hormones.

Until recently my house bunny pair always were an intact buck - Herr Hase and now Pacino - and a spayed doe, Dotty. Ok, Dotty is the most patient girl I know (but snaps into berserk mode if any other rabbit gets into her territory), but in my experience what helped a lot are ways for her to get out of sight, several boxes, some connected maze like, and enough space. My boys are terrible bad bloodhounds and often enough they just hopped past the occupied hiding box honking.
Also a low table where she just get under might help.

Or waiting, I had Pacine neutered in October, I think, and it took quite some time for him to stop pestering her, but in his case it seemed it was also an old habiut that was hard to break since he had done this every day for years.

By now he only starts to do it when he gets really riled up, like when he just had an argument with my new buck Hansi trough the fence, but just for some seconds.

 

[JBun]

Looks good to me. Soon enough you'll have two bonded buns and you won't need the separate enclosure anymore.

Amazing the damage such a little creature can do. I had a bun latch onto my finger before. Not fun, but she ended up being one of my sweetest bunnies.

He's a cute little guy

 

[Catlyn]

He is such a squirmy worm! Hard to get him to sit still for even a single moment! I tried to hold him still in the aviary while i lifted my lady up there (so that he can also get some freeroam) and he would. Not. Sit still for long enough to do the swap smoothly. I did get them swapped out eventually so now Buck is enjoying my living room while Doe is in the bedframe.
Oddly enough, with this arrangement, the lady doesn't get triggered when Buck comes up to investigate her. She's just chillin and sleepin. But when they're there together (gotta clean them poops with open door so i hold buck while i scoop n the lady decided to hop in too) the lady is half-curious half-pissed about his presence? She looks like she'd be ready to bite if i weren't right there. Guess she's still feeling mighty defensive about the Buck directly in what used to be her space to cuddle with me.

Also, i'm pretty much forced into a sudden shift in living arrangements. Kinda poopy timing that right after i brought Buck back home, i essentially got a half-way eviction note. (Not really, nobody's gonna kick me out but basically rent would be lifted wayyy too high for my income so i'm kinda forced to move into more affordable accommodation. Moving with bunn furniture and the hay bales? That's gonna suck but life does life....)

So depending on how fast i can secure cheaper bunn friendly accommodation, i may just push true bonding to the time i'd be forced to move into the new place. May be better like that, really, for both to get complete neutral ground so no domain wars occur.

 

[Catlyn]

I don't know if it does more harm than good in the overall bonding, or if it matters none, but i found that during the buns' usual naptime, they are rather susceptible to chilling and sleeping side-by-side so long as i always pet at least one of them. it is a blissful 5 or 10 minutes that i get to pet both equally without having to worry about accidental favouritism or poop wars.

Also, i have managed to secure myself buns-okay, slightly more affordable accommodation in an equally good location at the city, on a quiet street second floor, as opposed to the noisy main street third floor. having to make do with merely 5 euros per day for everything including buns' food and my own, and everything from clothes to household products, and trying to save up even a little every month, now that's not gonna be fun at all. but hey, i'll have my buns with me and i won't be homeless, so that's at least something. The bunny boy is going to have so much relief, he doesn't have to be scared of booming music or traffic jam honks or ''loud, farting motobikes'' as i so un-affectionately call them.

 

[JBun]

Snuggling without getting aggitated or wanting to kill each other, is really good. It makes me believe bonding them won't be too difficult for you, once his hormones have settled.

 

[Catlyn]

Were they ever apart after the initial encounter, i wonder? They certainly don't show signs of it now that they're chilling in the new apartment. Snuggling up and lounging about as if they were a middle-aged married couple. Only that i cannot get them to sit still for a moment long enough that it would take for a sharp photo. The sir is absolutely smitten with the widow and is actively buzzing around and trying to claim his top spot. The lady occasionally appears a little distressed.... *random intermission* oh shoot, the lady is giving out kisses! i didn't think that she'd be the one to submit to the whims of a teeny firecracker that is the little sir, i guess she got sick of being used as a climbing accessory?
anyway, it seems now that i have landed on another deceptively easy bond, done in a day, and all i gotta do now is not aggro their fresh bond with anything stupid. i'm guessing that the sir will pull back on his honkety climbing once he feels more secure in the new relationship?

 

[JBun]

I'm so glad it's worked out! And relatively easily. Always great to see a happy bun couple