Runestonez
Retired Moderator
We are still trying to bond our 4 bunns. For anyone who hasn't seen our other posts...we have two female Lionheads and two male lops. The two girls have been bonded to the one male for about 3-4 months. And now we are adding another male to the mix. To add to the fun...the already bonded male is an Alpha male. Uhm...nice to knowwe like to do things the hard way huh??!! 
We were letting them meet thru a doubled up NIC fence for the last 2 weeksbecause Solembum likes to lunge and bite at the new boy.(Which he did the day after we brought Dandelion home...leading to a whole bunch of vet visits and having to have the poor boys ear reshaped by surgery:?) So now we have opened the library(Dandelions territory)and let the bunns meet thruthe X-pen(doubled up with NIC cubes so there is no room for biting). I wish my sis hadn't confiscated her digital camera back cause it was so funny.
Our most submissive bunn in the lot is Peppers she hopped into the room stuck her face thru the bars, gave the new boy a thorough sniffing, left a pile of poops and went off about her business. She really didn't pay any attention to him one way or the other. Our other girl Skittles, who is the Queen of this little warren and the dominant bunn overall, is absolutely fascinated by the new boy. She sat with her face thru the bars nose to nose with Dandelion for minutes on end. Just sitting there sniffing! It was def love at first sight! So if worst comes to worst we can still have 2 bonded pairs instead of 4 bonded all together. So the pressure is off.We weremore worried about having a lonely bunny than anything else. Skittles is def head over heels about Dandelion.
Now as for the Alpha male Solembum, he is as dense as they come. I wish I had a camera so you guys could see his face. He will hop up and sniff noses with Dandelion for afew secondsor so and then lunges at the bars(which he gets sprayed for). Dandelion doesn't do anything. He will hop back a little and just sit watching Solembum. If he gets really bored with Solembums behavior and lack of manners he will hop over and sit there eating his greens watching Solembum freak out. Sort of like the bunn version of dinner and a show!Last night it looked like Solembum was trying to eggDandelion into fighting. He was sitting there(slightly damp from the last lunge at the bars) with his chubby bunny face looking all p***y and pouty, and he kept making little jumps forward with his front feet but not going anywhere. Dandelion would look over and then go back to having his bath. He wouldn't even look at Solembum. Just had a full out, all over body bath. Solembums face was precious though...after a while he just puffed all up in a balland sat there pouting with this "Why won't you fight me?" look on his face. He really looked totally confused like Dandelion wasn't doing his part! But it was Solembums face that was just precious...our one bunn loves to pout but'Bum took it to all new levels!!
The last time Solembum pulled a boneheaded move lunging at Dandelion he got more than he bargined for! Skittles was sitting there too and before I could even spray him for lunging, Skittles grabbed him by the arse end and then gave him a good kicking too just for good measure. He stopped and went totally flat to the ground and just sat there. I was sitting there with my mouth hanging open!! She hadn't been near him when he lunged she was sitting further away, but she apparently did not approve! Then she went out and had a wee sis tiff with Peppy(they have been together since birth so they have tiffs now and again like all sisters do!) and then all 3 went and had a wee cuddle under the diningroom table. Boy I wish it were up to Skittles to decide if Dandelion got to be part of the warren...things would be so much easier! Yeah right!
So the next stepwe have in mind for the bondingprocess is to remove Solembum from the bunn room and house him beside Dandelion in the library(we have decided to add a strip of hardware cloth between the two X-pens forour peace of mind) and start alternating letting them out with the girls. Dandelion won't have a problem being submissive to Solembum...we just have to convince Solembum that the new boy isn't a threat to his little kingdom.We figured that having them housed together side by side24/7 is the best way to start this ball rolling in a positive direction! So this weekend Phase 2 of bonding goes into effect!!We still have high hopes that all will turn out well if given enuff time!We have set December asour goal for having the bunns bonded!! If it takes more time than that...then so be it! Butwe areaiming for a beautiful pic of the 4 bunns together by our fireplace for Christmas!!
Wishus luck!!!
We were letting them meet thru a doubled up NIC fence for the last 2 weeksbecause Solembum likes to lunge and bite at the new boy.(Which he did the day after we brought Dandelion home...leading to a whole bunch of vet visits and having to have the poor boys ear reshaped by surgery:?) So now we have opened the library(Dandelions territory)and let the bunns meet thruthe X-pen(doubled up with NIC cubes so there is no room for biting). I wish my sis hadn't confiscated her digital camera back cause it was so funny.
Our most submissive bunn in the lot is Peppers she hopped into the room stuck her face thru the bars, gave the new boy a thorough sniffing, left a pile of poops and went off about her business. She really didn't pay any attention to him one way or the other. Our other girl Skittles, who is the Queen of this little warren and the dominant bunn overall, is absolutely fascinated by the new boy. She sat with her face thru the bars nose to nose with Dandelion for minutes on end. Just sitting there sniffing! It was def love at first sight! So if worst comes to worst we can still have 2 bonded pairs instead of 4 bonded all together. So the pressure is off.We weremore worried about having a lonely bunny than anything else. Skittles is def head over heels about Dandelion.
Now as for the Alpha male Solembum, he is as dense as they come. I wish I had a camera so you guys could see his face. He will hop up and sniff noses with Dandelion for afew secondsor so and then lunges at the bars(which he gets sprayed for). Dandelion doesn't do anything. He will hop back a little and just sit watching Solembum. If he gets really bored with Solembums behavior and lack of manners he will hop over and sit there eating his greens watching Solembum freak out. Sort of like the bunn version of dinner and a show!
Last night it looked like Solembum was trying to eggDandelion into fighting. He was sitting there(slightly damp from the last lunge at the bars) with his chubby bunny face looking all p***y and pouty, and he kept making little jumps forward with his front feet but not going anywhere. Dandelion would look over and then go back to having his bath. He wouldn't even look at Solembum. Just had a full out, all over body bath. Solembums face was precious though...after a while he just puffed all up in a balland sat there pouting with this "Why won't you fight me?" look on his face. He really looked totally confused like Dandelion wasn't doing his part! But it was Solembums face that was just precious...our one bunn loves to pout but'Bum took it to all new levels!! The last time Solembum pulled a boneheaded move lunging at Dandelion he got more than he bargined for! Skittles was sitting there too and before I could even spray him for lunging, Skittles grabbed him by the arse end and then gave him a good kicking too just for good measure. He stopped and went totally flat to the ground and just sat there. I was sitting there with my mouth hanging open!! She hadn't been near him when he lunged she was sitting further away, but she apparently did not approve! Then she went out and had a wee sis tiff with Peppy(they have been together since birth so they have tiffs now and again like all sisters do!) and then all 3 went and had a wee cuddle under the diningroom table. Boy I wish it were up to Skittles to decide if Dandelion got to be part of the warren...things would be so much easier!
Yeah right!So the next stepwe have in mind for the bondingprocess is to remove Solembum from the bunn room and house him beside Dandelion in the library(we have decided to add a strip of hardware cloth between the two X-pens forour peace of mind) and start alternating letting them out with the girls. Dandelion won't have a problem being submissive to Solembum...we just have to convince Solembum that the new boy isn't a threat to his little kingdom.We figured that having them housed together side by side24/7 is the best way to start this ball rolling in a positive direction! So this weekend Phase 2 of bonding goes into effect!!We still have high hopes that all will turn out well if given enuff time!We have set December asour goal for having the bunns bonded!! If it takes more time than that...then so be it! Butwe areaiming for a beautiful pic of the 4 bunns together by our fireplace for Christmas!!
Wishus luck!!!
