Bonding Kirby & Penny - Moving in

[elrohwen]

Ahh, the demanding of grooms! Haha. That's not an easy thing to watch, because you want to tell him if he'd just be calm and cool she would be happy to groom him. No girl is going to kiss her if you keep punching her in the face. Lol.

It sounds like he just doesn't have fantastic social skills with other bunnies at this point. It's so great that she's mellow, because many other buns wouldn't take his crap. There may be a day where she doesn't want to take his crap either, but hopefully that will happen with a lunge or nip, not a fight.

I think breaking it up and keeping things positive to start is a good idea. Especially as he doesn't seem to have much trust in her, so keeping the sessions positive might teach him that she's ok.

Have you done any stressing? I really really think it would be good for Kirby. You can also try stressing while bonding. You'll have to be creative, but anything that makes a loud and startling noise might break his pouncing mindset.

 

[kirbyultra]

Yep, I think stressing Kirby would be a good idea too. I brought home a box to carry him in so I could walk around some strange places with him around the building. There were a lot of people walking around the last few days due to the "union strike threat" with the building people... so it just hasn't been a good opportunity. Now that the threat has blown over, I think I will go take Kirby for a walk before bonding. For instance last night when he was getting too uncooperative and antsy, I picked him up and cooed him for a bit, that seemed to throw him off his game enough for him to play nicely the rest of the session.

Do I bring Penny along? Do I put them together in the same box and walk around with them?

 

[kirbyultra]

elrohwen wrote:

No girl is going to kiss her if you keep punching her in the face. Lol

So true. This made me LOL!

elrohwen wrote:

It sounds like he just doesn't have fantastic social skills with other bunnies at this point.

Yep, right again. Kirby was a hutch bunny for 2 years before he was surrendered and I adopted him. His sense of social norm is all out of whack. I don't blame him for being odd with people and other rabbits because of this. It's gotta be difficult for him to accept a living being as a friend.

 

[elrohwen]

If you're going to stress before bonding, you really need to bring Penny along - that's the whole idea of stressing. During stress Kirby won't be pouncing on her and might realize that she's an ok bun who will snuggle with him and take care of him. It will give them positive time together were Kirby won't be able to mess it up by being too assertive.

 

[kirbyultra]

I figured as much. I'll put them both in an open air box and go for a walk. The building neighbors are going to be in for a shock

 

[funnybunnymummy]

Hehe! I love shocking my neighbours with Gus.

Rue

 

[elrohwen]

I'm sure they'll be even more shocked when you tell them that you're bonding your bunnies and carrying them around in a box together is a very common technique :-D

 

[kirbyultra]

I packed em in a cardboard box, put a towel over them initially so they'd calm down. They were climbing all over each other trying to see over the top of the box. It was sad to watch. Once I picked them up and started to sway the box as I walked, they got more quiet. I went down to the laundry room and put the box in a laundry basket on wheels and carted them around for a while. Two women walked in but I picked up the box in my hands and looked away from them, just rocking the box back and forth. They must've thought I was mental LOL

So anyhow, they were pretty silent through the whole thing. When I took them back to my apt and in the hallway for bonding, they didn't seem to do any differently. Penny ate her lettuce, Kirby didn't care for it. Kirby tried to nip her butt but didn't get any fur. We sat for like 30 minutes maybe, and nothing really happened. He didn't snub her but they weren't loving it and there wasn't as much snuggliness.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

I hope it starts getting better. I know they will come around. Have you tried over stressing them it sound like Kirby is going to be the dominate one.

 

[hln917]

kirbyultra wrote:

Two women walked in but I picked up the box in my hands and looked away from them, just rocking the box back and forth. They must've thought I was mental LOL

:roflmao: Lay off those drugs already!!!

Next time, look into the box and start talking to it in front of them!

 

[elrohwen]

Helen, I think that sounds good! They're not going to snuggle right away - at this poing you really just want them to ignore and coexist. If you were able to sit there bored for 30 mins, then that's a good session! I would repeat this a couple more times and see how they do.

 

[kirbyultra]

Mrs. PBJ wrote:

I hope it starts getting better. I know they will come around. Have you tried over stressing them it sound like Kirby is going to be the dominate one.

Right now it sounds like both of them want to be alpha bun. The weird thing is I really thought, when I adopted her, that Penny would be a pushover. She is a snuggle bun and she sticks her head under my hand for pet-demands but she always rewards me with loads of bunny licks back. She simply won't do it for Kirby, maybe because Kirby won't groom her regularly.

Kirby is used to being dominant. I'm the pushover who made him this way. :twitch:

 

[kirbyultra]

hln917 wrote:

kirbyultra wrote:

Two women walked in but I picked up the box in my hands and looked away from them, just rocking the box back and forth. They must've thought I was mental LOL

:roflmao: Lay off those drugs already!!!

Next time, look into the box and start talking to it in front of them!

Hahaha... There were cameras in the laundry room, monitored by front desk probably. THOSE staff members literally saw me carting around a box filled with what looked like black and brown color laundry baaack and fooorth, baaack and fooorth... :rofl:

 

[kirbyultra]

elrohwen wrote:

Helen, I think that sounds good! They're not going to snuggle right away - at this poing you really just want them to ignore and coexist. If you were able to sit there bored for 30 mins, then that's a good session! I would repeat this a couple more times and see how they do.

Ahhh it's so much work... Nobody said this was going to be easy. I thought I had already stacked this game in my favor, but it's still so challenging.

Penny is having playtime right now. She just flopped in front of his door. Kirby is staring right at her, totally unimpressed. :expressionless

 

[kirbyultra]

Ugh, nevermind, she flopped over under my chair, demanding my feet to pet her now... Yes, your majesty... :grumpy

 

[elrohwen]

Being indifferent is so good though! Just keep telling yourself that ignoring is so positive right now because it means that Kirby isn't demanding grooms so much or pouncing on her.

And I should remind you that my pair has been together 24/7 for almost 3 days now and I've seen each of them groom the other once, for about 30 seconds. Lol. So that can take time!

 

[kirbyultra]

They are together in the hallway right now. I have decided to step out of the hallway section. I'm watching them from the dining table... The two of them were following me around no matter where I stood so I thought it best to remove myself.

I'm getting a lot of weird signals from them tonight. It's been 30 minutes. So far, they've had solitary time together. Then I put out the litter boxes. They also got salad together. Then I filled their boxes with hay....

Here's what's happened the last 30 minutes:
- Penny's showing signs of being scared of Kirby. Whenever he comes close enough to touch her, she runs away
- Kirby has grunted at her twice, and nipped fur out twice. However, he has tried to also approach her slowly, as if he wanted to groom her
- Penny has pooped in his box. He is still eating out of it though.
- After Kirby went into her litter box and sniffed around, he went to sniff her butt and reeeally dug his head into her bum while she was standing still eating lettuce. She eventually ran away from him.
- Kirby has binkied several times in the hallway
- Penny has also binkied once or twice in the hallway
- Penny dead bunny flopped 2 times. Once, Kirby came by and she got up in a hurry. Second time, he came by and he got to sniff her belly. When he started to sniff her feet, she got up.
- Now they are both eating hay from their own litter boxes.

We're approaching 40 minutes. I don't know what to make of this activity....:?:?:?:?:?:?:?:?:?:?:?
ETA: Kirby was eating hay from his box while standing beside it. Penny came over and hopped into his box. She peed and pooped in it, then she hopped out and proceeded to bunny flop on the side of the hall. Kirby proceeded as if nothing happened. Now he is in his box too. What on earth is going on....

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

Sound like Storm and Jessi the first day or two.

I don't know much you know storms and jessi story so i am no expert. Someone will come along babe.

 

[kirbyultra]

I know you are a very lucky woman, Kat. LOL I"m pullin my hair out over here.........

 

[kirbyultra]

She DBF'ed a 3rd time. Kirby came by, sniffed her. She twitched, but didn't get up. He finished sniffing and walked away.

Kirby started to get really chewy on the foam mat. When he chews, he ingests. So I kept shooing him away.... it didn't work. So I threw the empty cardboard box in there (the one I used to carry them around in yesterday night). They both started to hop around it. Kirby flipped the box on its side. At one point they both were in the box for like a second. Now he's playing with the box and she's eating hay, not interested in it anymore.

ETA: I lost count. She flops a lot. Not all of them are dead bunny flops, but lots are. Right now she's flopped, head on the floor, totally relaxed. Kirby is grooming himself in the far side of the hallway. They're sorta ignoring each other, but not really. It's so late. Why don't I ever do this stuff earlier?

Oh yeah, it's cuz if I try to do it earlier my husband is always getting in the way LOL.... he's sleeping like a baby. And I'm over here burning the midnight oil with bunnies. Sigh.