BONDING Kiwi & Papaya

[Mariah]

Well, they are running around the living room together right now. Kiwi will stop and start grooming Papaya and he let's her willingly. Papaya still won't really groom Kiwi, just the whisker chewing as I said before. I've noticed though, that Papaya will follow Kiwi in their running arounds and then she starts circling him and so on and so forth. I stop them when they start circling cause I know where that leads...

Whats with the circling?? The living room is neutral territory! Is kiwi trying to claim it as her own?

 

[Mariah]

Well this morning, one minute they are grooming, the next they were leaping in the air fighting....

No more playtime together for kiwi and Papaya.... I think they hate each other

 

[Imbrium]

just give him time to get rid of the hormones

I'm sure it's very discouraging to feel like you're taking one step forward and two steps back, but it's hardly a lost cause yet

 

[Mariah]

Ok I will. It's just so hard as you say. One step forward, and a millions steps back

 

[cwolfec]

Sometimes you can take a break, and reintroduce them again later. Start in neutral territory again. Bonding can be tough. With my two boys, I got SO frustrated and would cry when they fought because I thought it was never gonna work. Let those hormones dissipate, and try again

Good luck!

 

[Imbrium]

taking a break not only gives time for hormones to subside and bunnies to forget about their fights, it also gives YOU time to de-stress from it all .

if you get too frustrated with the process, the bunns will probably be able to sense it. just take a deep breath, remind yourself that bonding takes time and that temporary set-backs are just that - temporary! I'm sure you'll be able to make it work soon enough.

in the meantime, you can swap their cages every few days or something (put papaya in kiwi's and vice-versa) to get them used to each others' scents and confuse them as to which territory "belongs" to which bunny. you might also try taking them on some car rides as long as someone can sit in the back seat with them and make sure they don't fight - the shared stressful experience can help coerce them into bonding, plus the car is neutral territory.

 

[Mariah]

It kills me to take a break cause when they are apart, it seems like they want to be together! Right now, they are laying side by side with the bunny barrier in between them... I'm not putting them together today but I really want too!