sophiegirl81
Member
I joined this forum just so I could ask this question. And because it seems like a really cool site. A little bit about my situation. After my first rabbit Sophie died in October of last year, I adopted my 2nd rabbit, Willow, who is 1 year and a half old, back in November 2010 from our local animal shelter, where I also volunteer every week. I am fairly experienced with almost all issues that rabbits face, I train new volunteers and do rabbit education classes with new adopters, but the situation I am now in has me and every bunny person I know completely stumped.
Willow has a big 24 sq foot pen with a 2 story cage (that is always open for her to hop in and out of). She also has an outdoor run that is 30 sq ft (my balcony converted into a bunny run-completely enclosed and covered). I work M-F 9-5, and she seems to need attention all the time, so I recently (July 26, 2011) adopted a 9 month old neutered male named Cedar (he's from my animal shelter too, and has been fixed for more than 3 months). Also of note, I live in a small studio so me and my bunnies share our space. My bed is about 2 feet from bunnies.
It has been almost a month since I brought Cedar home. Willow did very well with the introduction when she met Cedar at the animal shelter. He is the 5th bunny she had been introduced to in 6 months of trying to find a mate, and there was no aggression, they were both curious about each other, and he even groomed her a little bit which was taken as a very good sign by myself and the lady who runs the Rabbit Room at the shelter. So I brought him home, and put him in a "loaner" cage that I borrowed from the shelter, right up against Willow's pen but about 3 inches apart so that they could not bite each other.
I let her get used to him being there for the first few days. I forgot to mention that Willow is accustomed to going outside on the balcony (her run) every morning around dawn. I bring her inside after I get home from work in the early-mid evening. The first night when I brought her inside after I had settled Cedar in his cage, I put her in her pen and sat inside with her to watch her reaction and reassure her everything was OK. As soon as she saw him, the best way I can describe it is that she got "wild eyed and crazy". I have never seen her like that before. She ran around her pen and charged me, and came straight up to me and bit my leg (I was kneeling in her pen talking to her softly) really hard. She has never been aggressive before. I high-tailed it out of her pen and let her tantrum for the next several hours. What I mean by tantruming is charging the edge of her pen, shaking the bars, etc. We continued with this routine for the next 2-3 nights.
After about 3 nights, I began to switch their litter boxes so they would get used to each other's scents. After a couple days of doing that, I started switching the bunnies themselves. The balcony runs the length of her pen, and during the day I would open the curtain so the bunnies could see each other at all times to get them used to each other. When Willow would come back to her pen at night after being on the balcony during the day, and she would smell Cedar's scent, she started spraying urine and dropping lots of marking pellets. This slowly diminished after about a week or so.
Our routine for the second 2 weeks was Willow on the balcony every day, Cedar in the pen every day. I switched both rabbits between the pen and the loaner cage every other night. I noticed when Willow was in the loaner cage, Cedar would lay right next to her in the pen all night. During the day when Willow was on the balcony and Cedar was in the pen, Cedar would sit in the litter box by the window and watch her every move. It seemed he was in love with her. She mostly completely ignored him, making a point of sticking her little bunny butt towards him whenever possible. Cedar smelled her scent in the pen, and hopped right on by. He did not try to mark over her ever.
When I tried introducing them in neutral territory (the bathroom or my little hallway), Willow went straight for Cedar and tried to bite him. I had the spray bottle ready, my rubbermaid gloves on, and a wire mesh pasta strainer ready as a "bunny face shield" so they could smell each other but not hurt each other. I managed to break it up every time before anyone got injured but it was too much to do by myself (I live alone).
I read about the car ride idea so I had my friend drive one day while I sat in the back of her car with the bunnies in a box and all my tools handy in case of a fight. They did fight at first until I had kept my gloved hand on each of them, petted and reassured them for about 10 minutes. Then I let go and waited. They did well for the rest of the car ride (about 10 more minutes), with Cedar relaxing and letting Willow lay across him (not in dominance).
That was once, and no one I know has been available to drive us to do another car ride session. It's been almost 2 weeks since I've had them together in the same space. They spend every day and night next to each other. Willow finally seems to be OK with him as her neighbor. I don't know how long I should continue this just having them next to each other until I start trying to actually bond them again. My situation is such that it will be impossible to keep them separate on a permanent basis, I just don't have room.
Lastly, at night, Willow bangs and chews on the cage wires no matter what I do. I give her love, pets, and treats. She is outside with fresh air and plenty of exercise for 16 hours a day, and only caged at night. I put the cage where she can see me. Is that the problem? I tried putting a sheet over the cage and it made no difference at all. The weird thing is she is quiet for about the first 4 hours after I bring her inside, and she starts with the banging and chewing the cage around midnight each night. She has plenty of hay and toys to keep her occupied. I have used a spray bottle to stop the loud behavior, and she stops for about 1 minute then just when I'm about to fall asleep, she starts again. Ignoring her works best, but I can't do that forever, obviously.
Question 1: How long I should continue this just having them next to each other until I start trying to actually bond them again, given how aggressive Willow was with Cedar at the beginning? I want them to have positive or at least neutral experiences together to become a successful pair.
Question 2: What do I do to stop Willow tantruming at night so that I can sleep?
Please help, and thank you all so much.
Willow has a big 24 sq foot pen with a 2 story cage (that is always open for her to hop in and out of). She also has an outdoor run that is 30 sq ft (my balcony converted into a bunny run-completely enclosed and covered). I work M-F 9-5, and she seems to need attention all the time, so I recently (July 26, 2011) adopted a 9 month old neutered male named Cedar (he's from my animal shelter too, and has been fixed for more than 3 months). Also of note, I live in a small studio so me and my bunnies share our space. My bed is about 2 feet from bunnies.
It has been almost a month since I brought Cedar home. Willow did very well with the introduction when she met Cedar at the animal shelter. He is the 5th bunny she had been introduced to in 6 months of trying to find a mate, and there was no aggression, they were both curious about each other, and he even groomed her a little bit which was taken as a very good sign by myself and the lady who runs the Rabbit Room at the shelter. So I brought him home, and put him in a "loaner" cage that I borrowed from the shelter, right up against Willow's pen but about 3 inches apart so that they could not bite each other.
I let her get used to him being there for the first few days. I forgot to mention that Willow is accustomed to going outside on the balcony (her run) every morning around dawn. I bring her inside after I get home from work in the early-mid evening. The first night when I brought her inside after I had settled Cedar in his cage, I put her in her pen and sat inside with her to watch her reaction and reassure her everything was OK. As soon as she saw him, the best way I can describe it is that she got "wild eyed and crazy". I have never seen her like that before. She ran around her pen and charged me, and came straight up to me and bit my leg (I was kneeling in her pen talking to her softly) really hard. She has never been aggressive before. I high-tailed it out of her pen and let her tantrum for the next several hours. What I mean by tantruming is charging the edge of her pen, shaking the bars, etc. We continued with this routine for the next 2-3 nights.
After about 3 nights, I began to switch their litter boxes so they would get used to each other's scents. After a couple days of doing that, I started switching the bunnies themselves. The balcony runs the length of her pen, and during the day I would open the curtain so the bunnies could see each other at all times to get them used to each other. When Willow would come back to her pen at night after being on the balcony during the day, and she would smell Cedar's scent, she started spraying urine and dropping lots of marking pellets. This slowly diminished after about a week or so.
Our routine for the second 2 weeks was Willow on the balcony every day, Cedar in the pen every day. I switched both rabbits between the pen and the loaner cage every other night. I noticed when Willow was in the loaner cage, Cedar would lay right next to her in the pen all night. During the day when Willow was on the balcony and Cedar was in the pen, Cedar would sit in the litter box by the window and watch her every move. It seemed he was in love with her. She mostly completely ignored him, making a point of sticking her little bunny butt towards him whenever possible. Cedar smelled her scent in the pen, and hopped right on by. He did not try to mark over her ever.
When I tried introducing them in neutral territory (the bathroom or my little hallway), Willow went straight for Cedar and tried to bite him. I had the spray bottle ready, my rubbermaid gloves on, and a wire mesh pasta strainer ready as a "bunny face shield" so they could smell each other but not hurt each other. I managed to break it up every time before anyone got injured but it was too much to do by myself (I live alone).
I read about the car ride idea so I had my friend drive one day while I sat in the back of her car with the bunnies in a box and all my tools handy in case of a fight. They did fight at first until I had kept my gloved hand on each of them, petted and reassured them for about 10 minutes. Then I let go and waited. They did well for the rest of the car ride (about 10 more minutes), with Cedar relaxing and letting Willow lay across him (not in dominance).
That was once, and no one I know has been available to drive us to do another car ride session. It's been almost 2 weeks since I've had them together in the same space. They spend every day and night next to each other. Willow finally seems to be OK with him as her neighbor. I don't know how long I should continue this just having them next to each other until I start trying to actually bond them again. My situation is such that it will be impossible to keep them separate on a permanent basis, I just don't have room.
Lastly, at night, Willow bangs and chews on the cage wires no matter what I do. I give her love, pets, and treats. She is outside with fresh air and plenty of exercise for 16 hours a day, and only caged at night. I put the cage where she can see me. Is that the problem? I tried putting a sheet over the cage and it made no difference at all. The weird thing is she is quiet for about the first 4 hours after I bring her inside, and she starts with the banging and chewing the cage around midnight each night. She has plenty of hay and toys to keep her occupied. I have used a spray bottle to stop the loud behavior, and she stops for about 1 minute then just when I'm about to fall asleep, she starts again. Ignoring her works best, but I can't do that forever, obviously.
Question 1: How long I should continue this just having them next to each other until I start trying to actually bond them again, given how aggressive Willow was with Cedar at the beginning? I want them to have positive or at least neutral experiences together to become a successful pair.
Question 2: What do I do to stop Willow tantruming at night so that I can sleep?
Please help, and thank you all so much.
