Going to try to bond Ned and Phoebe Mae!

[elrohwen]

Awww, they are precious!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Yay! We had a successful bonding session today! Successful in that there was no fighting First we took them for a 15-20 minute car ride. I used a pretty big clear sided storage container instead of an apple box or laundry basket. Phoebe peed halfway through the drive. I forgot to bring paper towels, so both bunnies were very wet when we got home I brought them straight out to the play yard (it rained today but not for a few hours before we went out) and they ran around eating dandelions and ignoring each other for about 10 minutes, except for one time when Ned approached Phoebe, they sniffed, then he ran away flicking his heels at her. Did he flick his feet because he was mad or because he didn't like her? I don't know! In any case, my fiance was with us during that first 10 minutes, and once he went inside, they crept closer together. I don't know if it was a coincidence or they felt uncomfortable with him there or what? In any case, they sniffed each other some and there wasn't any aggressive behavior. I petted them lots and talked to them. Then we went inside Total time spent in the play yard: about 15-20 minutes. I swapped their cages again tonight.

Is it normal for them to still be ignoring each other? So far they've been in the play yard twice and had 4 car rides together. How does their progress so far sound?

 

[elrohwen]

That's good progress! Ignoring is fine - usually it means that they don't quite trust each other, but they don't see each other as a threat either.

For only two sessions out of the car, it sounds pretty good! You don't have chasing/nipping/humping or fighting. I'll just warn you that as they get more comfortable with sessions together they might start some of the nipping/chasing/humping behavior, so don't feel bad if they seem to go backwards. It's just them working out their communication once they get past the ignoring stage. Or they might not do this at all and just be friends.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Bunnies and I just came in from their third yard bonding session! This time we didn't go for a car ride first. I brought the timer out and we were there for exactly 20 minutes. Once again, they ignored each other for the most part- they approached each other several times, and sat next to each other eating dandelions for a bit. A few times, one of them would bounce over to the other or sniff the other's butt. There were several times that I was ready with the NIC panel to intervene if necessary because they were "getting all up in each other's business," so to speak, but there was no nipping, chasing, mounting, or other aggressive behavior. Also, at one point they tried to go into the carrier together- I headed THAT off! Last thing I need is a fight breaking out in a small, enclosed space that I can't break up!

I brought my camera out this time Got some cute pictures of them together, and a photo of each bunny that I absolutely adore. You know how sometimes you see a photo of your bunny and know it's going to be one of your all time favorites? Yeah.

 

[elrohwen]

That's great! Eating together is such a good sign, as is approaching without nipping or humping. I hope they keep up the calm interactions and you should be able to move their sessions inside to a semi-neutral space.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Yesterday (Tuesday) the bun buns didn't meet at all because it was really raining and there was a giant thunderstorm. This evening bunnies and I went outside together for exactly 20 minutes. It's a good thing I took them out when I did, because after giving Rory a turn outside and just coming in 10 minutes ago, there's another terrible thunderstorm! Really loud and rainy. This is only the second time I've seen a thunderstorm here in 5 years (the first being yesterday), poor Ned was so afraid of the one yesterday. The one right now is just getting started and is already louder.

ANYWAY! Not much to say about today's session. They ignored each other. Only approached each other once and ate off the same plant for a few seconds. They were kind of within a couple feet of each other several times, but only touched the once. Even less than the last session!

So far, we've had 4 play yard sessions and I think 5 car rides. They're still ignoring each other. Better than fighting, right? Heh, got that out on the first day! Should I increase the sessions to 25 or 30 minutes, or just keep going with 20?

 

[elrohwen]

Definitely increase the sessions. The longer the sessions are and the more often you can do them, the faster they will bond.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Laura, think half an hour would be okay? I don't want to go too long because we accidentally did 40 minutes the first day and they fought. Can I do, say, a 30 minute play yard session tomorrow, then the next day bump it up to 2 30 minute sessions? I don't want to stress them out or rush things...

 

[SOOOSKA]

Hi Shiloh, it sounds like everything is going good with bonding. I'm certainly no expert though or i'd have all of mine bonded or at least have them all living in one room.

I can tell you once I move which ever bunnies I take they will all be in one room. Having bunnies all over your house is ridiculous and way too much work.

Susan

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Well, the bunnies got a 2 day "vacation" from bonding sessions because it was so horribly rainy and stormy the past couple days so we couldn't go outside, and Paul didn't want to drive the car. Tonight we took them for a 20 minute car ride. One of them peed in the box again, but this time I was prepared with paper towels so was able to wipe it up before they splashed it everywhere. They sat together the entire car ride!

After the car ride, we went in the play yard for 30 minutes. The grass was wet, but they didn't mind, and anyway they had pee on their feet! They proceeded to essentially ignore each other for the entire half hour. They sat kind of close to each other several times, but didn't sniff each other or anything. I caught Phoebe I think marking the ground near Ned at one point- normally she'll sit there and pee, but this time she just squirted out a little pee while she was hopping. She didn't spray or anything, just peed on the ground a bit. Any comments on that? When we came back in, I swapped their cages again. I wonder if they still consider their original cages to be their own after all this daily swapping?

 

[elrohwen]

My personal feeling is that you can't make the sessions too long if the bunnies can handle it. Sometimes they start to have scuffles after being together too long, so it's best to anticipate that so you can separate them on a good note. But if they're doing well, no fighting or anything, I think it's fine to keep them together as long as possible. The longer you keep them together, the more they will understand that this new bunny isn't going away and the faster they will be a bonded pair.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Laura, I thought of keeping them out longer than the 30 minutes (which is an increase from the 20 we had been doing!), but I was being devoured by mosquitoes. They were everywhere. Late evening is not the time to do bonding sessions! I'll do a longer one this afternoon

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Well, we made some progress tonight! They were out for 20 minutes and ignored each other... so we went for 30... then 40.

I set them down together when we went outside and they ate together, then hopped around eating. For a while it seemed like Phoebe Mae was following Ned- a couple feet behind him, but going where he went. She sniffed his rump some. Then when she went into the really tall dandelions (first time in all the time we've been out there!), Ned went in too (first time) but from the other direction and they didn't get closer than a couple of feet.

Then they accidentally came nose to nose and stopped eating and sniffed each other's faces for about 30 seconds. Then Ned put his head under her head, asking to be groomed!! She avoided him and ate some grass, then hopped over him. The requesting to be groomed is good, right? Isn't it also a dominant thing?

1 minute before the 40 minutes was up, Phoebe Mae went behind Ned, and nipped him on the butt, grunting. He kind of ran away but she didn't follow. No fighting. At this point I decided we'd had enough for one session, picked them up, and brought them inside. I thought maybe they'd had too much of each other. Then I remembered that Elrohwen said it's okay if they chase, nip and mount as long as there's no fighting, since they have to work out who's dominant. I forgot that in the heat of the moment, I just wanted to prevent a fight! Then I also remembered that I'm supposed to end each session on a good note, which totally didn't happen since I pretty much scooped them up right after Phoebe went for Ned. So when we got inside, I peeled a banana and they ate it together while I held them.

Sound like an okay end? How do you think the session went?