Oberon

[JadeIcing]

How is our big hunk of bunny royalty?

 

[naturestee]

Misbehaving.:rollseyes

We started taking him out on the harness again while Fey and Spritewere playing. The first day was fab- no aggression, justeverybody asking for grooming and nobody getting it. Thesecond day Sprite, who may be a bit grumpy due to her heavy molt,decided to see how quickly she can separate Oberon from hisfur. Those two have been nipping and pulling fur everysince. We are now trying bathtub bonding sessions with onlyone girl at a time. Fey is quite good with him but expects toget a little grooming after grooming him, and he's not givingit. Sprite is still being spiteful. Oberon seems towant companionship but has no idea how to do it. So we'retrying to help him learn.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

Please give everyone some head pets for me,

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

I know, I read that before. I hope you can get them on even terms!:bunnydance:

 

[Maureen Las]

I think Angela adopted him as I can't find Oberon on pet-finder..Angela did you adopt him???

 

[naturestee]

No, not yet. He's listed as"adoption pending" at the moment. Pending bonding.I still can't keep him permanently if he doesn't. He's muchhappier upstairs but his cage is way too small. It would bereally, really hard to give him up though.

I do have a story for you guys, though! My friend Tom, whoworks as a vet assistant at the shelter here, was petsitting for melast weekend while I was away. I never have him let therabbits out because I don't know if they'll behave for him.Oberon was hiding in his cardboard cave in his cage so Tom decided totake the litterbox out to clean it. As he did that, Oberondashed out, jumped on Tom's shoulder, and out of the cage and wentdashing around the living room. Tom panicked because the catswere out and he forgot that they get along. So he's chasingOberon, who is just having the time of his life leading Tom on, lettinghim touch him, and then binkying off when Tom tries to pick himup. And scaring the cats while he's running. Iguess the naughty boy even squeezed behind the couch, which he's neverdone before. He had to really work to get himself out theother side, and that's how Tom finally was able to pick him up.

Apparently everyone at the shelter now knows about my huge, white tease of a bunny. :lol

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Angela, that Ob sounds just like what my belatedBunBun would do. He'd snag the loaf of bread off themicrowave cart and the moss out of the darn plant:brat:!

I think we need some more pictures.:rollseyes

 

[naturestee]

Pictures? Erm, yeah, um...

I'll have more of the cats and Mocha and Loki ready tomorrow. Will that do?

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Certainly!

 

[Haley]

Oberon is such a character. I can just picture that big boy tearing through the house, human in hot pursuit.

Have you tried car rides for bonding? Thats the only thing that worked for me with Basil and Max.

 

[naturestee]

We were thinking of doing car rides in a bit, atleast with Sprite, but for now having Oberon and Fey in the bathtub isworking. I think he needs to learn how to behave with herbefore we try with Sprite some more. Oberon has a biglearning curve in communicating with other bunnies, which I think wascausing a lot of the aggression but at the same time making him enjoythe lap cuddling sessions. It's like a kid who never learnedhow to talk. He is starting to learn Fey's language though.

 

[naturestee]

Good news, folks! This morning, Oberon licked Fey for the first time!:bunnydance:

He's still nippy, but I think it's mainly because he gets irritatedwhen she doesn't groom him. They're having the "nose wars"were they keep pushing their noses under each other's to get the otherone to groom, but neither wants to give up the dominance to startlicking noses.

Here's some pics from yesterday.

Flop! Notice Fey's none-to-sure expression. She's wary of him because he still tries to nip her sometimes.

Oberon says "Where'd my snuggle buddy go?"

Ok, so I had to put Fey here because she wouldn't snuggle verywillingly. But she enjoyed it once I set her down there.

 

[cmh9023]

Yea!! They look soooo cute together

 

[Maureen Las]

He looks like he likes snuggling more than Fey...I have to hand it you Angela you sure are trying hard with him.
I gave up on the 2 I thought were bonded ...I trustedthem once to go downstairs and when I returned they had had afight so they are living next to each other again.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

Pictures! :bunny19 Any luckwith putting a dab of vanilla on their noses? Wetried that this weekend w/two however the bonding of two oppositegenders is a lot Different than THREE! Sure enough,after the date on Sunday afternoon with no forehead licks, Mondaymorning the female licked my nose for 10 seconds. The boylicked my husband's nose! I may just wear vanillaon my nose all the time! The groom me firststand-offs can be time-tickers. :? Fey'sexpression is so cute. Better to be on the lookout and she'sprobably thinking "he's a LOT Bigger than ME!!"

angieluv: Sorry that your twosome weren't feeling romantic about each other.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

He's in freakin love...

That there, is precious.:inlove: Just LOOK at HIM.

 

[Haley]

Hurray! They are adorable!

So is Sprite okay when Fey comes back smelling like Oberon??

I once put a dab of PB on Tumnus's nose to encourage Basil and Max togroom him, and it worked! Its funny how we can trick them into beingbuddies

 

[Maureen Las]

Never heard of that I'm going to try vanilla.

 

[naturestee]

Hi Julie! So vanilla didn't work foryour potential pair either? I've tried it during lap cuddlesessions. Nothing. I've also tried peanut butter-afterward I found out that none of the three would even lick it off oftheir favorite chew toys. Pumpkin works to some extent tomake Fey lick, but she obviously knows I'm tricking her and refuses todo more than a few licks before giving me a dirty look.Haven't tried that with Sprite. Oberon hates pumpkin, thewierdo. I tried squeezing juice from grapes onto theirforeheads a few days ago, but no takers. Sprite licked it offFey once she got back to the cage. I'm still rubbing the lastbit out of Oberon's fur. I just bought some applesauce andI'll try that soon...

They both have "lick responses" when you pet them, but they won't lickeach other when I do that. Just the towel/floor.

At least they're occasionally licking each other's butts! Apparently that doesn't count for dominance.

Haley, Sprite doesn't get too upset when Fey comes back.Sometimes she'll fuss a little and mount Fey, but most of the time theyjust snuggle and Sprite helps her get all the rotten human and boybunny stink off of her.

I want to try working separately with Sprite soon, maybe thisweekend. I plan on taking them for a car ride, and maybe I'llput vanilla on both of them so they can't get as mad about each other'sscents.

Angieluv- I'm sorry your boys fought. I'm still hoping you can get them together.

Edit: Fey is mainly afraid of Oberon because he's nipped herseveral times, and because when he moves to snuggle with her he oftenlunges at her, but with his nose aimed beneath her instead of ather. He's starting to learn that moving slowly gets him moresnuggles. Fey does like him though.

 

[Haley]

If you do the car rides, see if you can getJames to drive while you sit in the back with them. Ive found thatworks the best. I always put down a towel and put all three on it, thensit beside them and pet them (and bring some raisins) during the ride.

I would drive around for 10 minutes or so, then bring them back and dothe neutral territory thing for another 10 minutes or so. It took me afew months, but it worked like a charm.