Waaraaoorgh! The bunnies are toying with my emotions!

[kirbyultra]

Hi!

Anyone who has read my blog and any of my nutrition/behavior threads probably knows that I bought Toby to be a friend for Kirby, and long story short, Toby rushes over to take a bite of Kirby's fur at every possible chance, even after his neuter. Toby seems to really, really dislike Kirby. Kirby on the other hand has never been aggressive towards him, and has tolerated a lot of his antics.

I had given up on trying to bond them because of how violently Toby behaves with Kirby. Toby seems to have calmed down a lot since I got him. He likes ME a lot more than he ever did before. But he still rushes over whenever Kirby walks by his pen, and tries to bite him. When Kirby sitsnear the border oftheir pens, Toby goes ballistic trying to squeeze his head through the fence. Now,I am in the works of getting Kirby bunny dates with bunny girls. So... what did I see this evening?

Kirby flopped over, relaxing by the fence and Toby doing the EXACT same thing about 14-18 inches away. I took some pix but haven't gotten them out of my camera yet. Then just now, I saw them lying down, like maybe 8 inches away from each other next to the fence.

........

What is going on here? ullhair:Are they... tolerating each other? More importantly, is Toby starting to accept Kirby? I'm in complete disbelief right now. I think it could just bea coincidence that they were lying next to each other like that, but twice in one day? I don't know! :shock:

 

[Little Bay Poo]

lol, that reminds me of Billy and Ronnie. Billy HATES Ronnie. He'd bite him in the face if he could (he's tried many times, but they are always separated by barriers). Yet, for some reason, I always see them watching and imitating each other. When one is laying down, the other lays down. When one binkies and does bunny 500s, the other does too. When one eats hay, the other eats hay. When I am with one, the other is jealous and pokes his face through the plastic gate. There is definitely a fascination with keeping an eye on the "other bunny."

Sorry I can't give any bonding advice (never tried it myself). I'd stick with your plan to take Kirby on bunny dates though. It sounds like it will be a lot easier to find a suitable match for Kirby this way. Good luck!

 

[JadeIcing]

My moms boys are like that but can NOT be together. Bonds can come with time....looonggg time. I have heard up people working on bonding up to 2yrs.

 

[sharlaelizabeth]

I read on somewhere that sometimes if one bunny does a binky, the other one will do it, too as if to say "See? I'm happier than you!" I don't know if it's the same thing your boys are doing or not, but I thought I'd share.

eta- it was from one of the websites listed in the library section here. Language of Lagomorphs maybe?

 

[mardigraskisses]

sharlaelizabeth wrote:

I read on somewhere that sometimes if one bunny does a binky, the other one will do it, too as if to say "See? I'm happier than you!" I don't know if it's the same thing your boys are doing or not, but I thought I'd share.

eta- it was from one of the websites listed in the library section here. Language of Lagomorphs maybe?

:yeahthat:

 

[kirbyultra]

Aww so you don't think Toby is starting to feel warm and fuzzy about Kirby?

 

[sharlaelizabeth]

I really hope he is! I think it would depend on if Toby's behavior continues to improve towards Kirby or not. You know, more of this general relaxing/tolerating, no more trying to impersonate the bunny from Monty Python and the Holy Grail every time Kirby walks by... Maybe Toby heard Kirby was going to go on dates & decided he didn't want to share? Or maybe he wants to show you that he's ready to be a husbun to some lucky lady bun (who happens to be incredibly submissive!).

 

[Little Bay Poo]

kirbyultra wrote:

Aww so you don't think Toby is starting to feel warm and fuzzy about Kirby?

It could be different for them, especially if you are willing to put time and effort into trying to bond them. I could never find the time to try to bond mine, so any tolerance that they may have shown for each other in the beginning wasn't nurtured. So, what initially started as fascination with sitting near the other bunny, has turned into an all out territory war between Billy and Ronnie. I've found myself in the middle of it, getting chinned to death as each participant tries to claim me. Ronnie decided to pull out the big guns and spray me yesterday (something he hasn't done in the two years since he was neutered).

I don't see any harm in continuing to try bonding Toby and Kirby. It will probably be more difficult than bonding Kirby with a girl he finds on a bunny date, but if you are willing to put forth the extra effort, why not? If you see it's not working out, you always have the option in the future to do the bunny dates.