Zeus and Hera… lets sit together, then fight, then sit together?

[bunnnnnnie!]

Help, bunny behavior gurus.

Zeus and Hera’s relationship is puzzling my human brain.  Right now, because Hera was only spayed about 2 weeks ago, they are given seperate out of cage times.  If Hera goes up to Zeus’s cage when he’s locked in, he does his best pinball impression, bouncing all over the place, then tries to nip her if she puts her nose to the bars.  He’ll occasionally growl, too.  He doesn’t like her near his cage at all when he’s locked in, it seems.

But when Zeus is loose, and Hera is in her cage, it’s a little different.  Zeus just… loiters around Hera’s cage.  Hera shows interest in him, but if they touch noses between the bars, BiteFest 2013 occurs.  So a lot of the time, Zeus is sitting inches from Hera’s cage.  Hera sits specifically where she can be in Zeus’s line of sight.  And they just.. sit there and ignore each other.  Zeus has even loafed and dozed right next to her cage.  But if they actually touch, they fight? .

Why on earth would they choose to be near each other, but then try to bite each other if they touch?  Hera is constantly trying to get over to Zeus’s cage when she is loose.  Zeus hangs out near Hera’s cage the majority of the time he’s loose.  But then growls and bites all around if they actually touch noses!  Weird buns.

[MoveDiagonally]

They’re being territorial.

I wouldn’t allow them to interact this way if you can avoid it (housing near each other is fine). You don’t want them to get a bad impression of each other before bonding and they are being a bit aggressive. Once you’re ready to start bonding I would put them in a completely neutral area, not around their cages, and move forward from there (Neutral > Semi Neutral > Non – Neutral).

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By MoveDiagonally on 07/03/2013 10:25 AM

They’re being territorial.

I wouldn’t allow them to interact this way if you can avoid it (housing near each other is fine). You don’t want them to get a bad impression of each other before bonding and they are being a bit aggressive. Once you’re ready to start bonding I would put them in a completely neutral area, not around their cages, and move forward from there (Neutral > Semi Neutral > Non – Neutral).

 

Yeah any time they start nipping I break them up.  I understand the territorial, but why even hang out near each other?

[caudex]

Posted By bunnnnnnie! on 07/03/2013 10:34 AM

Posted By MoveDiagonally on 07/03/2013 10:25 AM

They’re being territorial.

I wouldn’t allow them to interact this way if you can avoid it (housing near each other is fine). You don’t want them to get a bad impression of each other before bonding and they are being a bit aggressive. Once you’re ready to start bonding I would put them in a completely neutral area, not around their cages, and move forward from there (Neutral > Semi Neutral > Non – Neutral).

 

Yeah any time they start nipping I break them up.  I understand the territorial, but why even hang out near each other?

My friend JUST bonded her two after TWO YEARS of trying. They flopped side by side when one was out and one was in, they groomed through the bars, but out together, vicious biting. It really took the neutral place, and some laundry basket discipline on the naughty one. (the lady, naturally.) When they had positive interaction outside, they would be nice to each other inside for a few days. Rinse, repeat. They needed to be shown that they COULD get along before they WOULD.

How do yours feel about slippery floors? Hers ice skated to each other and snuggled in terror when we plunked them on the linoleum bathroom floor together after a fight.

[LittlePuffyTail]

They want to be near each other because they are curious. But fun is fun until somebun gets too close to bunnies burrow (or as we humans see it: condo). Best to not give them the chance to bite each other, as they can do a lot of damage with those teeth and bunny bites can abscess. Wait until you start bonding. You can do things like switching their condos to try to calm down the territorial behavior.

[Bam]

I don’t have a lot of experience, but my two male bunnies who definitely hate each other are so curious of one another they are always trying to seek each other out. When they’ve accidentally managed to get into each other’s spaces, there’s immediatly been awful fighting. They have bit each other but luckily only small bites. They’ve also bit me.

So I think LPT is very right, rabbits are extremely curious. Mine should by human standards never want to go anywhere near each other ever again. But that’s not the rabbit way, apparently. Yohio can stand outside the room where Bam is and stubbornly claw and scratch at the closed door to get in to his mortal enemy until I go get him and confine him to his bathroom home.

 

Caudex: “My friend JUST bonded her two after TWO YEARS of trying.” Wow! That gives me hope again about my two little monsters =)

[bunnnnnnie!]

THanks for all the input guys! Just to be clear, I don’t just let them fight, even with the bars seperating them. I break them up the moment a nip or growl flies. They know they’re not supposed to do it.. if they reach to touch noses I say in kind of a disciplining voice; “Bunniessss…. be niceeeeee!” and they both turn away with a pout, LOL.

I don’t know if I will ever attempt bonding. We will see.

[Monkeybun]

That sounds about usual to me It doesn’t mean they won’t bond Just that it has to be a very neutral space for bonding

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