bonding elly round 2

[Robert]

Tis time to try and bond elly and panda, just so everyone knows I’ll be leaving in 2 weeks for The U.S. Marine Corps bootcamp so I’ll be turning over this account to my girlfriend Risa, she will need lots of help with bonding tips and I’ll try to get her to post every couple days

Anyways the first thing we did was let panda run around in the bedroom while elly ran around in the living room, after a few days we switched the play areas they were in not letting them see each other, panda was happy about the new area with Chinning and binkies, elly on the other hand was NOT happy. She thumped and grunted for 20 minutes but after that was fine and circled my girlfriend whenever she walked in

After a few days of that we introduced them by opening the bedroom door and placing a baby cage in the doorway, they took much interest in each other sniffing and eating next to the door when we put lettuce their for both of them. Panda would flop every now and them when elly was sitting next to the door as well

After a few days of that we placed their cages in the living room next to each other And Letting Them Out Separately, they never attacked each other through the cages but when panda got on top of ellys cage she gave him a nip and that’s been it. After 2 days of that both of them are constantly licking each other noses through the wires of the cage!

and this is where we now sit, I’m thinking on Wednesday we will introduce them in a neutral territory, what are your thoughts on what is happening so far?

[Robert]

Oh almost forgot they both do dig at the cage when they are paying attention to each other, I believe it’s because they want to outside the cage to see each other

[Robert]

Well this is an interesting way to lick someone lol did this for almost 10 minutes

[Robert]

finally got the picture to work!!!!

[Robert]

Alright first meet is happening now I’ll let you all know how tonight goes

[Robert]

Wow power was first with elly, then after about 10 minutes it switched to panda, elly I believe has accepted it so far but panda humps her often

She grunts quite a lot and fast and tries to run away sometimes thumps then let’s it happen, it seems like she isn’t happy and is almost crying?

But 1 minute later they both flop elly grooms panda and they cuddle

Then it repeats

It has repeated about 3 times now but She Never Fights back, does it seem like panda is just aggressive with his dominance but elly has already accepted it?

[Robert]

Btw when panda chases elly she nose books him kinda hard, no biting from her at all

And I’m ok with people not posting on this thread, I just hope what experience I have helps another hopeful rabbit owner

[Robert]

Midnight now, we felt it was ok to move on to giving more room, they now have full run of the bathroom, so far panda still wants to mount elly but she can now run away, he will chase he for a little but then lose interest and they have a little stare down

Elly now grooms panda like crazy but panda will not return the favor, I’m now using the banana trick and it’s finally got him to groom her once

So far though absolutely no fights, they eat together, and sometimes flop , I did see elly do a half binky when panda was chasing her…i can’t figure them out sometimes lol

[Robert]

I had to separate them, panda would not stop chasing elly and she was not happy about it! Even if I sprayed him a few seconds later he was at it again, elly would stomp and grunt as soon as he would get near her

Luckily I was able to get a sort of good note out of the ending, I gave them a piece of lettuce and they ate together and shared it then promptly went back to their cages, when I placed them in there you could see they were now relaxed as the both stretched out or flopped

Tomorrow is a new day I was hoping a marathon bonding would work but I can see its just not for these 2

[theshrew24]

I am no expert, but it does sound like you can successfully bond these two. My buns were not affectionate to each other (i.e., grooming) for weeks. Sometimes you go one step forward, one step back, three steps forward, two steps back. Keep working on them slowly. I found starting with as small a space as I could find/get really worked, and then worked from there.

Are you having litter box issues? Because that is what I went through and now feel like I have to retrain everyone about litter box use -___-

[LBJ10]

Have you tried a humping surrogate? Some people use a stuffed animal to redirect the humping bunny too. Let him hump for a few seconds, then redirect him to the stuffed animal.

[Robert]

I’ll give that a try, thank you LBJ

His Humping seems more like dominant Humping since he only mounts her for 3 to 5 seconds then he is done

[LBJ10]

Tolerance for humping definitely varies. Humping for dominance is a very important part of the bonding process, so it is usually best to let them work things out on their own. But if the humpee is too stressed by it then a humping surrogate will help alleviate some of that. Hence the allowing of humping for a few seconds and then redirecting. Anyway, it doesn’t hurt anything to try.

[Robert]

True, Thank you much for the tip I’ll let you know how things go

[Robert]

I’m so happy I didn’t need the surrogate! Elly mounted panda for a brief moment and every time panda tried to mount elly would stomp so he has now stopped trying

They both then flopped after grooming and are readjusting themselves to get as close as possible to each other

[LBJ10]

That’s great! Sounds like love is in the air.

[Robert]

I hope it continues like that, we let them sit like that for about 10 minutes, gave them a little lettuce so they ate together and ended the session

We will do another in about an hour

[Robert]

Day 2 session 2, elly instantly mounts for a brief second then it’s grooming and more grooming, panda finally groomed elly without using banana on her, had them eat a little lettuce together and cut it short at 45 min. Something wasn’t right in pandas mind, he thumped for a few minutes and was listening for something but it soon died out

Session 3, elly instantly grooms panda, I stepped back from the shower and let them have run of the shower and the bathroom, elly did give a small mount in the new expanded area with no humping. They both went back in the shower for extended groom from elly to panda. After a few minutes the 2 came back out to explore the new area and neither of them were ever more than 1 foot away from each other, panda finally groomed elly for a couple minutes. They both did lots of self grooming. Although no flops happened panda did stretch out when elly groomed him. After 1 hour they returned to their cages

I do have more pictures I’ll upload next time I’m at a computer

[Robert]

Day 3 session 1; elly grooms panda alot, they both did exploring and cuddled, panda mounted elly once this time

session 2; panda mounted elly right away but she let it happen, then she flopped really hard, they groomed each other, elly was cleaning herself and panda tried flopping into her lol didn’t work to well

I think they have an intimate relationship, panda mounted her and elly got into a breeding position, might have to rename this topic 50 shades of bunny!

After we put them back in their cage they both got to run around separately in the common play area, I have never seen either of them binky and bunny 500 as much as they did today, it must of lasted 45 minutes each! I’m glad to see they are so happy

[LBJ10]

They sound very happy. Do you think they are ready for the next step?

[Robert]

I don’t know, I don’t want to push it, they also both still mount each other every once in a while

My bathroom door is right at the common play area, I was thinking about moving them from the bathroom to an area of the same size just outside the door to see how that goes

The condo I made is on the other side of the room in the common play area and halfway there is the cages they currently live in…i am wondering about every couple sessions or as the buns look good expand towards the condo, then when the time comes I can put them in the top floor (of 3, I can shut off levels as I need) and see how that goes with them

Is that an ok plan?

Edit:I forgot I’ll be deep cleaning the carpet, couch and anything I’ll be putting in the condo before they go into it

[LBJ10]

Whatever works to make the transition smooth. You can gradually extend the time they spend together and work your way over to their future living area.

[swedishbun]

Dude, this sounds awesome! Nose kissing and cuddling after just a few days? Lovely!

There will be chasing and some setbacks, the bunnies are defining their relationship. But what it seems, it looks like you’re on the right track for disciple and bunny happiness.

[Robert]

Yesterday was much of the same grooming from both of them and cuddling

Today was an interesting day, on the first session it was the same stuff but the second one panda mounted elly she got into her breeding position then 30 seconds later after panda was done she got up and binkied lol

We put panda away after 1 hour and elly would binky and bunny 500 like crazy as well as panda when he finally got out

Tonight we did a 3 hour session, it started in the bathroom but we setup an area in the common play room about twice the size of the bathroom and let them into it. They did great so after 20 minutes I let them run free, after 10 minutes elly tried to mount panda and he did not like it so when they were circling I stopped it and did a smoosh technique to them, it calmed them down enough they went back to being lovey dovey. Panda mounted elly again and she again accepted and binkied afterwards. We gave them greens and they still kind of don’t want to share food but never did turn away from each other, they would just steal it out of each others mouths back and forth until it was gone haha

I think by Wednesday I’ll be able to have them living in the condo together!

[LBJ10]

Sounds like things are progressing nicely. The taking food from each others’ mouths is not unusual. Mine still do it all the time.

[Robert]

Here are some txts I got while at work today from my gf about elly and panda, they also now go into each others cages together and they groom and sleep together in them, Wednesday will be cementing day as they move to the new cage.

1.Wow ellie is such a tease… She mounts him and then when he honks and goes to mount her she binkies and runs away with her head flopping around in happiness…

2.Luckily he isn’t pushing it or being aggressIve, he gets grooms still, that might be why. Oh wow she wants it now.. And he is humping. and now he is binkying everywhere lol

3.Oh my god he just binkied about 2 feet over her head after she groomed him lol

[Robert]

We let them out at 9 am this morning and opened the new condo, they got to play in the common play area and the condo for 11 hours, they spent most of the time in the condo, so we went to dinner and locked them inside the new condo.

Came back to them snuggled on the second floor, tonight they are moved to the new condo!!!!

At this point i want to say they are bonded but 1 more night to really tell if they can Live in the condo together

[Robert]

It’s official, they are bonded!!!

They spent 36 hours in the condo together, both are using the litter boxes perfectly, not a single inckling of a fight and this morning we found them cuddled on the third floor

Panda tried to bunny 500 up and down the ramps only to run into the walls lol but things are going perfect

[LBJ10]

Yay!

[Author]

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