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I had thought about trying to bond Pippi, Gina, Jenny and Podge as a foursome at some point, but not so soon after bonding Gina and Podge. However, Jenny had other ideas, and managed to squeeze through the one tiny gap I hadn’t blocked off, as no bun has tried to get through it since we caught both girls last summer. Not sure how big a role surprise played, but she just sat and looked at them, and they just sat and looked at her, while I frantically undid the two catches on the ‘gate’ that was supposed to keep them apart.
Given the total lack of hair flying, the amount of time and effort I’ve already put into attempting to bond Gina and Jenny, the fact that it is the Easter break, which means both boys are home and there are spare hands when really needed, and a gut feeling that a foursome might actually be easier than the threesome that I gave up on, I am now starting the four way bond.
Given the lack of any tensions between the two boys, and my belief that it is best to add the boys to the cage first, and then add the girls rather than vice versa, I started out popping Pippi and Podge into the old guinea pig cage I used to bond Podge and Gina.
No problem there, these two boys would have been a very easy pair bond!
Next I added Gina into the mix, thinking she has already shown signs of being willing to bond with Pippi. Jenny has two issues, firstly, she needs to bond with Gina and with Podge, and secondly, she has to stop being so possessive of Pippi and let him bond with the other two. Jenny then got popped in the cage straight after, and the door firmly shut.
Now comes the fun part, and this really helped bond Gina and Podge quickly and without any fighting, though I did have gloves and the spray bottle full of water handy at all times.
I picked up one corner of the cage, and balanced it on one knee, leaving the diagonally opposite corner on the floor. This makes it very easy to rock the cage, destabilising the floor. It also creates a gradient, and it harder for a bunny to fight on a slippery slope than a flat cage floor. The combination of a non-grippy slope and a moving floor is very effective at break things up before they start, without risking any harm to any bunny! This method is great cos I can make sure no bun is getting over stressed, and ensure everybun has to interact with every other bun
A few ‘sways on the occean’ soon put Jenny and Gina off nipping anybun else’s butt, and I got some nice pics between intermittent ‘sways of the boat’
See Gina sneaking a cuddle into Pippi while Jenny was distracted by the boat trip she inadvertently started!
After maybe 15 minutes of intermittent rocking and swaying, I put the cage down on the floor and added water bottles at both ends. As soon as either of the girls looked like she was thinking of nipping a butt, the cage got moved in a kind of figure of eight on the floor, which was enough to change their minds. They’ve all been in together now for just over two hours, and the only damage so far is a few tufts of hair right at the start.
For most of that time, they’ve settled a pair at each end, but no nipping or fighting i even had time to get and drink a mug of tea
Just given the boat a quick rock again, to get the group interacting again, we seem to have ended up with Pippi and Gina one end, and Jenny and Podge the other!
I’ll carry on a little longer, then I plan to pop each pair into the opposite half of the dining room, so everywhere will smell of all four of them. Pippi and Jenny are used to swapping halves with Gina anyway!
Edited to add everybun seemed fine in their new area, though a double helping of pellets on arrival may have helped
Given how well this morning went, I’m assuming that the introduction of a second boy has disrupted the negative dynamics of the original threesome, and decided that as nobun seemed overly stressed, I would try a second session during siesta time, in the hope that sleep might be more important than arguing.
A couple of rocks was enough to remind everybun that nipping is not allowed, then I left the cage on an incline, to prevent any fighting, and ‘encourage’ everybun to be at the lower end, instead of pairing off, like this morning. This worked well when bonding Gina and Podge.
After some exploring and settling down over and over again, we ended up with four snoozing bunloaves in a nice cosy huddle
Two and a half hours this morning, and another two this afternoon, everybun is back in pairs, in the dining room.
They’re all tucking in happily to another load of pellets
They make a beautiful foursome! I think that was a great idea, to bond them all. I suddenly realize I have way too few rabbits. You must get some serious cuteness overload though. I get a bit of cuteness overload just by looking at the pix =)
Maybe that’s a good excuse to get two little rescue girls?
Who knows, maybe bam and Yoshio will find they can get along after all, with a couple of little girlfriends thrown in to the mix.
Cunning plan with the slippery slidey floor !!! It’s like “teamwork to stop this boat going over, before fighting” !
Cunning plan GJ, cunning !
With no car, no neutral territory left, and Pippi and Podge both able to jump straight out the bath, I had to come up with something!And although it is very effective at nipping nippers in the bud, its not actually over-stressing anybun.
Unfortunately, I can’t keep all four together overnight, like I did with Gina and Podge, as two nights sleep was enough to lose, but hopefully it still won’t take too long to end up with a four way bond.
That will be a happy ending for three little strays
Three little very lucky indeed strays !!
They really won the lottery these little guys
Oh wow, your rabbits are beautiful. I’ve heard a little of your bonding story, and I think this “boat rocking” technique is very clever. It seems early for congrats, but I have a feeling you deserve it anyways, Gina.Jenny. I don’t know if I’d have the guts to bond four bunnies! I was just happy that my pair didn’t kill each other! Podge does remind me of my Crysta. He is a darling.
Oh, man! I check out your updates, and then I check the bunnies up for adoption page. Rinse. Repeat. lol
Improvised a double double run, so Gina and Podge can enjoy their first grass time together.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPSTVCdnVTSU90Mmc/view?usp=sharing
Shade and water bottles were added once filming stopped!
Squeee!
Ahhhh…. you should sell your bonding services !! LOL
I decided to leave group bonding til the smell from the spot on eased up, but given it was raining when I got up, and its over 60 hours since applying the spot on, I thought it was time to carry on. Given the hair trimming through the bars a couple of days ago, I opted to start out in a box barely big enough for the four, til everybun got used to being pressed against each other, then I let them all hop from the box into the empty cage I’ve been using.
There were a few scuffles and hair nips to begin with, but a few rocks of the cage sorted that quick enough. Podge has decided he is top bun, and anyone sat where he wants to check the hay gets moved, no choice there. As they were being so good, I fed a few pellets, which soon got chomped, for now, everybun is chomping away on hay, nice and amicably.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPSDJnM3FYTS01elE/view?usp=sharing
Not so sure how we’ll progress once they come out of the cage that they all know rocks when they nip!
Look look
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPN2c0WmNRUVA0WWs/view?usp=sharing
See whats going on with the girls?
Zowee! Nice!
Would this be a bad time to mention that I want to kidnap Podge? lol
*sigh* I really love fluffy bunnies…
GJ, that’s just so awesome! Those two ladies are grooming each other like there’s no tomorrow
Q8, if you kidnap Podge, I won’t feel guilty for kidnapping Chewie. So I’m doing that.
Edit: Bunnapping. The proper term is bunnapping. Of course.
Rats! There goes my plan to finally snag a bun that would stand up to my Mr. Bossypants. lol
Yay, bunny love That must be so nice to see, Gina.Jenny.
PS: Podge is so much bigger than I thought, and that is so funny about him wanting to be “Sheriff” in your bunny community, aka, Top Bun.
Madam Jenny decided to rock the boat again, by challenging Podge to be top bunny
Fur flew, and so tonight I’ve just the top two in for bonding.
Poor Gina got caught up this morning, as she tried to huddle into Podge, while he was dealing with Jenny’s challenge, and he gave her a hair cut she was really upset about it
Jenny really is a feisty girl, I always thought Gina was the trouble-maker =/
She was I guess Jenny was top of her ‘pair’ and wants to stay top overall, ditto for Podge.
Its a bit frustrating, but I’m still confident we’ll get there, just taking the scenic route!
BTW, what were we saying about nothing beats a bunny butt for making a bunny’s feelings known?
Two hours into just having these two in the cage, and no fur has flown for the past hour, but there is definitely a bunny butt stand off going on!
Ooof… that face, Podge! <3 <3 <3
With Jenny still giving Podge hair cuts, I’ve decided to stick with bonding these two today, but after a brief spell in the small cardboard box, thought I ‘d try the kitchen, as Podge has never been in there, and Jenny hasn’t since we got Podge. Podge gets angry stuck in the cage, and anger isn’t helpful, and at least in the kitchen he can move around.
I carried them in together in the box, and let them both out, leaving the box in the corner. Podge immediately jumped on the box, which currently has two cooling trays as a lid, and is not the best for bunny feet!
‘Come down you coward!’
‘Who you calling coward?’
(At this point, I lifted him down and turned the box over)
‘I’ll stay up if I want!’
‘Hmmmm, she’s not looking so confident now….’
‘Want to call me coward to my face?’
‘Coward’
At this point, Jenny nipped some hair from his butt and got a few squirts of water in her face, and went and sat in the opposite corner in a huff.
Eventually they both started grooming, and I cut a stalk of Podge’s favourite broccoli in half and they both ate they half.
Wanting to end on a positive, I popped Jenny back in with Pippi, and Podge back in with Gina
I love this bonding-adventure! Your buns really have the most expressive body-language! (Or MAYBE someone is an excellent bunny-photographer…)
Podge and Jenny have finally agreed on one thing (apart from agreeing broccoli is never to be turned down), all credit for any good photo automatically goes to the buns on all occasions, without question!
That is SO typical of bunnies!
SO much better than human pantomimes.
“OHHHHHHHHHH no it’s not !!!!!! ” Any Brits reading this in order to reply in the time-honored way?
Ohhhh yes it is….
Setting the scene – an empty ‘neutral territory’ kitchen.
First on the scene – Jenny, takes her place back left corner.
Enter stage right – Podge, takes his place back right corner.
Jenny gives her front paws a thorough examine, prior to a few licks, while keeping a very beady eye on the back right hand corner.
Podge goes straight for the paw wash, no need to check, paws can never be too clean.
Ten minutes or so later, Jenny darts without warning around mum’s back, and zooms from the right, in an arc which takes her within a few inches of Podge’s paws, and leaves her back where she started, looking for all the world like she never moved from her designated spot on the floor.
Jenny watches to see what Podge’s reaction will be with her most cat-like stare.
Cue Podge – Podge comes to his feet, takes a few sniffs in the air and casually wanders in a small circle before sitting back down, having totally inadvertently narrowed the gap between them from maybe 5 feet to just over 3 feet.
*Applause for two perfectly executed routines*
Stage prop, two tasty halves of a stalk of broccoli placed so both buns have to move on the diagonals about 6 inches, bringing them slightly closer together.
Synchronised (and loud) crunching follows.
Jenny stops eating, and ambles off slowly to the front left corner of the kitchen, as something very interesting, and totally invisible to all but her, is going on in that corner, that requires her immediate attention.
Podge stops eating to see if it is worth investigating. A couple of minutes of suspense pass, before Podge finishes his broccoli.
Jenny returns to the back left of the stage, and delicately sniffs her broccoli. After a thorough examine, it is eaten as daintily as a little acting diva can manage.
Synchronised washing.
Next prop, the empty sweet tin from Christmas that is used to stored the select science pellets, the creme de la creme of the pellet world, is placed in the centre of the floor.
Two noses hit the pellets in perfect timing and the crunching harmonies resound through the theatre.
It might only have been a short production, but the stage manager decides now is a good time to let the curtain drop, and little miss Jenny is carried away, all honours maintained, and fur still quite dry
Podge walks from the stage, head held high, and his fur intact
*applause*
Mum exits, pursued by a bear.
ROTFL
Excellent writing !! Kept me wanting to read on ! * Bravo !! * * Bravo !! *
Gina.Jenny, you need to write a book!! You have some skill there. Very fun to read!
Next act, filmed exactly two weeks after Podge arrived. No fur flew during the making of this film
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPakxUMk5QZ3VuSm8/view?usp=sharing
Today, with limited bonding time available, I opted for three quick bonding sessions.
Session 1 – Pippi and Gina
Gina growled at Pippi a few times and nipped really small tufts of his hair twice, more to remind Pippi ‘I can’, than anything else, I think?
I put a pile of fresh hay between them…
nom nom nom
anything you can nom, I can nom better…
Carrots! Truuuuuce time
As the last bits of carrot got scoffed down, I picked Pippi up, offering him a final bite of carrot and swapped him for Jenny
Session 2 – Gina and Jenny
Jenny shot straight for ‘her corner’, only to find Gina was already in it, so swerved left, to the front left corner of the kitchen. Two noses quivering, and two mirror images stalked, cat-like, towards each other. A couple of small squirts of water kept them unsure how close to get, when a sprinkling of carrot rain saved the day!
I picked up Gina as soon as the carrot was gone, and swapped her for Podge
Session 3 – Jenny and Podge
Podge and Jenny approached with more curiosity and less animosity, and another shower of carrots made a great distraction
These two only had a five minute session, but it mean all three pairs ended on a positive, carroty note!
Ooof… thank goodness for this shot of cuteness. It’s been a looong Thursday – yay, weekend!
Those are four seriously beautiful bunnies! I love looking at their pics and films (I know now it’s THEIR pics and films. Nobody else’s. Person behind camera is just a silly prop, all credit goes to the starring buns. Did you btw know that rabbits built the Chinese wall? AND the hanging gardens of Babylon? Yep. Ask Bam and Yohio. They were there.).
What wonders a wee rain of carrots can work!
After a long day of working on one of the two science assignments that I have to get done, I decided to try the two boys and Gina as a trio, as an easier option. Gina nipped a couple of tiny tufts from Pippi, but apart from that the bunnies all behaved fine for about half an hour in the kitchen.
Sadly, I can’t say the same for my SD card, which unknown to me, had very unhelpfully decided to leave a corner of itself behind in my chromebook’s SD slot this morning, so no pictures, instead a tricky job of getting the offending bit of plastic out without damaging the chromebook.
Eeek! How on earth?? Glad you extracted the vile chip.
Bam! Is THAT why the Chinese named a year after bunnies, causing the animal revolt that led to their finally getting years as well?
Having finally got passed the half way mark on my science assignments, I had another evening bonding session with Podge and Jenny in the kitchen.
I started out giving Podge a good groom, them pulled Jenny over, so they were both between my knees, and then I carried on, so the brush was grooming them both. After maybe ten minutes of grooming, I moved gently away, popping a pile of fresh hay under their noses. They took turns to chomp hay, and give the edges of the kitchen a good explore, which I thought was promising.
Then Jenny chased Podge away from the hay, and chomped away, clearly believing she had won. After a few mouthfuls, she went up to Podge, and put her nose under his, demanding that he groom her. He wasn’t that beaten, and next thing she knows is she is in the far corner with a nipped nose, wondering what went wrong. (no skin broken but a mouth shaped wet patch and ruffled fur)
My youngest had one last tube of fruit puree left from when he did Army cadets, so I dripped some on the floor in front of each of them, to see if they licked it up, Podge wasn’t sure, but Jenny polished the floor clean, and her front paw too. So I dripped some down poor Podge’s nice white nose!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPTjhBRnpWZ3ZrUW8/view?usp=sharing
After the video was taken, she backed away, and I decided that was a good point to end the session
Aww… This made my morning.
Having had to give quartet bonding a brief break, I thought I’d try a different set up, using the cage base without the wire top, in the kitchen, and try again with all four. The idea being that the cage base could still be rocked, and an approaching ‘boat’ should be enough to break up any floor scuffles. I also had gloves and the spray bottle of water to hand, in case.
Podge and Gina went into the kitchen, and by the time I’d got Pippi and Jenny in the pet carrier (I needed to bring both in together, as I couldn’t leave three alone), Podge and Gina had ‘claimed the high ground’ and taken ownership of the cage base. Jenny did try an early challenge, but then she and Pippi accepted the ‘outside’.
Pippi eventually decided to try his luck, to see if the ‘inside’ hay was better than the ‘outside’ hay
Gina immediately chased him from her end, and one look at Podge, and Pippi was straight back out.
Jenny tried to sneak along the back edge of the cage base, but soon gave herself away…
She was soon back in ‘her’ corner. With a seeming deadlock, I moved the ‘outside’ hay, and pushed the cage base into the corner
All four made themselves very busy eating hay, alternating with checking the ‘other pair’ were staying on their side of the clearly bunny-agreed drawn line in the ground.
Wanting to keep things friendly, and end well, I gave every bunny a carrot slice, and Pippi and Jenny were happy to be herded safely back into the pet carrier. I then carried them back to their half of the dining room. I left the kitchen door open for Podge and Gina, who had a quick floor time, then they decided it was nap time, and put themselves in their half of the dining room.
A good session this evening, bar a couple of hair trims it went well.
Pippi and Jenny went through to the kitchen first, and ‘claimed’ the cage base. As soon as I bought Podge and Gina through, Pippi and Jenny were straight out, leaving a pair in and a pair out, same as earlier, and the same as you might get when bonding a pair, i.e. one in, one out, alternating eating hay, pointedly ignoring each other, and very obviously eyeing each other up.
After a while, Podge hopped in to Pippi and Jennys’ space, and they left him to it.
A few sniffs, then he hopped around the front of the cage base, said hello to me, and got ear rubs, before hopping back into the cage base. He tried a second time, but Jenny chased him back into the cage base.
A few minutes later, Pippi ‘burrowed’ his way along the back of the cage base, and came out on the far side, then came round behind me, and finally off to investigate what Podge’s hay was like. Eventually, he gained the courage to hop into the cage base, where amazingly, he wasn’t chased out!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPTElReElBOUN1NDQ/view?usp=sharing
In his own time, Pippi then hopped out, and back along his ‘burrow’ to join Jenny.
Both boys then hopped behind me, one from either side, so i stood up to see what was happening, as I needed to watch the girls too.
You came in that thing? You’re braver than I thought.
Podge then hopped back into the cage base, and I took Pippi and Jenny out of the kitchen.
A few ‘shared’ pellets finished off the session, before each pair had a turn of floor time.
Naaaaww!!!
But who threw down the glove? Jenny? Noone seems to have picked it up though. Too busy eating
(jk: There’s a glove on the floor in the video.)
There were a couple of times I thought I might need a glove or two.
Do you know, they all refused a retake of the video, when I pointed the glove out!
This mornings session was a bit of a mixed bag. Podge quite happily went through to the kitchen of his own bat, Gina made it clear she didn’t want to go at all. Jenny was a right madam, who gave both Podge and Gina hair trims, chasing Podge away in the process. Pippi then deserted Jenny, to go make friends with Podge.
Given the pellet tin is nearly empty, I thought I’d try putting down and see what happened
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjuenZVpCqPbENqQXlfTHNlT3M/view?usp=sharing
They weren’t left with the pellets for long, then surprisingly, Podge gave Pippi’s ear a quick lick
I lifted Jenny to pop her back, Podge made it clear he would make his own way to his side of the dining room, Pippi followed Podge, and the two of them headed off together, leaving Gina alone. I herded Pippi in with Jenny, and bought Gina to Podge.
Given Jenny’s insistance on chasing and hair trimming, I feel like leaving them as two pairs. But I don’t feel I can give up, as its been clear since Podge arrived, that he and Pippi get on, and today made it clear just how much they do.
You could leave them as two pairs for now, take a break and then go at it again. Pippi and Podge look so sweet when they eat together. (They look sweet when they don’t eat together too of course.)
I was only joking about the glove, it’s very very wise to have thick gloves ready for bonding-sessions. I got bit really badly by Bam once during an effort to bond him and Yohio. He meant it for Yohio, I’m glad I came between them. I wore gloves but only the flimsy gardening-type gloves that fine ladies wear for deadheading roses in their big house rose gardens. With buns, kevlar is a better option.
I love how Pippi’s like “Ahem… I say, Podge, old chap… won’t you let me take a closer look at these Quality Pellets, what what?”
Looks like a threesome would be easy peasey – madame jenny is the difficult one in the office !… no?
Pippi, Gina and Podge would be long since bonded
Jenny never went through a bonding process with Pippi as such, she was put with Pippi when she was struggling with hypothermia and was just glad to have a big warm bun to snuggle into, and he had just lost his bonded mate, Rusty, and was glad just not to spend a second night alone.
Jenny and Podge are both top bun of their pair, and there is no clear first, second or third.
I think Pippi would accept fourth as long as he gets his share of food, and a bit more
You’d never guess from this picture that Jenny is the trouble maker in the quartet bonding!
edited to add this picture, taken a bit later on. with a divide between the pairs, all is fine and friendly!
GJ – I can’t work out if you are being ironic or not for the first photo – LOL
Jenny is the only one relaxed enough – knowing she is top bun – to be outstretched. The others are calm but ready to move !! LOL
Her Majesty the Queen Jenny relaxes, confident that she’s bullied her subjects into submission?