So here goes, from the beginning.
I have a black female holland lop, her name is Boostella. We got her in August 2015, she was about 8 weeks old when we got her from a breeder / lady with Show rabbits (the family we got her from seems to take very good car of their rabbits and do not breed often). Everything was great. She got litter trained, was in a cage when my boyfriend and I weren’t home. Whenever we were home and awake she would have lots of room to run. She used to run like crazy and binky all the time. She used to cuddle up on the bed with me and even lay and watch TV, let me take pics of her and pet her all the time. We then got her spayed and everything was great still. We were told since they are social animals and with us working a decent amount of time that we should get another bunny for her to bond with.
We went to a rescue place and got a tan & white male holland lop in May 2016, his name is Summit. he was almost 2 years old and was originally rescued from a breeder who basically didn’t give a crap about them. Had small cages, barely food or water, and even tattooed their names in their ears. He was very skittish in the beginning and I expected that. But it’s now been 6 months. (He is neutered now) Him and Boostella are bonded great, they are almost always next to each other. He lets me pet him sometimes, but never let’s my boyfriend pet him. He runs everytime my boyfriend comes home from work, and sometimes when I come in the room too. They are both no longer caged and have full range of our apartment. We hoped he’d be less scared by now with us but not much has changed except that he takes treats from my hand but won’t with my boyfriend. Boostella would let my boyfriend pet her and give her treats.
It seems though that the last 2 months Boostella now wants nothing to do with us. She barely lets my boyfriend touch her, she now runs sometimes too. PLUS lately I don’t know which one it is but they are kicking half their litter out of the box no matter now clean and fresh it is. It seems like Summits traits are rubbing off on Boostella. The rescue place said Summit is welcome back and we can trade him for another bunny who is less skittish & might work well with us and how boostella used to be. I don’t want to give summit up cause I do love him. Even just thinking about that makes me upset. Does anyone have any idea what’s going on? How can I get summit to not be so scared of us? How can I get boostella back to her old ways?
They have a great home with loving parents but we don’t know what else to do. We’ve done all we can personally think of. I even come home on my lunch break sometimes from work and just sit and eat in the living room (their main area) even if I don’t speak or touch them, just so they comfortable with my presence. PLEASE HELP!