The Diaries of Merlin Puffsbottom and Naja Seraphina

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Laura the Bunsnuggler
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"Honestly, Mother," he says with a wry lip curl. "You can't possibly believe that this diminutive lady with such odd pointy ears could ever take the place of my dearly departed brother."

"Shut up, Merls," I respond politely.

Welcome to the blog of Merlin and Sasha. (and their devoted slave Laura.)

Merlin: A bratty, grumpy runt. Nicknamed XiaoXiao ("little little") for lack of size. Pale sable point minilop, 1 year old. Very entitled. Will step over anyone to steal their food. Loves food. All food.

Sashanajasajanasha: Queen Naja Seraphina. Darker sable point Netherland Dwarf, 1 year old. May be addressed as Naja or Sasha. But never GenXiaoXiao ("even littler little"). Must receive pets when it is demanded of thee. Watches her waistline, is not a big fan of carbs. Possesses tiny feet. Is very courteous to peasants offering pets, but highly offended by imbeciles attempting to pick her up.

Devoted slave: :sweep, :bow, :faint:and :pullhair:

So! Here we are. My sweet Rosebun snatched away from us in a freak accident and my poor grieving grump trying to find a new friend in our newly adopted rescue, Naja.

This is my blog of their crazy adventures, starting with the balcony.

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"I did not like that. Merlin was mean, and he didn't even let me near the food."

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"Yeah well, my house my foo- what are you holding, can I have a taste? Just stay still a minute."
 
Aubrey: Thank you! Always loved your Luna blog :)

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It's been 3 days since Sasha came to live with us, and I haven't been permitted to pick her majesty up once. I suppose I should accept that it will take some time before she trusts me enough to let me do that, but it's annoying. I want to check her bum and cut her nails. On the plus side, she is getting more and more comfortable approaching me and eating near me. Still won't let me hand feed her or touch her without permission, but we're working on that.

Apparently the rescue got her from a pretty bad neglect situation and she was a very angry bun. You can honestly hardly see that now. She is such a well-behaved, attention-loving bunny, she puts Merlin to shame. I can't believe it took 3 months waiting in the rescue before someone picked her up.

Meanwhile, we have divided the house in two. The last couple days we have been taking turns giving each bunny their out time, but it was upsetting Merlin to have stranger bunny scents all over his digs. So now Merlin has the living room and bedroom to roam in, and behind a pile of boxes is Sashy's area, the kitchen, hall, and second bathroom (where she lives for now).

It occurs to me that they might start getting territorial over their "areas". Would it affect their bonding once we feel safe enough to remove the barrier? :x
 
Sasha ninja-slipped through the boxes somehow. I caught her having a confrontation with Merlin, who was thankfully(!!!) locked up in his cage at that particular moment.

It was like

"Yeah? Yeah? You wanna go? You wanna come get me?"
"I'm gonna smash you up, just wait, you're lucky I'm locked up-"
"Oh yeah? Big talk. I'm out here and you in there. COME AT ME."
"**** STRAIGHT I'M GONNA COME AT YOU"

:disgust:
 
I am so excited to see this thread!! :)

They're such a cute pair! I can't wait until they can play together all the time. They both seem a little headstrong, so I guess they might butt heads for a while at first.

My bond is a little different, since Clementine is a lot more relaxed than Felix, but I was able to introduce them on neutral ground and then Clementine moved in on Felix's ground with no problems. :)
 
Charlotte: Thanks Charlotte, they are such characters aren't they. :) Merlin's used to bossing Rosey and us around, and Sashanaja is, well, used to being the unchallenged queen as she's never had a bunny buddy before!

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Merlin found the hay bag, and had himself a feast. He is getting to be quite the chubster. Or maybe it's seeing him beside the Teenyweeny Queeny that makes him look fat? >.>

I can't figure out if Sasha's being submissive out of fear or just really loves pets. If you put your hand out to stroke her she sort of lunges at it, puts her ears flat on her back, and flattens herself to the ground. That strikes me as something a scared bun might do. But then she stays there for ages as I pet her. Wouldn't she run away if she didn't want to be pet?
 
Omg I feel so guilty! I DID A BAD. :cry2

I put Merlin in his cage and took Sasha over to his side of the house in an effort to get them "used" to each other. A previous attempt the other way around had seemed positive, with Merlin eventually ignoring Sasha in her pen.

But they had a confrontation AGAIN, stupid me should've seen it coming! Merlin was sticking his muzzle through the bars trying to get at Sasha, and before I could stop her she darted at him and bit him! He jerked backward and pawed at his muzzle but winced. My poor baby! He looked so shocked.

There's no visible bite mark or blood on his muzzle but he keeps cautiously pawing at it. Ohhhhh my baby boy I'm so sorry, I should never have done that! I just want to cuddle him sorry. :(
 
Well hubby decided to bring them out to the balcony to reconcile over neutral territory and some veggies. That did not go as planned. They started fighting and Sasha was biting at Merls again. She doesn't bite humans, I don't understand why she's being so aggressive toward Merlin today.

Oh well.

I think I'll give them 1 or 2 days apart to cool down. I hope this hasn't made a lasting impact on their bonding prospects.
 
Interesting development - I gave Sashanajybun Merlin's toy rabbit that had been keeping him company after Rose's passing. SHE BEAT IT UP.

I move it toward her, she boxes at it and bites it. She'll let it groom her head, then she'll run away from it.

What does this MEAN.

Is she just really hating Merlin and his scent right now? Or does she view every bunny as a threat? We may have human-only bunny on our hands. :(
 
It sounds like she might be a little bit aggressive towards Merl's scent right now... but she's young, I'd say give it a few days and hopefully she should calm down.

I can't figure out if Sasha's being submissive out of fear or just really loves pets. If you put your hand out to stroke her she sort of lunges at it, puts her ears flat on her back, and flattens herself to the ground. That strikes me as something a scared bun might do. But then she stays there for ages as I pet her. Wouldn't she run away if she didn't want to be pet?
Felix used to do this when I first brought him home. :) I was worried about the same thing, thinking he might just be doing it out of fear. Nope, it seemed like he just really loved head rubs! More recently he's learned to ask for them by nudging my fingers first, and then putting his head on the ground.
 
Man! Merlin never stays still to let me pet him like that. He only loves me for my food.

It's good to know she isn't afraid, thanks. :)
 
Najasashybun is making huge progress in human bonding. Today I spent a couple hours with her, moving her toy rabbit, remembering how much I hated playing baby toys with my younger brother, and feeling bemused that I'm actually finding it quite fun with Sasha. "Wee! Here comes Mini-Merlin! Oooh Mini-Merlin wants to nuzzle Sashybun yes he does, he wants some snuggles, come here and snuggle us Sashybun!"

She still kinda hates that toy, but she's attacking it less. What really stood out was how attached she is to humans. Even with Mini-Merlin hassling her, she never really left my side. Hopped circles around me to escape him, but never wandered more than a foot away from me. And she doesn't flinch and spin around when I touch her anymore! She's getting used to handsy mummy. I think she's lunging less too. I can pretty much pet her whenever I want now, she's cool with that.

And she really likes cheek rubs. Got some tooth-purring from her for that.

Regular-Merlin is shedding like Prince William's head. Lately he can fill up a slicker brush with fuzz twice in one day. Speaking of brushing, Sasha doesn't like it one bit. She boxed it out of my hand when I tried it on her. I've only been able to brush her a couple strokes, but it seems like it doesn't work with her fur? Merlin's got thick soft wooley fur that comes off easily with the slicker brush, but Sasha's fur is shorter and coarser and the wire bristles don't seem to be able to grab on to the hairs. If anyone has recommendations for short-fur brushes I'd appreciate it. Furminators are like $99 here so that's out of the question. :/

Happy Easter yall :bestwishes:
 
Same boat as me! Brushes grab Clem's fur but not Felix's. I started using a comb recently on Clem since she's shedding heavily, but I expect it should work well on Felix come his next shed.
 
Awe how adorable. Sasha sounds like a dear. Miyo doesn't let me stroke her much!

Have you tried those round rubber grooming discs with nubs on them? I haven't personally, but they're supposed to be for short hair pet breeds.
 
Babymiyo: Ooh, I'll look for them at my local pet store, thanks!

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Merlin is angry at mummy right now. :(

Normally when we let him out, all he cares about is food and can't wait for me to put the food down so he can tuck in. And then I'd brush him as he was eating. Now he's agitated, doesn't like being brushed, and runs away before he finishes his food. He goes to all the spots Naja's been to and acts weird, like flopping and shuffling around like an angry child. Sort of like how you'd be if you were trying to send a SUBTLE MESSAGE that you were mad about being forced to go to bed. Or, if you're more mature than I am, maybe trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

Probably trying to re-establish his scent there.

But he looks SO UNHAPPY about this state of affairs. I go to console him and he just stares grumpily at me, gives me the bunny butt and continues on his business, like it's all my fault. I try to pet him, he wriggles away.

I feel guilty as all hell. :( How do you guys get through this? Having two stranger buns in the same territory? I feel like I'm pulling my poor baby's teeth here.
 
Another bonding attempt. This time, I've got them out on the deck like this:

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Neither were interested in the veggies at first. Plus it was a bit cold. So I put some boxes up to block the wind.

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Placed their litterboxes in there, and their scents comforted them enough to finally start going for the veggies.

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At the 2-hour mark. Merlin can't stop stuffing his face. Sasha takes nibbles here and there. There have been a couple of nose-to-nose grrrr moments, but nothing major. I just want them to get comfortable in each others' presence.
 
That looks like a good setup for getting them used to each other. :)

Come on, Merlin and Sasha!!
 
It's been rainy the past couple of days, so bonding was frustratingly put on hold. Until hubby came up with the idea to set them up in our main bathroom for an hour or two! Sasha was a perfect lady about it, but Merlin just hated the pen and kept trying to get out, so we ended the session after an hour. There was no aggression this time, so I'm counting that as a win anyways.

Here's how we set them up, a little awkwardly:
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Mesclun mix'in it up.

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Merlin giving me the stink-eye as I coo over Sasha being a good girl eating her veggies.

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A hilarious picture. *nomnom* This sucks. *nomnom* Let us *nom* out Mum. *nomnom* Now. Or *nom* else.

I'm thinking another good long session of this out on the balcony without aggression, and we can start putting them in the same space again. I'm a little worried about Merlin still. He just seems depressed to me. He grooms himself less. He'll eat when I'm making him eat, but left to his own devices he'll just leave his pellets and run off elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, his appetite is HEAPS better than the first few days after Rosey's death, but it's slowly dropping in gusto again. He's really not taking the territory invasion well. Hubby thinks he's just moody and basically fine, and I'm just reading too much into his grumpiness. But a mother knows.

I'm so desperate for Merls and Sashy to bond! I miss the bunny duo so much. Following me around, fighting over food, stealing, hiding treats from each other, getting into trouble together... those were happier times. I can't wait for Merlin to have that again with Sasha.

Anyhow, stop whining Mummy. Lol. It'll happen when it happens. Let's end off with a sweet pic of the two naughties sharing a carrot.

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They are just so cute. I really hope they get together, they make a lovely couple :)
 

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