The Diaries of Merlin Puffsbottom and Naja Seraphina

Jbun: I thought it might be that. Usually he doesn't groom other things when I brush him though, he just sort of squirms around, gives me the Butt, scrabbles on the floor, and generally tries to act like I'm greatly inconveniencing him... but he stays right there so I know the bugger likes it.

Maybe it's just the opportunistic combination of being groomed while Sasha's presenting him her head. I should try grooming him when she does that in bonding sessions.

Just thought I'd post a bonding update: Sasha is getting so much better, she's licking Merlin's head every couple of minutes and then pushing her head under his for her turn - which he doesn't give her, even if I'm grooming him at the same time. Go figure. It's mostly because he's still scared stiff of her. Whenever she hops by he thumps, and he spends most of the bonding sessions crouching down and looking petrified unless she's on the other side of the bathroom. Sigh. I haven't been able to recreate Merlin licking her head through the bars since the other day either.

But what I'm really pleased with is that she's now nipping him only when she's demanded head grooms for ages and he hasn't given in. Then it'd be a small, irritated nip that I'm not even sure penetrates his thick wall of fur. Otherwise she's happy to sit by him, offer him a little head groom every now and then, and just generally being a huge sweetheart. When I move I'm thinking of just chucking them right into a pen together from day 1, baptism by fire, see if they'll work? They haven't fought in the last 10 or so bonding sessions so I'm not worried about anyone's safety, but I'm scared Merlin's anxiety would affect his eating. Why is he still so scared of her? Does he have PTSD from the early angry-Sasha bonding sessions? Is it a phobia? Do I need to call up a bunny counsellor?

Here's a picture of me holding an earless red-eyed demonbunny. Sheebs is a lot cuter in real life. She's a little pudgy isn't she! It's the Merlin diet. He won't put on a gram no matter how much I feed him.

Poor Sasha. All she wants are some head grooms. Come on, Merlin; Feel the love!
Not sure why he's so scared of her, I'm not very experienced with the whole bonding bunnies thing. I personally think that putting them in a pen together could work-- but again, I'm not experienced with that.
D'aww, that picture of the both of you is adorable. Gotta love those red demon eyes. And just to put it out there, you are very pretty.

Ana: Aw thanks!

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Well, I'm hosting another marathon bonding session, in a second bid to push the bunnies out of their rut and get things moving along. We started in a box. Merlin didn't move much, and Sasha just ignored him mostly. Gave him some head grooms. It was quite boring. Merlin thumped a few times near the end of the couple hours they were in there. I got the feeling that the cramped conditions might be doing more harm than good to Merlin's anxiety levels. Rambo bunny Sasha was fine though, but nothing fazes her. As you can see, she was the only one pigging out on the cilantro. Say hewwo!





It really wasn't going anywhere. So then I moved them from the box to the top of Sasha's cage. It worked splendidly in giving Merlin more confidence to move around, but this location change made Sasha rather more nippy than she's been the last 4 bonding sessions. She lunged at him with her teeth out a few times, but fortunately the situation hasn't escalated into a fight (yet). That's pretty good. He still won't give her head grooms though. Ugh Merlin, surrender already.

I really wish I could let my marathon bonding sessions last like, 6-8 hours, but Merlin just won't eat or drink when Sasha's around and I don't want to risk stasis.

This pic really sums it up, when you remember Merlin is easily 50% bigger than Sasha. Packing himself in all small and anxious, while Sasha pads around nonchalant and confident. Bubs says it was my fault for getting his balls taken off him. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Hmm, why are my pics showing up so big? How do I downsize them, anyone know?

It's a bit annoying innit, but I've got a couple more cute pics to put up so, sorry about the size!



Merlin flopped! After the first hour or so he seemed to feel much less stressed and flopped a couple of times. But that could've been because it's pretty hot, and there was a bit of direct sunlight on Sasha's cage top. Poor boy, his fur is so thick. So I wet a rag and put it on his back, like a horse. He shook it off at first, but then he realised it cooled him down so after that he didn't mind so much. Stylish eh?




He's still not giving Sasha any loving but he seems more confident now I think. Space really helps. Maybe Merlin's claustrophobic. I also got him to eat some basil. I could tell he really wanted to eat but was afraid Sasha would catch him off-guard and kungfu-kick him in the butt. So I occupied Sasha with pets, and when he was sure that she was distracted, he frantically vacuumed up those basil leaves faster than I've ever seen. Oh, bunnies. You hilarious little things.

Wrapping up the date in 5 minutes! Here's one last shot of Sasha photobombing Merlin's fashion shoot.

Merlin wearing a little cooling shirt is SO FREAKIN CUTE. I'm glad the bonding sessions are getting better! I can't wait until these two start snugglin'.

I am in love with your bunnies!!!! They are so bloody cute!!!!

Heh, thanks yall

Today, I took the bunnies out to....THE BALCONY. Dun dun dunnn

For those who haven't been following my blog far back enough, THE BALCONY was where bonding Sasha and Merlin started going wrong. They had a bad fight on their 3rd date, and me being a bit of an idiot just kept bringing them back out on THE BALCONY because it was the only true neutral place in the house Merlin had never been to. So, as the early stages of bonding brought more fights, they started associating the balcony with fighting and things just got worse and worse. I'm just thankful there weren't any serious injuries, though Merlin got a bloody nose one time.

Anyway, since bonding's been going so well these days, I thought I'd risk it and see if anything happened. And you know what? Today was the first real sign I got that they are going to be great friends. The wind terrified them at first, so they picked a corner and sat together, staring at me with big hate-filled eyes. Sasha nipped Merlin a bit, and also gave him head grooms. Merlin thumped and postured, and huffed a few steps away when she came near. She insisted on being by him, and once did a cute thing where she pushed her head under his ear like a girl making a guy put his arm around her.

Eventually she got bored and ran off. And Merlin padded after her! It kept happening, whenever one bun decided to go one way, the other would bounce off after them. They would have face-to-face "groom me" stand-offs, then Sasha being a sweetheart would just give Merlin head grooms, and then nip him. I read that rabbit society is matriarchal, and does are much more dominant than bucks. So it's a weird dynamic, but then Merlin grew up being dominant over his brother and Sasha is the first doe he's ever encountered so I guess he doesn't know what to make of not being the unchallenged top bun anymore. It clearly annoys Sasha that he won't groom her, hence the dominance nips. But Merlin has never voluntarily licked anyone in his life, not even me.

They're still out there, and I can see Merlin shooting daggers at me with his eyes as his fur blows gloriously around in the wind. Honestly, why would buns even evolve a med/long coat? It seems like an awful inconvenience in any weather. Rain? You'll take two years to dry out. Sun? You're roasting. Wind? You'll get blown away. Cold? Great, there's lots of fur on you. BUT THERE'S ALSO LOTS OF FUR INSIDE YOU BECAUSE YOU SHED LIKE A MADBUN. There's no winning. I wish I'd gotten a picture of them in the wind, you'd see Merlsy looking like a natty featureless wool ball and Shibi looking like one of the men in black beside him.

I don't know? It looks to me like they are both giving you the evil eye and wondering why you are torturing them. It is progress though, and very hopeful. If they continued to get along, I would be tempted to not separate and try a marathon bonding if you have the time.

I have my own two troublemakers that I'm trying to bond too. It was going well until one bun escaped into the other buns area while I was feeding, and there was a tussle. RABBITS! Remind me why we like them

Yes the evil eye indeed. It hurts a mother's heart. *sniffle* But we must be strong!

They've been on the balcony 3 hours now, and because I'm a wuss I've gone inside and am supervising them through the glass. I'm thinking that it would be okay to just set up their shared area in my new place I'm moving to, and then put them together right away? It's completely new, neutral space so I'm fairly sure they won't start fighting. It would the marathon bonding session...that never ends. Haha.

Good luck with your bonding, Jenny! Merls and Sashy have had their share of tussles too, but it all works out in the end. Oh bunnies, they are troublemakers, all of 'em.

Today's balcony bonding session is full of fur. Specifically, Merlin's fur.

I like the balcony for bonding because the glass doors let me keep an eye on them while I remain effectively removed from the bonding process. But every so often, something catches my eye. More often than not, it's a big bunch of fluff flying through the air. Why does Sasha keep pulling Merlin's fur? She's not doing it aggressively as they aren't fighting, and Merlin's showing more confidence around her than I've seen yet, Sasha just keeps going up to him, sticking her head under his bum or belly, and biting huge chunks of fur out. He doesn't seem awfully bothered by this, and if I'm honest I'm quite glad that that's fur that won't be ending up on my clothes. Twice, the little bugger did a dead bunny flop. It definitely isn't hot this time, so that must be dominance posturing?

This bond is so not going according to what bonding sites tell me it should be. For one, there's zero mounting or humping. Just nipping. Sheebster won't stop her dominance nipping but Merlin, a supposed male who supposedly doesn't care about any supposed hierarchy, is NOT submitting. Sasha's the one doling out all the head grooms. All he does is crouch with his head on the ground, which is supposedly a submissive pose but you know what Merlin, I'm not sure you're being sincere about it.

Where is my humping. Where is my grooming. How do I bunny-slap some sense into Mr. Puffsbottom.

I put his mancave out there to see if it would trigger more relationship negotiations, but basically Merlin hopped in, and then Sasha hopped in and chased him out with nips so now it's Sasha's womancave.

It's been a long, tough moving journey. But here I am, settled in my new apartment, with a couple of pics to share with you all.



Oh my! Is that Merlin, flopped over, in the same cage as a snoozing Sasha?



It IS!

I wanted to wait till I could get a cute snuggling photo, but eh, I was too excited and this'll do.

They're cooped up in that little cage till all the heavy moving is done, but after that I plan to make them free-range apartment bunzos. This concludes our six month long bonding journey! Merlin and Sasha have spent their first night and half a day together, and if you remember how Merlin's tense fear was the main roadblock to their relationship towards the end, I think this wonderful moment of Dead Bunny Flopping demonstrates how far he's come now.

arty0002:

Glad you had moved!!!!!! Good onya!!!!!

!!!!!!!

I'm so excited! It's lovely to see them FINALLY getting along and sharing a cage.

Hope the rest of the move goes smoothly!

Awww. How cute!!!!!! I love the photos!!!!!

Wow, I can't believe I'm seeing both of them in the same cage not killing each other!!!!

Vanessa

Yay! So happy to hear that!

Awesome! Moving is stressful. Bundo bondo!

Thanks everyone!! Yeah, moving is hard hard hard....on me! The bunnies have just been enjoying the new place. I wouldn't say they're best friends yet, but as Sasha has mellowed out and become more genially accepting of Merlin, Merlin has in turn gotten more cocky and dominant. She still asks him for head grooms, and he still won't give her any. He actually chases after her every so often, not to fight, but kind of to intimidate her or something. Little stinker. Luckily, Rambo bunny Sasha doesn't bite back, she just shakes it all off and is her usual adventurous, stoic self.

Some moving shenanigans:

I found a piece of chalk dropped on the carpet while stuff was being moved. It had bunny teeth marks on it! I interrogated the fluffies, and held out the evidence accusingly. While Sasha sniffed it and left in disgust, my police work was made easy by Merlin, who guiltlessly chomped right down on the chalk again. At this point I would normally be freaking out about him ingesting chalk, but given the insane stuff he's eaten without terrible consequence, I'm pretty sure he has a stomach of steel. Will still be keeping an eye on him though.

Merlin lost a nail, I have no idea how it happened. It was just lying there in the middle of the carpet. No fur or other evidence of a brawl, just a lone nail, with blood on the end, sitting there. Two innocent-looking buns hopping around exploring. It was too thick and dark to be Sasha's nail, so I knew it was Merlin's. I haven't had time to examine his toesies, but I'm really hoping the wound's healed up and hasn't gotten infected.

Sasha bonked her nose on the cage door. I hadn't realised the cage door had swung close. When I went to herd the bunnies back in, Merlin escaped under the couch but Sasha went straight for the cage door, which was not open as both of us expected, jumped and bonked her nose. She looked so stunned and confused. I know it's such a small thing, but I still feel so bad about it.

Merlin loves the new heater. Straight-up loves it. I caught him trying to roll over on his back in front of it. Now he's flopped out right by it. It's summer, the heater is only on a little bit because I'm a cold-hating wimp, and he has the thickest fur coat on out of all of us. Weirdo. et:

I have more pictures but I don't know why they're showing up so big these days and it's annoying me and probably you guys too. Rrgh. I'm using tumblr as my pic drop medium and I might have to change it to get smaller pictures...and me no like change.

Anyway, just take my word for it that Merlin and Sasha now spend a lot of time sitting side by side in their litterbox looking much like an old-timey couple posing stiffly for an old-timey photo. LOL. It really does with their serious poker faces, Merlin sitting tall and puffed out over Sasha like a Real Man (tm) and Sasha tucked down primly by him like a round little wifey. I caught him grooming her ears for 3 seconds once. He's cracking! He's cracking! By golly, she's getting to him.

:yahoo:

I'm so happy they're getting along!!