Conan the Bunbarian & Xena Bunnier Princess

[Troller]

Date XXXIX

It started with Conan grooming Xena, then a scuffle went on at the middle point of the date, then they just generally ignored each other. So it seemed promising but overall was a very flat date. The only positive was that it was 3 hours long. Oh, but at the middle point I was forced to stress them by putting them in a single carrier together as punishment for the scuffle that looked like it was brewing to be a full on fight.

I'm not sure where I'm at with this bond. They took some promising steps but have also had quite a few setbacks. What's more, I 'm just not sure how they will react in shared territory if things aren't going standardly friendly in neutral. Oh well, tomorrow another day to do it all again.

***

 

[Troller]

Date XL

Well I'm completely discouraged. I think I'm done bonding. 3 hours together and they spent it avoiding each other. The scuffled at one point, and Xena groomed him at one point so that was a wash. Things we're tense so I decided to put them in the tub to stress them. There Xena again groomed Conan so I thought it was working but then they decided to rumble pretty hard. Add to this I feel an old scab near Xena's eye, a small one but there. Conan has scratches all over his back and fur missing. I mean I just don't see the point in pushing them and they keep getting hurt. It truly stuns me that they can be together for hours no problem, groom each other, but then turn around and fight anyways. I guess I'm living with two separate rabbits which isn't a problem, just a shame.

*

 

[Troller]

Date XLI

On suggestion I decided to use an actual stresser for my rabbits and put them in a single carrier and went for a drive. It was as I feared, while there was less aggression from both it was still there and the car ride didn't really faze them too bad. I'd call it an inconveniance. Though maybe it wasn't all bad, no fighting occured over the course of 3 hours, just a lot of jostling.

Maybe it's my mindset. I've been having a really rough week so I'm not as jolly. My wife tells me when she came in today the rabbits we're binkying in tandem in their cages and grooming each other between bars...ughh. I'm just fried for now.

**

 

[kirbyultra]

Aw, that's really tough. I know my buns read the stress off of me and they get pretty tense and wary as well. Lots of pets are very aware of their people's feelings. If you throw in the towel on bonding it would be kind a shame, but you are not making the decision lightly. The buns hurting each other is a painful experience for them and you. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you best of luck!

 

[Troller]

For lack of creative thinking I put the buns together again today because I had to clean their cages and no longer liked the idea of keeping them in their carriers like I used to. So it had all the hallmarks of a date though I'm loath to call it that.

Whats to say. It started with grooming and ended with a lot of scuffles and a fight. I was almost done cleaning when the worst of it was going on so I decided to rely on my usual stress technique which is to put them together in a very confined space, a single carrier and shake it from time to time. They decided to surprise me and fight in said carrier, amazing because they barely have room in there to turn around much less tussle. So now two of my usual stressing methods have failed (the bathtub being the other) and I'm leery to try another car ride because that didn't seem to stress them all that much. I don't need an immunity built up to that too.

The only good point was that when I let them out of the carrier they quietly relaxed a distance apart from each other. I let it go for 10min to finish tidying up and then felt this was a positive enough ending to put them away.

I think it's time to take a break from bonding, if for anything to give them a chance to recover fur and heal up some minor scratches. I'll still try to let them out together when I clean but if that also continues to he a mess then I'll go back to my old methods of cleaning.

In two weeks I have some time and was thinking to try what I see a lot of people in the UK do and just stick them together in a neutral spot until they bond or they can't. I just wonder can you go from slow bonding and then change tactics to fast bonding. Then again I might wuss out, I'm musing is all.

 

[kirbyultra]

:bunnyhug:

 

[Troller]

Date XLII

Not sure on what's my strategy or if I'm even continuing bonding hut since today was clean up day and its been a few days since the buns have been together I put them in the neutral territory while I cleaned the enclosures. At first the buns took turns grooming each other. Then after a while they just relaxed away from each other. Finally towards the end they decide to get aggressive and lunge and nip at one another.

The smart move would have been to put them back in their enclosures after I finished cleaning but I thought they were getting along so well why not leave them. Another smart move would have been relaxing them ones tensions started to rise then put them back on a happy note. Unfortunately I did nothing bright. Oh well. Went three hours long and half good half not so good.

***

 

[Chrisdoc]

what a shame, it´s difficult to know what to do.

I set up my terrace so they could go out and as I´d had trouble with two of the boys, I put them out there and they got on fine and ended up grooming each other a few times. They´ve had ups and downs since their fall out at Christmas and it´s been difficult as I had to let them out separately. Anyway, this week, I let them all out together all week and they lunge a bit but no serious scuffles and today it went much better than I expected. So, you know yours, do what you think may work for them. I really do hope, they get over this and just get on. I thought mine wouldn´t again but they have so there is hope.

 

[Troller]

Well I've just been letting them relax, daily cage switching but no dates. I figure let them heal up a bit and recover some fur and next week I'm going to try the UK method of bonding where I put them together in a totally new and neutral territory until they bond or it looks impossible. Granted I only got at most 60 hours to try this so if it looks bad I'll of course stop. We'll see.

 

[Azerane]

I hope you've got someone to run shifts with you, because I know I couldn't stay awake for 60 hours I really hope it goes well though. I should think that that amount of time will let you know for sure whether they are willing to get along or not.

 

[flemish giant]

I think if youre a light sleeper you may could just sleep in the neutral territory. rabbits are pretty loud when they fight.

 

[Troller]

I am a light sleeper and intend to sleep on the couch near them or an air mattress is necessary. But first I have to figure out what I can use as temporary flooring for the neutral area I need to set up.

 

[holtzchick]

Just caught up with your blog! I am glad you are still bonding your two and it is hard but keep at it!

 

[Troller]

Today I made a bone headed mistake. While feeding the rabbits and switching their run times I let Xena out and forgot to put the locks on Conan's cage and went promptly to sleep. I heard wrestling but I swear it sounded like my neighbors and not next room.

I managed to shake my stupor and realize what might be going on but luckily my wife who was moments from hoping into the shower also heard the commotion and separated them. A great personal feat for her because she's kind of scared of getting in the mix and...well in her birthday suit all the more intimidating to try.

I checks both rabbits and while Conan had a lot of fur pulled they physically looked well. However, Conan seemed shell shocked the rest of the day. He didn't want to go to his cage, he kept smearing poop on things and ate less then usual. At the end of the day though things were better, his poops all right and he was eating normal.

This weekend I'm putting them in a new neutral place to try to bond them. I plan to leave them there through the weekend with me right there observing. If things don't go well in the meantime I'll be building a permanent cage to house both of them separately. I'm not saying I'm giving up bonding them forever, just for now.

 

[jemm]

Love the photos, what great pair of buns

 

[Troller]

It's amazing how much we'll put out for these lil critters. Today I lost sleep, spent money and dedicated time to creating a temporary pen and neutral territory all for the chance to bond my buns.

The plan is to put Conan and Xena in the new 8 by 4 pen and wait them out the weekend. I plan to sleep next to them and hope for the very best while prepare for the intensely disappointing and dread the terrible worst. I'm ready to put a barrier in said pen if they fight way too hard. They'll have to stay in this pen while I work on making and cleaning the permanent residence with an optional divider. If they play well then their new combined home will he ready. Play badly and well their 7 by 4 two floor condo becomes their 4 by 3 two floor dwelling. The smaller digs will suck for them but they generally get 12 hours out in the pet room and 5 of those hours throughout the apartment.

First snag. The Iris pens while nice and easy to clean and assemble, are very floppy assembling straight lined. This sucks because I'm very obsessive about measurements and on paper the set up fit to a T. Now I got a wobbly pen that stands up straight only when you set it up zig zagging, which further blows because it goes over the temp flooring I set up and onto the carpet. I got all night to figure that lil issue out so hopefully a better solution comes to me.

Well I got some work ahead of me so wish us luck. I'll probably be updating this thing since I'll he indoors the whole time.

 

[Troller]

So it has begun. Of course a mistake I may be making is doing it right after work which also means I haven't slept in over 24 hours. So it started out fun with them exploring the new space. After about 5 minutes of doing that they decided to scuffle. Seems Conan's new thing is to poop stink when they fight and boy did it smell. So it was hot and heavy with me separating them when the worst of it was going down and I was so very close to just shutting the whole thing down but then they took opposite ends of the pen and have been relaxing for some time.

A second mistake might have been putting to many new things in with them, but I was truly hoping that they would be distracted by it. So far that also seems to be going dismal but it only just started. Well let's see, got all day and night to see what happens. If it goes ugly I'll just make a partition in the pens while tomorrow I start the rebuilding of the cage in the pet room.

 

[Apebull]

Good Luck

 

[PaGal]

I am hoping for the best for you. I know you will do what is best for the two of them and if that means having them live separately then I know you will make the best of it. I do really, really hope this works out well and that everyone can live together as one big happy family.

It's a shame the pen is not stable. I have the same issue with the Xpen I have as a cage for the two buns. It helped adding the coroplast and hubby used a thick piece of copper connected across the one end of the top of the cage to make it a little more sturdy. Only drawback is I tend to clothesline myself on it at least once every time I clean the cage.

 

[Troller]

Well twelve hours into it and so far not too bad. Two scuffles in the first two hours which had me almost call it, but then nearly ten hours of relative quiet. Just an occasional chasing off from one or the other, mostly Xena scaring off Conan. I wish I wasn't so sleepy otherwise I would have thought to take them out for a car ride first to stress them a bit before I actually began this but that's a missed opportunity now. Another snag I hit was when i took out my air mattress I discovered the stupid plug missing, so I've had to sleep on the floor. Yay...So now we're into new territory, going over the longest period before today. The real shame is not once have they groomed each other or sat too near each other which leaves me suspicious of how ell this is going.