DazyDaizee
Well-Known Member
So Wally had surgery a few weeks ago and has healed up great. We started trying to bond the bunnies again. Every time she has the chance, Toot will bite Wally. He, having a head tilt, freaks out, rolls over and tries to bite anything in his path when this happens. Needless to say, even a nip from Toot can turn into a full fledged fight as a result. Luckily no serious injuries and the fights were broken up quickly and Wally gets over it in minutes.
Today we decided it was time to try something new. We were stuck. So we tried spraying Toot for aggressive moves. This did not work. She still went after him. So we decided to put her in the bath tub. Because she's still so bent on attacking, we put about an inch of water in the bottom of the tub, to give her something else to think about. I felt bad putting Wally in.. but she wasn't attacking. Then he rolled over in the tub and absolutely panicked. So I drained the tub, calmed him down, but having them both stressed I felt it useless to just put them back to their separate areas. So I put them in the empty tub together. Success. Wally ate treats in the tub and they seemed to be calming down together.
After about 10 minutes with no aggression in the tub, I set up a pen at my sister's apartment next door. I put them both in and no fighting. Thinking this is going great, I sat in the pen with them for a while, and Wally sat up to clean himself. Toot stuck her head underneath him to be groomed. Amazing. He didn't groom her, but it didn't matter.. he was grooming himself so she thought she was being groomed.
I left the pen and sat and watched them. No fighting. I added a litter box, food, water and toys. No fighting. They are not seeking each other out but will walk by each other. They seem pretty comfortable. Well.. Wally is completely comfortable.. Toot hasn't quite made up her mind.
They are still over there now, making total time together about 45 minutes or more. My boyfriend is hanging out with his brother over there, so he's going to keep an ear out for scuffles, while I (being the nervous one) relax over here, haha. If all goes well in a few more hours, I plan to move them back over to our apartment in the kitchen and leave the pen setup there for the night. Hopefully things will go well. I was getting so stressed about this bonding.. but finally a bit of encouragement.
Pictures to follow.
Today we decided it was time to try something new. We were stuck. So we tried spraying Toot for aggressive moves. This did not work. She still went after him. So we decided to put her in the bath tub. Because she's still so bent on attacking, we put about an inch of water in the bottom of the tub, to give her something else to think about. I felt bad putting Wally in.. but she wasn't attacking. Then he rolled over in the tub and absolutely panicked. So I drained the tub, calmed him down, but having them both stressed I felt it useless to just put them back to their separate areas. So I put them in the empty tub together. Success. Wally ate treats in the tub and they seemed to be calming down together.
After about 10 minutes with no aggression in the tub, I set up a pen at my sister's apartment next door. I put them both in and no fighting. Thinking this is going great, I sat in the pen with them for a while, and Wally sat up to clean himself. Toot stuck her head underneath him to be groomed. Amazing. He didn't groom her, but it didn't matter.. he was grooming himself so she thought she was being groomed.
I left the pen and sat and watched them. No fighting. I added a litter box, food, water and toys. No fighting. They are not seeking each other out but will walk by each other. They seem pretty comfortable. Well.. Wally is completely comfortable.. Toot hasn't quite made up her mind.
They are still over there now, making total time together about 45 minutes or more. My boyfriend is hanging out with his brother over there, so he's going to keep an ear out for scuffles, while I (being the nervous one) relax over here, haha. If all goes well in a few more hours, I plan to move them back over to our apartment in the kitchen and leave the pen setup there for the night. Hopefully things will go well. I was getting so stressed about this bonding.. but finally a bit of encouragement.
Pictures to follow.
