Living Arrangements

[MomOfBuns]

Khya (New Zealand) and Dobie ( 3-pound dwarf hotot) are now living together, but Dobie seems to like getting Khya running and stopping when she flops over from exhaustion. He bites on her bum and sometimes pulls out fur - never any skin tags though- and she looks scared then flops out in the litter box.

I think he just wants to groom her, but she doesn't want him to do that.
The funny thing is, when it's their turn in the "common-room", they get along fine, no fur pulling, and not alot of chasing. They don't really have places to hide. She is too big for most of the things I have for them anyway.

When Dobie is chasing her, his tail is not up and his ears are not against his back, so I don't think he's being aggressive. I tried putting them in my laundry basket on top of the dryer when it's going and after that they cuddled in the laundry basket, but once in their cage, back to chasing.

Will this stop? They are both fixed for a long time now. Hormones shouldn't be an issue.
Will they ever be in love???

Help and suggestions badly needed.
Thanks,

 

[paul2641]

Maybe you should seperate them for some time and they might begin to miss eachother. And only allow them to see eachother in the common play area.

 

[Amy27]

That happened to my rabbits and when I put them in a bigger living space it stopped. I felt so bad for my rabbit that was always chased. I still let them be out of their cages together but they had separate cages. Now they have a part of the laundry room and it has stopped. I don't know if it was because they had more room or if they just got use to each other. It does sound like your bunny is just tryng to play. How long have they been living together?

 

[MomOfBuns]

They are perfect with each other when they are in the "commom-room" - it's like a full sized bedroom. their cage is 56x28x42 and has 2 levels. This is where they are doing the chasing and fur pulling. They have been attempting to live together for almost 2 weeks now. They are in the huge cage, but I have a separator between them. They can still see each other and everything, but like they are in two separate cages. 2 separate litters, water bowls, food bowls, etc...

Dobie only chases her when they are in that cage. She seems to get really agitated after a while of it continuing to happen. Her breathing is irratic and she flops over to get a break. He comes over to lick her ears and eyes and up she gets and jumps over him and it starts all over again.

I just feel so bad for her. I even tried rubbing sweet stuff on both their noses to entice grooming, but that didn't work either.

Will she ever love him enough???

 

[Amy27]

She will love him one day. When I brought home a new rabbit my old rabbit Chase bit my cat she was so upset. When she could see the other rabbit she would charge toward her and growl even through cages. It was awful. It took about 6-8 weeks until I could trust them together. I would keep putting them together in the bedroom when you can supervise and keep them separate in cages but where they can see each other. That is what I did. I believed my rabbits would never get along. Now they are best friends. It can take awhile and be discouraging but don't give up. I contacted my vet and the Rabbit House Society when I was having this problem because I didn't know what to do. They both gave good advice on ways to get them to bond. If you google House Rabbit Society you can email them questions and they got back to me fairly quickly. Don't give up they will bond and hopefully stop the chasing. They will get use to having the other bunny around. Good Luck

 

[MomOfBuns]

Thank you. I am feeling discouraged. I feel like giving up on them. He jumps in thelitter with her while she is eating her hay and she freaks out and runs away. I just felt like throwing the towel. They are in separate cages, except when I supervise their alone time in the cage, but they can still see each other.

Now that I have them separated again, they try to take down the wire barrier to get at each other. They are both more relaxed when separated.

When I put them together in the run room, they are content to do their own thing.

Bunnies are quite unpredictable with their own personalities. Can be a struggle, but in the long run, worth it.

I will stick with it for now. Thanks for the advice.

 

[gentle giants]

I would think that Dobie feels that the cage area is "his" territory, while the common room is more neutral ground. How long has this been going on? Sometimes the little spats like this will settle down within a few days or so.

 

[MomOfBuns]

This is a new cage that I specifically built for them. All new parts, different litters.... Dobie is a little bully with "big-bunny syndrome" I think. I even put the new cage where both of their separate cages were to try and not make it too stressful for them. I tried letting them run around the empty cage just to get used to each other without anything in the way to make a mess, but he kept chasing her and she seemed very agitated. I don't think she likes him, but that he likes her. It might not be meant to be.

I will decide what to do over the weekend. Thanks for all the replies. I'll let you all know how it works out.

 

[aurora369]

If they get along in the neutral room, you could try setting up a bonding pen there. When I bonded all of my buns, I used a large puppy pen in a neutral area. I would leave them together in the pen for a couple of weeks until their bond had solidified before putting them in a cage.

I also have a mother/daughter pair that will fight if their space is restricted. They get along fine in their 5x2 2 level NIC condo, but will fight if put in a carrier.

You may have to provide an even bigger cage for them, or try to solidify their bond more before restricting them to the cage you have.

--Dawn