BethM
Well-Known Member
(Pictures at the bottom!)
A few weeks ago, Husband and I decided we should try to find a girlfriend for Benjamin. He seemed lonely to use, spending most of his time just sitting and staring. (He's not really into toys or chewing.) Plus, after nearly a year of being with us, he's still very shy. He avoids pets, and won't come out of the bunny room on his own. (We are making progress on that, but it involves me carrying him out to the living room, then he hides under the sofa.)
Anyway, we chatted with the chapter manager of the HRS group we volunteer with. As long as we've been involved, single girls are hard to come by. We have tons of single boys, and some pairs, so as soon as girls come in, they are either adopted out right away, or bond with the lonely single boys. We let her know that we were interested in finding a girl for Benjamin, and a week later three single girls came in.
We were able to set up a date today at the foster house where one of the girls was. The date went very well. Benjamin and Digger ignored each other for about 10 minutes, then she presented to him and he groomed her! We watched them for awhile longer, and he groomed her again (licked her ears). They snuggled up next to each other. At no time was there any aggression or mounting. It went so well, we decided to bring her home with us today!
Digger was adopted from a local shelter; we verified with them that she was already spayed. She was stuck into a small cage (I think it would be a good size for a hamster) and used as a classroom bunny at a preschool. She was turned over to us last week, with the explanation that she "isn't working out" and she is too shy. She seems to be a little cage aggressive, but is very sweet outside of her cage. (When I was arranging her area for her at home, she hopped right up and presented to me.)
She is a Netherland Dwarf, and we were expecting her to be very small......Well, she's quite large! Her ears are teeny-tiny, but she's almost as big as 5.5lb Benjamin. She is most certainly overweight (probably never got out of her cage for exercise) so we need to trim her down. She also has some goopy poops right now. She probably never had much fresh vegetables in the preschool, then her foster home was giving her lots of cabbage, carrots, and apples right away. I'm going to ease her into salads, and she will now be eating Timmy pellets. Hopefully she will also eat a lot of hay.
For now, we have put an extra x-pen in Benjamin's cage, dividing it in half. It's doubled up with a small gap in between, hopefully there will be no aggression or biting through. I will be worrying about them all day tomorrow! Benjamin is annoyed at his restricted area, but has been relaxing next to the divider. Digger has been hiding in the corner, but has come out for a few minutes to find her water and she ate some pellets.
Oh, and we are not wild about the name Digger, so we're changing her name. (New home, new name.) We considered Bella, because it sounds good with Benjamin, but we're not fans of Twilight. Right now we're trying out Chloe.
We are letting them relax for the evening, and will have some bonding activities tomorrow. She was using a litterbox at her foster home, but hasn't used the one here yet. She has eaten some pellets, though, and she knows where her water is.
(We were secretly hoping Benjamin wouldn't like Digger, as we had our hearts set on one of the other single girls that has just come in....a beautiful Silver Martin. But they got along so well, it wouldn't have made sense to wait three weeks until he could have a date with that bunny. The other available girl is a grey and white Dutch, but the person fostering her couldn't meet up with us today.)
And now, pictures! :
Chloe
ignoring each other
hanging out together
he is grooming her!!
more grooming!
pen divided for bonding; the right half has more floor area, but the left half has a 3-level condo
Chloe hiding under the step
A few weeks ago, Husband and I decided we should try to find a girlfriend for Benjamin. He seemed lonely to use, spending most of his time just sitting and staring. (He's not really into toys or chewing.) Plus, after nearly a year of being with us, he's still very shy. He avoids pets, and won't come out of the bunny room on his own. (We are making progress on that, but it involves me carrying him out to the living room, then he hides under the sofa.)
Anyway, we chatted with the chapter manager of the HRS group we volunteer with. As long as we've been involved, single girls are hard to come by. We have tons of single boys, and some pairs, so as soon as girls come in, they are either adopted out right away, or bond with the lonely single boys. We let her know that we were interested in finding a girl for Benjamin, and a week later three single girls came in.
We were able to set up a date today at the foster house where one of the girls was. The date went very well. Benjamin and Digger ignored each other for about 10 minutes, then she presented to him and he groomed her! We watched them for awhile longer, and he groomed her again (licked her ears). They snuggled up next to each other. At no time was there any aggression or mounting. It went so well, we decided to bring her home with us today!
Digger was adopted from a local shelter; we verified with them that she was already spayed. She was stuck into a small cage (I think it would be a good size for a hamster) and used as a classroom bunny at a preschool. She was turned over to us last week, with the explanation that she "isn't working out" and she is too shy. She seems to be a little cage aggressive, but is very sweet outside of her cage. (When I was arranging her area for her at home, she hopped right up and presented to me.)
She is a Netherland Dwarf, and we were expecting her to be very small......Well, she's quite large! Her ears are teeny-tiny, but she's almost as big as 5.5lb Benjamin. She is most certainly overweight (probably never got out of her cage for exercise) so we need to trim her down. She also has some goopy poops right now. She probably never had much fresh vegetables in the preschool, then her foster home was giving her lots of cabbage, carrots, and apples right away. I'm going to ease her into salads, and she will now be eating Timmy pellets. Hopefully she will also eat a lot of hay.
For now, we have put an extra x-pen in Benjamin's cage, dividing it in half. It's doubled up with a small gap in between, hopefully there will be no aggression or biting through. I will be worrying about them all day tomorrow! Benjamin is annoyed at his restricted area, but has been relaxing next to the divider. Digger has been hiding in the corner, but has come out for a few minutes to find her water and she ate some pellets.
Oh, and we are not wild about the name Digger, so we're changing her name. (New home, new name.) We considered Bella, because it sounds good with Benjamin, but we're not fans of Twilight. Right now we're trying out Chloe.
We are letting them relax for the evening, and will have some bonding activities tomorrow. She was using a litterbox at her foster home, but hasn't used the one here yet. She has eaten some pellets, though, and she knows where her water is.
(We were secretly hoping Benjamin wouldn't like Digger, as we had our hearts set on one of the other single girls that has just come in....a beautiful Silver Martin. But they got along so well, it wouldn't have made sense to wait three weeks until he could have a date with that bunny. The other available girl is a grey and white Dutch, but the person fostering her couldn't meet up with us today.)
And now, pictures! :
Chloe
ignoring each other
hanging out together
he is grooming her!!
more grooming!
pen divided for bonding; the right half has more floor area, but the left half has a 3-level condo
Chloe hiding under the step