Hi, I wondered if anyone had any advice.
We got two new female bunnies 2 weeks ago, from the same pen, so I didn't think we would have to slow bond them, was I wrong...
The first week went well, they were learning they're new surroundings (they have a 200, upstairs and downstairs but also have access to the whole room near enough!) Chi-Chis (Rex) hormones started kicking in after the first week, which Asuna (lionhead) didn't like so Chi-Chi got a few war wounds. We got nutracalm, that seemed to help a great deal (finally some sleep)! A few days later Asuna started but she is aggressive about it, digging her teeth in whilst doing it. But now, now Asuna is nipping and pulling fur out of Chi-Chi for no reason at all. I know this could due to hormones and asserting dominance. No they haven't been spayed yet, however that is booked in. On the other hand our Chi-Chi has bonded so well with us but the lionhead hasn't got quite there yet. I'm just confused as they can eat out of the same bowl, lie down next to each other, want to be with each other when separated (we now separate them majority of the day and together for a few hours in the evening to protect Chi-Chi, they can still see and sniff each other as divided the room in half) but why is Asuna doing this to Chi-Chi? Is it just dominance? We know she is going to the dominate one, however, Chi-Chi will always bow her head underneath Asunas chin, I thought it was being submissive but is that to show dominance? Chi-Chi then sometimes gets a nip when doing this. She gets nipped for not doing anything at all. Are we doing all that we can before they get spayed? Have I missed something? I'm tired as now I sleep in with them to make sure they haven't jumped across to each other. I'm also new to bunnies so I wanted to make sure I'm doing all we can.
Thank you, sorry if this is long. This is also them together tonight about 20minutes ago...
We got two new female bunnies 2 weeks ago, from the same pen, so I didn't think we would have to slow bond them, was I wrong...
The first week went well, they were learning they're new surroundings (they have a 200, upstairs and downstairs but also have access to the whole room near enough!) Chi-Chis (Rex) hormones started kicking in after the first week, which Asuna (lionhead) didn't like so Chi-Chi got a few war wounds. We got nutracalm, that seemed to help a great deal (finally some sleep)! A few days later Asuna started but she is aggressive about it, digging her teeth in whilst doing it. But now, now Asuna is nipping and pulling fur out of Chi-Chi for no reason at all. I know this could due to hormones and asserting dominance. No they haven't been spayed yet, however that is booked in. On the other hand our Chi-Chi has bonded so well with us but the lionhead hasn't got quite there yet. I'm just confused as they can eat out of the same bowl, lie down next to each other, want to be with each other when separated (we now separate them majority of the day and together for a few hours in the evening to protect Chi-Chi, they can still see and sniff each other as divided the room in half) but why is Asuna doing this to Chi-Chi? Is it just dominance? We know she is going to the dominate one, however, Chi-Chi will always bow her head underneath Asunas chin, I thought it was being submissive but is that to show dominance? Chi-Chi then sometimes gets a nip when doing this. She gets nipped for not doing anything at all. Are we doing all that we can before they get spayed? Have I missed something? I'm tired as now I sleep in with them to make sure they haven't jumped across to each other. I'm also new to bunnies so I wanted to make sure I'm doing all we can.
Thank you, sorry if this is long. This is also them together tonight about 20minutes ago...