Taking the Bunnies for a Car Ride
Last night, after catching up with Justin for some post-work drinks and sushi, Liz swing by to pick us both up. It turns out, we had a few other passengers in the car as well.
Liz has been reading up on the whole “bonding” process for rabbits for some time, and recently came across a mention of a “shared stress experience.”
So the plan was to take the rabbits for a car ride, and then afterwards… immediately place them back on some neutral territory.
Justin, holding on to the bunny carrier on his ride home. Sort of the non-rabbit third wheel in the back seat.
After we got home, we set up a litter box and a rug in the bathtub. The two rabbits got along pretty well and more or less just slowly calmed down together.
We watched them for about 30-40 minutes in here, and then transferred the tow back out to their pens. And actually, we shifted them so that each rabbit was in the other’s pen area. We’ve also been switching the litter boxes as well, the past few days.
One thing I’ll mention is that, despite all the cutesy pictures on here… there’s been a bit more aggression lately. Baxter’s taken to nipping at the new bunny from between the bars of her pen, and that’s been a bit unsettling. We’ve taken to using a small spray bottle whenever this happens.
As of now, both rabbits are trying to become the dominant one. I’m sure it’s more distressing for Baxter (who’s been the sole rabbit for many years now), who now may feel like her territory is being threatened.
When they get together, both rabbits are trying to get their heads lower to force the other one to lick/groom them. It looks incredibly cute, but my sense is that there’s a lot of power dynamic stuff going on within that cuteness.
So it continues to be a waiting game. I think there’s been improvement, but I have a hunch we’re a ways away yet from them actually grooming one another.
Wow Liz wasn’t kidding when she said you two were busy with the bunnies. That’s a lot of work! Now imagine how great you’ll be when you become parents, though (assuming you’re going to become parents one day), you’ll be ready with that squirt bottle to keep one kid from nipping at the other. : O ) That’s an interesting idea about the shared stress experiences. Does that work for all animals or just bunnies?
Marty J. (December 10, 2009 at 10:39 pm)