House Rabbits Blog

Ginger and Juju are home at last!!  They’ve been gone for exactly one week but I’ve missed them like they’ve been gone for a month!

In their absence, Joey and I built them a new home together.

We’ve added a third shelf since the previous post and it seems like it’s perfect for them.

Here is Juju trying out the new ramp in the new condo.

This is also the first time I’ve ever caught any buns of mine washing their face on video.  What’s also rare is that the buns are locked in their condo together.  Since this is their first night back we should keep them locked in a smaller space together to facilitate bonding.

This will be Ginger and Juju’s new home

Ginger and Juju have been bonded successfully!! HOORAY!!!

I went over to Suzanne’s house to visit them today and to get an update.  They have been living together in a pen for 2 days now and throughout the night.  Suzanne assures me that this means they’re bonded.  She is truly a pro!

As soon as Joey and I entered the room, they both were scratching at the pen to get out.  I think they do this no matter who enters however, when I jumped into the pen, Ginger recognized me and stood on me for pets.  She even groomed my pants!  Juju was excited too but as per his nature, he was more subdued.  He was quite happy to see Joey.  We gave them both lots of treats because they’ve been stressed for 4 days.  While I was inside the pen, I saw Ginger groom Juju and I saw Juju groom Ginger.  They were not on alert around each other but rather, they were just exploring and going about their own business.  This is a good sign in bonded bunnies because it means that they’re comfortable enough with and around each other that they don’t have to be on guard all the time.

Even though they’re technically bonded, we didn’t take them home today.  Suzanne wants to be sure that their bond is completed cemented and that they’re truly a married couple before they come home.  I agreed to pick them up Wednesday morning to bring them home.

Since Suzanne gave me the thumbs up, Joey and I dismantled Juju’s cage and started work on a much bigger joint cage for both buns (pictures to come later).  We want them to live together in the kitchen with their new cage before slowly expanding their territory to the rest of the house.  Even though they are free to roam around and are not confined to a cage, it’s nice that they have a cage to call their home and for them to go in and be undisturbed.  We rarely lock the door on the cage anyways.

Suzanne told us that Ginger and Juju stopped fighting after the first day they were together.  They’ve been living together since the 3rd day or so.  This confirms it . . . I’m a failure as a bonder.  Suzanne did in 4 days what Joey and I couldn’t do in 16 or more sessions!  I believe this is because (1) Suzanne spends more time bonding them and (2) she’s got firmer hands that I do.  I was told by others before I bought the buns over that Suzanne can bond any bunny.  I see that is true now.  Thank you Suzanne!

Suzanne gave me a call today to update me on the status of Juju and Ginger’s intense bonding sessions.

Wednesday was their first full day with Suzanne and they were bonding for 3-4 hours.  Thursday, when I spoke with Suzanne at around 5pm, she told me they’ve been bonding since 1pm.  These bonding sessions are lasting a lot longer than the ones Joey and I used to do.

Ginger is obviously going to be the dominant bunny.  She’s bigger, stronger and more assertive.  Juju, despite some nips, seem to be OK with the idea that Ginger is dominant.  They have apparently kissed and made out for a little while.  Juju has even groomed Ginger a little bit.  No surprise however, Ginger has not groomed Jujuback.  Ginger is still pooping while they’re together all around the bonding area.  This is nature since she is marking her territory.  The fact that Juju does not mark is a good sign that he’s willing to be submissive to her.  The more time they spend together, I was assured, the more comfortable they will be with each other.  The best news of all is that Suzanne thinks they definitely are bondable and will be bonded in a week or so.  I guess it just takes a firm hand and time, both of which Joey and I do not have.

The buns are not coming back to us until they are fully “married.”  This means that they will be able to live together overnight without fighting.  Of course this is totally in contradiction to human marriages but alas, this is what they call it. Suzanne will give me word when I can start dismantling Juju’s cage in the kitchen and start building their new, bigger cage together.  She wants to have them live together the moment they get back.  I want that as well.

Ginger and Juju were shipped off to Suzanne’s house tonight.  I was really sad to see them go even though I know this is for the better and that I’ll see them soon.  They of course didn’t know we were leaving them behind but I’m sure they’ll figure it out when they have to sleep in cages next to other foster bunnies tonight.  I hope they don’t get too sad or think that we’ve abandoned them for good.  I love them both.

On a positive note, I hope that when they come back, they’ll be bonded or at least almost completely bonded.  Immediately after coming home, we already took down Ginger’s makeshift pen area and cleaned it.  It’s very unsightly in the middle of the dining room and makes it so that we can’t utilize the space efficiently.  We haven’t dismantled her pen or Juju’s cage yet but once we get word from Suzanne that they’re bondable and that she’ll be able to do it, then we’ll work on dismantling both their homes and building them a brand new one in the kitchen.  It’ll be bigger than Juju’s current cage and have double the opening space for Ginger to get into.  This should be good both aesthetically and also to foster a better bond between the two buns.

Suzanne didn’t give me a deadline for when she’ll be done with them.  When it happens, it happens.  She doesn’t have any plans for the near future and she’ll work on aggressively bonding them all day long.  She’ll probably sit with them in a pen and watch them and facilitate bonding.  I trust her experienced hands.  What she’s doing to bond them I could never do because both Joey and I work all day and can’t sit down to aggressively bond them.  I just hope they’re bondable and that this works out.