Cocoa & Honey are doing great after 3wks of recovery. However, they now HATE each other which I understand isn't particularly surprising but it is a bummer. It's like they have reverse barrier aggression – when separated they're grooming each other through the fencing, but the moment there's no fence it is ON!
We've known this was a possibility so the 2 times we've removed the fencing they were supervised & separated immediately. No injuries except for humans getting scratched. I was crossing my fingers so hard that this wouldn't happen but it has & I'm 😞.
If anyone has tips & tricks to get them liking each other again I'd love to read them because so far spoiling them with veggies and singing kumbaya is not working.
Bun tax submitted but it's not allowing me to do 2 pics so you get Honey periscoping.
by CoffeeTeaPeonies
5 Comments
Honey is beautiful in this pic.
I don’t have a lot of help but have you tried swapping things between them so they keep each other’s scent around.
I have seen also trying being together in a neutral space. If just removing the barrier they are moving into the other’s space and they could feel negative about that. Maybe put them in carriers and get them to a whole different room and supervise letting them out together.
Awwwwww! 🥰
This happened with our two bunnies! They got into a full bunny fight 2 days after their spays, but they adore each other again now! Here’s what we found during that process.
-If you brought their blankets/towels to the vet and put them right back with them, wash them first. Anything that could smell like the vet is going to add more stress.
-Swapping items (blankets, toys, etc) between them helps them to reacclimate to each other’s scents.
-We put their food bowls next to each other against the fence we separated them with so they were eating kind of next to each other, but still with a barrier
-A neutral zone for short periods of reintroductions, and lots of their favorite treats to reward positive interactions. Our girls love those stick treats, and would always share them, so we used that in the neutral zone, and then gave them reward treats if they interacted well after separating them again
-When they got more comfortable with each other, my wife mushed up banana and put it on each of their noses, that got them to start grooming each other! But wait to do that until they stop snapping/lunging at each other
-Be patient! It can be a long process, and it can be scary. It can be hard to tell the difference between what is playful or natural bonding and what are aggressive mannerisms or interactions, but we were also first time bunny owners and still learning
Keep giving them love and treats! I’m sure they’ll be back to loving each other in no time!
I love that you were singing Kumbaya with them. 🙂
You may need more time for the hormones to be gone completely. 3 weeks is the minimum for the hormones to drop off, some may take more than a month.
The Bunny Lady has a few articles talking about bonding that may be helpful for things you haven’t tried, but I’d leave them for a bit longer before trying again.