[Petbunny] Bonding: Muffin and Scout - LONG

[Criss and bunnies]

Sounds like Muffin is trying to be patient with the teenager.. the ears is kinda like a sigh. She's trying to get along with him, but he's so full of himself. He sounds like he's very happy , and only wants her to play with him.

I think I'd leave their cages open while they are out and let them return if they feel they need to.. Even the Mafia has a few chases here and there. Some times one has the tent and doesn't want to share. (Ok it's built for one cat, not 5 Dutch...3 maybe). Sometimes one wants a nap and gives chase when annoyed. But they have plenty of places to go off from the others if they wish so they never really fight. (Not each other, Ginger is fair game.... the little teaser)

--
Criss and the Haven 

"Some people are takers, some people are givers. 

Takers may eat better at times, but givers sleep better." 

Danny Thomas

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Jenny Riley <bunnybean at gmail.com> 

> So -- I could use some advice. 
> 
> We've been giving Muffin and Scout lots of dates lately, and they've been 
> going well. We do it on the landing at the top of the stairs in our house, 
> will all bedroom doors shut. Good news is, I can't hardly remember the last 
> time they fought (and oh boy have they fought). Generally the dates consist 
> of the two of them eyeing eachother, Muffin will hop around, Scout follows 
> her two hops behind. If he gets close and bonks her in the butt she scurries 
> away. At some point (usually several times) Muffin will lay down (sphinx 
> style, little paws out front) and watch Scout run around like a little 
> energetic fool. He might tip-toe towards her, ears and nose forward; she 
> watches, and when he gets close enough to touch her she'll lay her ears back 
> (*what does that mean?*) and get up. They sniff eachother nose to nose, then 
> one loses courage and hops away. 
> 
> Last night we put tons of toys out and they had a mutual play time on the 
> landing for about 2 hours. Same kind of scenario. Scout binkies like crazy 
> (he even binkies over Muffin sometimes). And Muffin appeared to be playing 
> back some times. He would be playing in a makeshift bunny tunnel and she 
> would follow him -- she would hop at a normal pace, then get close to him 
> and kind of run and he would follow her (chase, but not mean chase). 
> 
> It was going so well last night, we decided to leave them out together all 
> night. We didn't want to have territory issues in the master bedroom (Where 
> they both like to sleep), so we took apart the guest bed, put the mattress 
> on the floor and slept in there. So they had the landing, and the guest 
> bedroom (and Scout has the downstairs, Muffin won't use the stairs). 
> 
> They did very well, there was no fighting. They ran around exploring the 
> guest room for a while (while we were taking apart the bed they would run in 
> and out to see what was up, together). I put out two bowls of food, two 
> litter boxes, and a water dish (we tried one bowl of food, but Muffin was 
> hogging it, so Scout nipped her in the butt to get her to make space, and 
> she grunted at him -- I didn't want him to start a fight or go hungry). 
> There were no signs of struggle this morning. 
> 
> During the night the did what most bunnies do and spent most of it 
> exploring. Muffin hopped up on the bed and slept on Michael's chest a couple 
> times. Scout would periodically "check on" me while I was sleeping. I knew 
> it was him because I could feel his whiskers on my face (Muffin doesn't have 
> any whiskers, Scout has plucked them). He slept next to me on the floor a 
> little too. They both used both litter boxes, ate from both food bowls, and 
> drank the water. 
> 
> This morning at about 8:30ish, they started to get antsy. Scout is a lot 
> like an annoying little brother, in that he follows Muffin around, wants to 
> know what shes doing, and wants her to play with him. Muffin pretty much 
> wants to eat, sleep and lay around. He was following her around, they were 
> nose to nose with eachother (Michael was petting them both) and Scout 
> started to get a little nippy, and they started chasing a little. He pulled 
> a little bit of fur out of her butt, but not very much at all (this was 
> during a chase). So we let them both take a break from eachother and they 
> were both thrilled to see their cages. 
> 
> They spent the next couple hours laying near eachother on the top layers of 
> their condos, and Scout is now sleeping under the master bed. 
> 
> So, its not love at first sight, but they can stand eachother (sort of). 
> 
> How should I precede from here. And what should we do about a condo? We have 
> no problem letting them be 24/7 free range, and the idea of having no cage 
> and just a designated food bowl area with a huge litter box. Does this work? 
> Will they miss their condos too much? 
> 
> Feedback, advice, etc would be *very *much appreciated. Sorry this was so 
> long 
> 
> -- Jenny, Muffin and Scout (we're tired, we had a loooooong night-- but we 
> did play chase over the top of momma, that was fun!)