[Petbunny] Bonding: Muffin and Scout - LONG

[krasijane]

Scout is just a dutch mafia guy......he is being as well behaved as he can
be.

On Jan 20, 2008 10:30 AM, Criss and bunnies <bunnyhaven00 at comcast.net>
wrote:

> 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!)
>



-- 
Jane, Buttons, Gabriel & Maggie & the fosters: Fric & Frac
krasi.jane at gmail.com
http://community.webshots.com/user/krasijane