themoonhops

[themoonhops]

Bonding session 3 pics: things continue to go well! Onyx is doing a lot of grooming and flopping with Dutch - Dutch hasn't really reciprocated yet because he's still kind of scared of her but progress is being made.

[themoonhops]

First do-over bonding session for Dutch and Onyx went WAY better than I thought it would! They were fairly indifferent to each other and spent most of the time eating hay or exploring the pen - I blocked any direct nose to nose or nose to butt contact with my dustpan because Dutch has a history of being nippy in bonding sessions and I wanted their meeting to be positive.

But still, indifference/ignoring each other is a VERY positive sign and makes me hopeful that these two may be bondable after all. It'll be a long, careful road, but I'm just happy they were able to share space without immediately fighting.

[themoonhops]

@nyxandshion Thank you!! As far as I know she was a farm store mutt before she ended up at the shelter, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's NZ in there. iirc she weighs like 8 pounds so she's not the biggest I've had but way bigger than Dutch who's like 4-5!

she has such a pretty glossy coat

[themoonhops]

she has such a pretty glossy coat

[themoonhops]

Added a platform to make it easer and safer for Onyx to get to her favorite spot

[themoonhops]

baguette mode

[themoonhops]

i watched her get up there and to be honest i still do not comprehend how she did it

[themoonhops]

the fondness i possess for this little creature is unreal

[themoonhops]

hey maybe this "getting attention" thing isn't so bad

[themoonhops]

and this is why she's not allowed in the closet

[themoonhops]

Bonding update

Well, it's been hard to catch a break with these guys lately. Bonding has unfortunately come to a screeching halt - Onyx and Dutch had their first real bonding session, and Onyx was immediately extremely aggressive towards Dutch. Enough so that I will no longer be attempting to bond them, because even though they are early on in the process I do not feel with the level of aggression she displayed that it's safe to try to bond her any further.

That said, I am extremely attached to her already and adopted her knowing this was a possibility since we did not have the opportunity to do speed dates to know how she was with other rabbits. Because of this and her having a temperament that would be extremely challenging to adopt out anywhere else, she is a permanent resident here and I will be splitting the rabbit room to accommodate them both.

Onyx will be a single for life most likely, but I will attempt to rebond Dutch to a third rabbit at some point in the future. I don't feel that it's financially responsible for me to adopt a third at the moment, but Dutch is happy just having Onyx in view and has been flopping, binkying, etc. - seems content enough that I see no need to rush the process of bringing in a third.

I am not going to lie - I'm disappointed. Although there is more than enough space, having the rabbit room split permanently isn't the outcome I was hoping for and it will be an adjustment to be sure I'm spending enough time with them both. I'll find a way to make it work, but it's just honestly a bummer.

[themoonhops]

good lord girl

[themoonhops]

Prebonding setup

[themoonhops]

Introducing: Onyx!

Hello all - I would like to announce the newest rabbit who will be featured on this blog. Her name is Onyx - full name Onyx Constance Jones (don't ask lol). I adopted her yesterday from a humane society pretty far from where I live, where she had been surrendered, then adopted and returned, and had been in the shelter for a total of about two months.

She is about a year old and is a mid sized mixed breed weighing just shy of seven pounds. Her original owners bought her from a feed store as a baby and then surrendered her as an adult. Her first adopters returned her due to her being too energetic/mischevious and not being good with their children. She was described to me at the humane society as being "very full of personality", extremely opinionated, and somewhat difficult in general.

In my first 24 hours with her, I have noticed that she seems to have little to no positive associations with human handling. She is curious about me but seems to believe that any attention I give her will result in her being picked up/grabbed, and appears to associate humans in general with loss of autonomy. Despite her wariness though she seems to be an extremely confident rabbit, and has shown next to no fearful or anxious behavior despite being in a very new place after an 8 hour car ride. Right off the bat I have also noticed that she is very hyper, highly intelligent, destructive, a great climber, and just a LOT of rabbit packed into a 7 pound body. I think she has a great chance of thriving here, since the rabbit room can provide her a lot of space and endless opportunities for destruction without worry of her getting into something she shouldn't. She is likely a rabbit who is going to benefit from a lot of enrichment to provide an outlet for her energy and intelligence.

Bonding with Dutch may take a long time or it may be a quick process - the first week or so is just going to be enclosure swapping and then we will attempt to move to actual bonding sessions. Dutch has shown some fearfulness and reactivity to other rabbits since Billy died, so we're going to take things extra slow and use a lot of caution to give them both the best chance of a smooth bonding process.

[themoonhops]

he was fully flopped but i annoyed him trying to get a picture

still looks very content though he LOVES fleece blankets

[themoonhops]

enjoying the leftover sticks from my current vivarium project