A bunny falling out

My friend (and colleague) Jan S. lives in Berkeley, Calif. and has bunnies. Three, to be precise. A foster boy and a bonded girl/boy pair by the names of Belle and Bunny. Belle and Bunny had a long bonding process, but about three years ago seemed to fall desperately in love with each other. Always a good thing with "fixed" (gotta wonder what's wrong with them, eh?) bunnies. Oh, also, the foster kid is kept apart from Bunny and Belle.

So Bunny reached beyond his domain (curiosity also hardly ever a bad thing in bunnies) one day a few weeks ago and went to visit the foster boy. He came back to Belle, apparently, smelling like the kid and Belle fought him off. Like the really bad kind of bunny fights that you just know if you let it continue, one of them would end up dead. The swirling, growling, kicking, jaws locked kind of fighting, as Jan described it. Not good. One little whiff of the kid sent Belle to the loony ward.

So, how to rebond Bunny and Belle? They were batting at each other (in a bad way, not a flirty way) on opposite sides of the baby gate for weeks. My suggestion to my fellow lagamorph lovah was for her and her partner, Max, to take them on a car ride. One human and two bunnies in the back seat with LOTS of towels, because there's nothing like a good kick from a bunny to make you wish you hadn't worn shorts that day. The road should be backroads -- lots of turns and stopping and starting. Even gentle human driving will toss a bunny quite a bit in the backseat. The bunnies should be stressed just enough that they look to either the "mom" in the backseat or each other for comfort. The backseat mom is there to break up any fights that happen. If they both look to her for comfort, they'll find each other there. If they look to each other for comfort, they find the love they once had there.

I told Jan not to get discouraged if this doesn't work at first. They still think they don't like each other (or Belle thinks she doesn't like her Bunny beau), but eventually, they'll remember that they're buddies and want to cuddle with each other. I think Jan outta do this car ride thing for about 30 minutes to an hour every other day or every day for a few weeks.

I'll give you an update on how they're doing... Or Jan can post comments to this entry if she wants. Good luck to Bunny and Belle in remembering that they do, in fact, love each other and that no boy could truly get between these lovebunnies!