Attempt 2!

Back in action!

Cricket has been sick for a bit so she was quarantined to prevent a bunny epidemic. Nothing major, just a bit of a respiratory infection that a month long dose of antibiotics fixed up but unfortunately that means we're back to square one in the bonding process.

Toby and Cricket standing in the tub

I've decided to conduct the first bonding stage in the bathtub where there's no where to run or hide from the other. After a few days of them staring at each other and doing nothing we'll probably move back to the bathroom floor. There are no signs of aggression, just scared thumping. This is unfortunately as close as they get though. Toby will approach Cricket, seemingly looking for comfort, and Cricket will hop away and ignore him. Poor little guy.

But in the meantime, here's a picture from Halloween.

Toby didn't really like the hat.
 

Notice how he's hiding on the litterbox. Not a hat fan apparently.

The bunny room!

Things have been progressing awesome-ly! The bunny room/library is finally finished!

The bunny room!

The next step is getting them all to love each other so they can permanently live in the room together with bunny love and peace.

Bonding status: The bonding has been going slowly but I now think that the first obstacle to beat is Cricket's angry responses to everything any other bunny does (growling and biting when another bunny goes for a sniff). I will be working mostly with her ClickerBunny style to get her to associate other bunnies with happiness (food = happiness = click = other bunnies = happiness). We are currently at the click = food = happiness stage but she seems to be catching on quickly! She's learned to stand up on her back legs at a hand sign and be rewarded by a click and treat. Again, I'm not sure if this is because of the clicker training that she's picked it up so quickly or if it's because she's naturally inclined to get food as fast as possible but it still can't hurt. Her clicker training sessions have been inside while Toby and Bunny run around outside but soon I'll start clicking for her when she sees the other bunnies/interacts with the other bunnies/sniffs the other bunnies. I've also been trying to make sure that the bunnies don't develop territory issues by swapping them from x-pen to x-pen.

Cricket is still mostly scared being outside and spends most of her time sitting in the dirt against the house but she ventures out a little.

She's also been eating flowers

So I guess overall, progress has been slow but that's nothing new.

Explorer Bunnies

After a frantic weekend of unpacking and bunny-proofing, the bunnies finally got some time to explore their new backyard.

Bunny really enjoyed the new plants

I tied chicken wire to the wooden fence around the yard so hopefully it's bunny-proof enough and I won't find myself running down the street after a wayward bunny. Bunny and Toby had a blast running around and seeing which plants made good hiding places.

Toby likes hide and seek

They settled on this bush as their favorite place to hang out.

You can't see us. We're part of the bush.

Unfortunately the hiding part doesn't really work so well for Toby since his white coat makes for poor camouflage. Cricket made it as far as the edge of the patio step before deciding that she'd had enough adventure for the day.

That doesn't look safe

I'm sure she'll be braver in the future but for now it was nice to have a bunny to hang out next to while watching the other two crawl through bushes and the like.

The bunny room is coming along nicely. There are some shelves to put up and some bunny-proofing boxes to put everywhere but hopefully they'll have some space to run around soon. I feel pretty bad moving them from our apartment - where they were free-range - to a muchmuch smaller x-pen arrangement but it's made catching Cricket for her antibiotics much easier. I have been debating keeping them in side-by-side x-pens until the bonding process is complete so that they don't have the chance to territory mark the new bunny room. Clicker training to resume soon and hopefully will speed up the bonding process.

Moving Day!

Things have been pretty slow lately training wise. All three bunnies definitely know a click means that something is coming deliciously and they all perk up. Today we're moving into our bigger house so we can start with individual one-on-one training.

But I'm comfortable here

I started clicking only when Toby stands up so now he knows that trick while the other two still just associate it with food though Bunny has started trying to copy Toby to get food faster. Unfortunately since I have a clicker in one hand and a treat in the other, it's hard to get pictures. I'll have to think of some way to fix that problem.

Toby has always been very bright to pick up whatever skills he needs to get food fastest. I'm not sure if he's picked up the standing up trick so quickly because of the clicker or because of the food lure but there was a pretty quick transitional period.

The final result that I'm looking for is currently to be able to clicker train Cricket and Bunny into liking each other. Animosity has been increasing so they're now separated. Cricket alone and Bunny and Toby together. I'm hoping to put them in joined x-pens for a the first week or so in our new place and start the bonding process over before I move them into their permanent room.

Progress Report

Clicker training has been going slowly so far. The bunnies are now associating the click sound with "something delicious is going to come" and they look around for their favorite treats if I offer them something they like slightly less. Started branching a little bit into the "put your feet on my leg if you want a treat" category - since it's easy to do with all of the bunnies at once - but haven't explored training with the bunnies individually yet.

Excuse me. We're sleeping.

We may be moving in the near future so I'm thinking of postponing the individual training to when I can actually move them to a different room. They get too excited to focus on clicker training if I move them outside.

New toy!

The binkybunny box arrived yesterday!

 

They all loved the new Yucca Toy. I stuck pellets and dried cranberries into the tiny holes and they nomed away.

Read through Clicking with your rabbit and started working with the clicker yesterday to start associating the click sound with food. They seem to be taking to it pretty well. I've decided to do this basic food/clicker association with all three at the same time (since I usually give them treats at the same time anyway) and then divide them up for clicker training in the future. Hopefully the weather gets better soon. Currently thinking that the best way to divide and conquer will be to bring the to-be-trained bunny out onto the patio.

               

New living arrangements

Still waiting for the happy binkybunny.com box to arrive so we can begin clicker training. Bunny got into Cricket's cage yesterday while I was at work and I came home to terrified bunnies and piles of fluff. Sigh. Cricket has been upgraded back to free range bunny as a result (she had been spending most of her time in an x-pen beside the other bunnies' x-pen) and Bunny and Toby have inherited the extra space. Hopefully they'll all be happier with this arrangement and there will be less fighting and more happy.

Can I help you?

Cricket spent a good portion of time finding the best spot to hang out and finally decided that under the cat tree was preferable to under the chair.

nomnomnom

Bunny and Toby haven't really noticed anything different. Too busy eating.

Obligatory introduction

Hi, I'm Toby. I like sticks.

Toby is the only boy in the bunny trio. He is the youngest and newest addition to the bunny family and by far the most mellow, happily content eating and lounging.

Post pellet naptime

Bunny and Toby get along fantastically. They're basically best friends though Bunny is definitely more into their relationship whereas Toby just comes along for the ride.

You can't see me

Cricket is sadly ostracized from the happy pair. Though she probably deserves it for being such a big bully when Bunny was still smaller than she was. Bunny and Toby took to each other almost instantly and Cricket was soon left in the dust when Bunny realized that she no longer had to desperately petition for some bunfection (bunny-affection - bunaffection?). This new partnering has unfortunately left Cricket more anxious and unsocial than ever. Stress bonding hasn't helped the Bunny/Cricket relationship at all but clicker training has a lot of positive feedback in the bunny owner community so that'll be part of our next attempt at a happy bunny trio.