Everyone… this is Phineas aka Finn.
I’ve been on such an emotional *high* after bringing Mr. Finn home, it’s been great!
The First Meeting:
But let me start back at Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, Felix, Quincy and I all headed to Red Door Shelter to do the first round of speed dating. The long and short of it is putting Quincy in a pen and bring in the other bunnies one by one to see which ones he gets along with.
Quincy is soo chill and relaxed that he honestly got along with all three of the bunnies we introduced him to: Gum Drop, Zelda, and Cowboy. Cowboy was my new number #1 bunny choice so I was thrilled that he was getting along with another boy bun. (It’s more difficult to bond two makes than it is with a male-female mix… or so I heard).
We left each of the three buns in with Quincy for a good 20 minutes (or more). We ended the evening with Cowboy and after 45 minutes we knew we were taking him home with us.
In our minds, as long as they didn’t fight we could bond them together. They had a small spat about the littler box, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. After a bit more time at the shelter they were even “okay” with sharing the littler box.
Cowboy on the left, Quincy on the right.
We were so happy to tell Red Door we were nabbing Cowboy and we took him home right away on that same Wednesday night. I didn’t need any more time to decide as I fell in love with him as soon as I met him the prior Saturday.
We got home pretty late that night and just had enough time to feed ourselves dinner and set up a temporary home for Cowboy until we got him bonded with Quincy.
(I later added a box, toys, and a towel to him to dig in).
Bonding Process:
I reluctantly went to work on Thursday… and my boss was kind enough to let me take a vacation day on Friday, with such short notice. heh I went to the fabric store in the morning and then hung out with the buns the majority of Friday when I wasn’t sewing. Perfect day!
On Thursday night I decided to start the bunny-bonding process. Bonding is a process to get the buns buddies for life. You have to set up a very small, neutral space for them to be introduced. The house (as it was) is Quincy’s territory. By introducing another bunny you want to do it in the neutral territory to put them on equal footing. From here they have displays of dominance. It can get quite rough.
When I was bonding Baxter and Quincy, it took over 3 months (with many bonding sessions each week.) It was a really long process, primarily because Baxter was so sassy and wanted to be the dominant bunny… although Quincy won that title in the end.
I picked my front hallway as a neutral space. I put in some clean rugs/towels and barricaded them in. You can see we have very tight quarters here.
Quincy’s head is below Finn’s as he’s making a play for Top Bun status.
Quincy did good, but Finn was doing some major dominance displays. Finn was nipping at Quincy’s heels when he hopped around and I also got sprayed with pee (as did Quincy) – not once but TWICE. It was not fun and I still have some emotional scars from it. :|
This first bonding session lasted around 45 minutes, which is a pretty long time for a first session.
As I was home all day on Friday, I decided to do two more bonding sessions: one in the early afternoon and once again in the late evening.
The early afternoon session went much the same was as the prior evening. Finn kept nipping at Quincy – and it was my job to try and curb this behavior as it was just jerky. As soon as I put Finn in the room, he peed on the floor. *Ugh* But at least it wasn’t an attack-spray-pee.
I was ecstatic when Finn started grooming Quincy! And a bit later Quincy groomed Finn not once but twice! Grooming is THE sign that they’re on their way to becoming the best of buddies.
Evening Session:
The evening session went a bit better. I gave the buns a bit more running room. Finn apparently got bored and did an attack pee on me/Quincy once again. I guess he just wanted to see my horrified reaction! Then once Finn calmed down, there were synchronized cleaning sessions and then Quincy groomed Phineas. *Woot*
While the buns were okay I was pretty fed up with being peed on and dealing with Finn’s nipping, so I put each bun back in their respective areas. They were with each other for a bit over an hour. Again… doin’ pretty good.
Now… I know this sounds like an ordeal, but no major fights have broken out with the buns yet which is awesome! As long as there’s no fighting and there is grooming the hard part is mostly over.
The fourth bonding session was on Saturday. In attempts at preventing more attack-peeing, I washed the rug and towel and also relocated the buns to a different hallway. I was hoping this with make it neutral again and Finn would NOT pee again.
I sat in the hallway with my knitting and supervised the bonding. One hour rolled into two… and so on. I got tired after a while and took a cat nap with the buns. Felix then took over for me and he promptly fell asleep in the hallway as well. It was nearing 4 hours when I was like… are we done?! Are they bonded??
Felix and I left the buns on their own for another 4 hours- but checking in on them constantly- and they were still doing great. We fed them their dinner in the neutral space, and they were still great!
All I can say is in record time, Quincy is bonded with Phineas! It took 3 days and 4 bonding sessions to get these two buns together. It’s due to the fact at how relaxed Quincy is coupled with the fact that he was pretty desperate for a new friend after Baxter passed away.
It took over 3 months for Quincy and Baxter… and 3 days for Quincy and Finn! heh
We put Finn in the sun room with Quincy on Saturday night. I can’t tell you how happy Finn was as he was zooming all around the room and checking everything out. I don’t think he’s ever had so much space before. It was heartwarming to see him so happy.
Isn’t he adorable?! I mean… Aren’t they adorable?! heh
Phineas aka Finn (previously known as Cowboy) was the one rabbit I fell in love with as soon as I met him. Yeah… I did love Gum Drop and Zelda and Fancy Pants too. But not as immediately as Mr. Cowboy, and as soon as I met him he became #1 bun. Despite my doubts about bonding two males they got along quicker than I could have ever imagined.
I nabbed this picture on Sunday as he was falling asleep underneath a chair in the sun room (aka bun room).
Quincy and Finn are now officially bonded and they’re so cute together. Every now and then Finn nips at Quincy’s heels, but they’re working it out.
In: Bunny
Awwww the photo of them with their heads together and the last one of Finn is the best! I admit I was nervous for a second because I didn’t realize you’d changed Cowboy’s name. I’m so glad that they are bonded, and so quickly and (relatively) painlessly for you (at least less painful than 3 months of doing that). Congrats on the new bun member of your family!!!
Oh yeah… did a name change on him.
Quincy was first Marciano and now Finn was formerly known as Cowboy. :) I still can’t get over the fact they bonded so quickly. It’s like all of my work is now done and I can just hang out with the ‘gents in the sun room.
Absolutely adorable! Congrats on finding your Finn! :)
This is such a heartwarming post. I can’t tell you how involved I’ve become in your bunny journey. HA! It sounds like the boys are a perfect match. When we brought our second dog home, it took several weeks for them to attach to each other, but they prefer each other to anyone since then. I’m so happy things are working out!!
Thanks Michelle! I’m more than happy to take you on my bun journey… which is never ending. There will soon be a bunch of pictures and videos of Finn’s antics and Quincy looking on like the old man he is.
I didn’t know dogs took a while to become bonded/attached to one another. Dogs always just seem so happy to be hanging out with one another that I didn’t think they’d need attachment time. But kinda makes sense…
I am so happy for you guys! These two look SO CUTE together! Traumatic pee incidents aside, it seems like everyone is getting along famously! So glad!!!!!
Oh the peeing… I’m still scarred from that. heh I can’t believe it took so little time to bond them. I’m chalking it up to Quincy’s impeccable behavior. He puts up with a lot just to have a bun friend. He did so with Baxter and again with Finn.
Congrats in your new arrival ;-) glad to see things are working out.
WOOT! I am glad Mr. Q and Mr. Finn are having fun! Sorry about the peeing (urgh!) but they are both seriously cute :)
Yay!! I’m so happy to hear the bunnies are getting along so well. A happy home is a furry home :)
Thanks Rochelle! I love my fur buddies. :)
I’m SO happy to see this story with a happy ending (and a new beginning, really ;))!! Finn is so lucky to be scooped up by y’all, and I’m so happy that he gets along so well with Quincy. Yay!
Thanks Lauren! Finn is the best. He has been at the shelter for over 6 months now and people didn’t want to adopt him because of his EC. Luckily for us he was still there for us to nab him up!!! He was the shelter favorite, by all the volunteers. But I bet they say that about all of the buns. :)
Oh, honey! I’m so happy for you that you’ve found this lovely bunny mate for Quincy, and that they’ve been bonding so well :) I’m looking forward to many more instagram photos of the cuteness that is seen here!
Thanks Meg! I am more than happy to oblige you with instagram photos! :)
yay, congrats! they are so adorable together! and i never knew there was so much to bunny bonding. my bunny was always an “only bunny.” glad yours are friends now =)
Your Ella looks like such a sweet dog! I’m technically a dog person, but bunnies are much easier to have in the city since they use a litter box. I’d love to eventually get a dog but only if I had a yard to let him/her out in.
Yay for fuzzy friends! :)
Yay! :) So glad you found another bun. Love the name!
Super, I love the looks of your Finn bunny :)
He has a huge head for his body. He’s a great, sociable ball of fluff.
[…] To see Liz’s recap, swing on over to her blog. […]
Great news that they found each other and have bonded so well.
Congratulations on the new addition to your family! Mr. Finn is a cutie patootie!
Thanks so much Liz-I really enjoyed reading about Quincy’s adventure to find a new friend. Those guys look so cute together. My bun has EC and after his initial treatment he has been healthy and happy for several years now.
Fantastic news that you took home the bunny formerly known as Cowboy! I love his new name. It’s so great that he and Quincy bonded so quickly. Your description of the bonding process reminded me of when I had pet rats; the process is much the same – face-to-face time in neutral places, gradually increasing the meeting times, until everyone was ready to be put into the same cage (which would have to be scrubbed and all toys and hammocks removed to give the illusion of a new neutral cage), then standing by with water pistol in case things turned ugly (no matter how locked in mortal combat rats may be, they are fastidious creatures and will stop and groom themselves immediately when squirted with water LOL), then breathing a huge sigh of relief when the new rat submitted to the resident rats. And just like with bunnies, the process can be fast or painfully slow.
I look forward to more photos and videos of the bunnies :)
Hey Bridget, this sounds EXACTLY the same! I hate to say it but rabbits are technically a rodent so it does make some sense that they have the same social behaviors.
Lagomorphs Liz, not rodents! Some people call them rodents when they’re unhappy with them.
Love your bunnies. I had to stop reading your blog for a while after Baxter passed. So sorry, but glad you have more bunny love now.
Awwww he’s so cute, and they’re adorable together! I’m so glad that they’re getting along so well—introducing a new pet can be very unnerving and frustrating, but Quincy & Finn seem to have come to a very quick understanding.
Thank you for the “commencing a new beginning” post. :) It’ll be fun to hear about their adventures in the future!
ADORABLE! So happy to see (hear) you are excited and enjoying your new bun! Love the name too! Great pick… lucky bunnies!!!
I’m so happy for them! I hope they will get along well (it seems like it) and that you will get lots of bunny love :)
So glad that you all have Finn joining you! The bonding thing can be problematic- so amazing it took only three sessions! Our guinea pigs took months to bond. Sassy fellows!
I’m so happy that you got them bonded after only 3 days. They look so cute together that makes me want to have two bunnies too :)
Thanks for sharing your journey and the super cute photos of your bunny babies! I was not aware of the issues with raising buns but sounds like the organization you get them from is very responsible which is what you want when getting a new animal. I am dog person myself (have 4) and certainly understand how quickly they can wind themselves around your heart :)
Oh yes, Red Door Shelter is great. I’ve learnt so much about bunny care over the years with Baxter and feel I have a good handle on their care and needs. But each new bun has their own personality and I am continuing to be surprised with Phineas and how he’s progressing (social wise) with us.
Yay for a new bunny in the home! Hope things are still going as well and that you are enjoying double the bunny love!
So glad everything is working out so smoothly! Finn is adorable!
This post was adorable! It makes me happy every time you use the word “buns” hehe. Such a cute word. And how wonderful that not only does Phineas have a new home and space to play, but also that Quincy has a new buddy to hop with! I hope you’re doing better with this new-found bounce of happy in your life. :)
heh Buns buns buns. :)
It’s much easier than typing out ‘rabbit’ or ‘bunny’, but mainly that’s just what I got in the habit of saying. I use that word at work with my coworkers too… I bet they think I’m strange.
We’re having a great time with Phineas. He’s learning his place quite well. Quincy is already picking up some new habits from Phineas, it’s crazy!
Yay, a happy ending to the bunny-bonding-tale! :D
Aww, CONGRATS! Such a great ending to your bunny search, and they look so happy together!