About two weeks ago Hannibal began dating.
I was prepared for the worst. The only bonding I had ever done was with a pair of bunnies that sort of fell into my lap and that was six months of fighting, scratching and very unhappy bunnies and very unhappy me.
The first day I took Hannibal in and the lovely adoption coordinator set him up in a small pen with a divider and placed various bunnies on the other side. To my surprise, Hannibal showed zero aggression. No tail raising, no growling, no thumping or boxing. Just curiosity. Sadly for him the first little girl they set in there was no so happy with his attention through the bars, She bopped him on the head with her paw to prove it too.
So after about five girl bunnies, they finally stick in a cute little male from the backyard bunny situation. Hannibal is interested and before we know it, they've removed the barrier and little Teddy is trying to cuddle up to Hannibal! Hannibal is very confused by this and shuffles away to stare at Teddy from a distance. Teddy continues to follow Hannibal around the pen and try to cuddle. We let them smell each other and wander around the pen before deciding to leave and try again the next week.
Well today the same things happened with Teddy, him trying to cuddle and Hannibal wandering away. BUT! They did share some hay and sort of sat next to each other. RIght when we were about to go home to try again next week TEDDY STARTS LICKING HANNIBAL! OH JOY! In the bunny world this is a wonderful step forward!
So Hannibal has one more meeting with Teddy at the rescue and then we get to bring him home to foster for thirty days to make sure the bonding will work in Hannibals territory, if it all works out we adopt Teddy after that!
Teddy of course will be needing a new name. Teddy and Hannibal just don't really go together so well. Once he's officially ours I will pick a name though.
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