For anyone who remembers my last post about getting my female green on pk rabbits, heres the latest.....
This time I killed the rabbit prior to introduction. Last time it was with the same rabbit but I tried it live. After about a week I tried this attempt.
She was soaking in her tub and it was about 3AM so I figured that the timing was perfect. I placed the rabbit directly into the water with her after 'wiggling' it around the edge for a short time. I then left the room and shut the door.
I waited approx. an hour and then went back in to check on her and found that she had gotten out of the water and retreated to the other part of the cage. I removed the rabbit from the water and 'hopped' it around in view of her and then left it directly in front of her head. She didn't really shy away but seemed like she could've cared less about it.
After another hour or two I went back to check and found that she had went back into the water. Since I had always thought that her being in the water was my best chance I was hopeful that my next attempt would end up with better results. I placed the rabbits front paws over the edge of the water tub but left the remaining hind legs outside. I moved the rabbits head in a effort to simulate a thirsty animal coming to the waters edge to get a drink. I made only the slightest ripples in the water but enough for her to start tongue flicking. I left the rabbit in that position and carefulluy crept back out of the room. I was really thinking that this would work and fully expected to see no more rabbit next time I went in. That was not the case however. After another hour or so I went back in to find that she was still in the water with the dead bunny still untouched.
Since the bunny had been dead for 5 or 6 hours at this point and daylight was already here I decided to concede defeat once again and throw out the rabbit. (I don't have freezer space for rabbits and I get them fairly cheap).
For those of you unfamiliar with my situation it should be noted that she has eaten rabbits before and still takes live guinea pigs without any problems. She quit taking rabbits a long time ago when some overly enthusiastic keeper (me) decided that she would be able to eat a monster sized rabbit. She struck at it and broke its leg but quickly let go when she felt the fight from the rabbit. She has refused them ever since. I still have the possibility of scenting a rabbit with a guinea and that will probably be my next attempt. I'm gonna give her 4 or 5 days before trying that though.
This is in preparation for my plan to gradually start taking away her water tub over the next year or so. Before I remove the tub I want her consistently on pk rabbits though, as both things at once would probably be highly stressful for her.
I don't really have any questions but if you have any other approaches I have not thought of I'd love to read em.
Thanks for reading,
Arik
