Bonding session #1 went surprisingly well! I had the two bunnies in a giant blue bucket that had a thin layer of hay in the bottom. They were in a neutral room.

When I first put Mr. Bunny in the bucket with Ms. Rabbit, Ms. Rabbit tried to bite him. Mr. Bunny got scared and tried to bite back. I broke up the fight and started petting them. They were both very scared and just stared at eachother for the first few minutes. Eventually, Ms. Rabbit decided to try snuggling closer to Mr. Bunny. They got closer and closer until the end of the session, when they were happily snuggling with eachother. I decided to end the session then, on a very positive note.

Bonding session #2 went fairly well. When I first put Mr. Bunny in the big bucket with Ms. Rabbit, Ms. Rabbit got scared and tried biting Mr. Bunny. Mr. Bunny was spooked and started running in circles. I quickly broke up the fight (getting a bunch of nasty bites on my hand in the process…remind me to wear gloves!). After a few minutes, they started getting closer and closer to eachother and then snuggled like this for a long time:

Mr. Bunny started sniffing her back. He gave her a few licks, which surprised me:

After a while, Mr. Bunny started sniffing her butt. He looked like he was considering either biting her tail or humping her. Ms. Rabbit decided she had had enough and tried biting his face. He jumped back, and they started running in circles again. I broke up the fight again. They decided they wanted nothing to do with eachother:

I shook the bucket for a while to get them to get closer. Eventually, they got closer, and Mr. Bunny rested his head on her back:

I ran and got some raisins while they were like that. At this point, Mr. Bunny was very relaxed. He was watching me get the raisins and grooming himself. Ms. Rabbit, on the other hand, was very tense. She was breathing heavily, and her body language signalled that she was ready to bite at any moment.

I smeared some raisins on Ms. Rabbit’s head so that Mr. Bunny would groom her. After a minute or so, he sniffed her head and started licking off the raisins. She very much enoyed that, and put her head down to get more licks. I decided to end the session then, on a good note.

Bonding session #3 was rather uneventful. As usual, when I put Mr. Bunny is the big bucket with Ms. Rabbit, Ms. Rabbit attacked him, and Mr. Bunny attacked back. I broke up the fight immediately. As usual, the bunnies gradually moved closer to eachother until they were in this position:

About 5 or 6 minutes later, they were still snuggling…

After a few more minutes of that, I smeared some raisin goop on both of their heads to get them moving. I encouraged Mr. Bunny to sniff Ms. Rabbit’s head. He groomed her for a few seconds, which she enjoyed. After that, he started sniffing around the bottom of the bucket:

While he was doing that, Ms. Rabbit suddenly moved her head to see what he was doing. Mr. Bunny got scared and nipped her belly. I broke them up before another fight could break out. After just a few seconds, Mr. Bunny started sniffing her paws again:

Unfortunately, Ms. Rabbit thought that he was requesting to be groomed. She started attacking him, and it quickly turned into a fight. I broke up the fight again.

After a minute or two, Mr. Bunny decided that it would be fine to get back to snuggling. Ms. Rabbit, on the other hand, was ready to nip at any moment:

After that, I decided to end the session on a fairly positive note.
 

After the session, I decided to try out a trick that I was reading about yesterday. I put Mr. Bunny in Ms. Rabbit’s room and Ms. Rabbit in Mr. Bunny’s room.

Mr. Bunny was initially very confused as to why he was in a different room. He looked around for a few minutes until he noticed Ms. Rabbit on the other side of the cage bars. He stood on his hind legs for a few minutes, nervously watching Ms. Rabbit hop around his room. After a few minutes, he went around chinning (scent marking) every poop that Ms. Rabbit had left outside of the litterbox. He left a few of his own poops next to them. He then went around and chinned everywhere Ms. Rabbit likes to hang out.

Ms. Rabbit was very relaxed in Mr. Bunny’s room. She played with his toys for a while and investigated his cardboard boxes. She ran from one side to the other side of the room as fast as her little legs would take her (I have a feeling that she’ll love being in that room once they bond!). She went into Mr. Bunny’s cage, ate some of his hay, sniffed his litterbox and then deposited some pee in his litterbox, all while he was watching.

Ms. Rabbit was a little upset that her room had been scent marked by another bunny, but other than that, neither rabbit seemed to mind the other bunny’s smell.

But anyway…does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do next? Maybe I’m jumping the gun a tiny bit, but they aren’t making much progress with stress bonding in the big bucket. I’m a little worried about possibly trying a slightly larger space, since sudden movements by either rabbit usually cause a fight to break out.

Bonding session #4 was fairly uneventful, but overall, quite good. I decided to do one last session in the bucket and then move them to a neutral hallway space for a bonding session tonight or tomorrow.

For once, they actually didn’t have a fight at the start of the bonding session – in fact, although there was nipping, there weren’t any two-sided fights. Throughout the session, Ms. Rabbit seemed to be slightly scared. She didn’t seem like she wanted to nip Mr. Bunny. She stayed in the same position almost the whole time.

Mr. Bunny, on the other hand, was extremely active. He was constantly trying to nip Ms. Rabbit. He was climbing all over her, watching the humans, eating hay, trying to hop out, etc.

When I started the session, Mr. Bunny was repeatedly sniffing her butt and then trying to nip her:

After that, I grabbed Mr. Bunny and turned him around so that they were facing the same direction. They put their heads together while I pet them, and they both started snuggling. Unfortunately, while I was grabbing my phone to take a pic, Mr. Bunny nipped Ms. Rabbit on the face. I pulled them apart before she could nip back.

After a few minutes, they got a little closer to eachother again. Mr. Bunny tried to nip Ms. Rabbit again:

A few minutes passed. I took them for a little ride in the big bucket to get them moving. Both of them ignored eachother and tried to get out. Mr. Bunny crawled all over Ms. Rabbit:

I then put Mr. Bunny on top of Ms. Rabbit to see what he would do. He snuggled with her and licked her ears for a second, but right as I took this pic, he went down and nipped her face:

After a minute or two, I put Ms. Rabbit on top of Mr. Bunny. Mr. Bunny seemed to enjoy it, but Ms. Rabbit was unsure of what to do:

After that, they snuggled together for a few minutes. I decided to end the session then, since they seemed pretty happy.

I put Mr. Bunny in Ms. Rabbit’s room and Ms. Rabbit in Mr. Bunny’s room again.

Mr. Bunny explored her whole room. He chinned all of her favorite boxes and all the fresh poops she had left around.

Ms. Rabbit was very curious, like last time. She hopped all around Mr. Bunny’s room and played with his toys. She didn’t pee this time, but she chinned his cage like crazy.

I’ll be doing a bonding session in a blocked off section of the downstairs hallway (totally neutral) tonight. They’ll be eating together, so hopefully that’ll stop the fighting a little. I’ll post how it goes. 

Bonding session #5 went pretty badly. I put them in a blocked off section of a neutral hallway – the space was just a little bigger than the bucket. At first, they were doing pretty well – Mr. Bunny groomed Ms. Rabbit a little and both of them ate pellets. Ms. Rabbit tried attacking Mr. Bunny a few times, but those attacks were blocked with a broom. It all went bad when Mr. Bunny started sniffing Ms. Rabbit’s belly.

Ms. Rabbit freaked out and nipped Mr. Bunny. Both bunnies started grunting loudly. I broke up the fight immediately. I tried petting them to calm them down. It seemed to be working until Mr. Bunny tried sniffing her again. Ms. Rabbit turned around and bit Mr. Bunny. Mr. Bunny started violently attacking Ms. Rabbit. I was on the floor with them, so I also got my share of really bad bites from bunnies attaching themselves to my legs (fortunately, though, neither rabbit was hurt – although a lot of fur was pulled out!). I started freaking out because they were both attached to eachother with their teeth and I almost couldn’t seperate them. I immediately put both bunnies back in their rooms. Ms. Rabbit was scared to death from it all (I think she took the brunt of it), but Mr. Bunny was just sleepy.

I think I’ve determined what starts fights between the two. Mr. Bunny sniffs Ms. Rabbit’s belly or tail. Ms. Rabbit gets freaked out by it and gives him a small nip to tell him that she’s had enough. Mr. Bunny thinks that she’s trying to fight and starts to attack her.

What should I do now? Could the bonding process be delayed by today’s fight? Is fighting like this normal for bunnies?

The bonding has been temporarily put on hold due to Mr. Bunny’s health problems.

The vet has given the OK to continue bonding, so I’ll continue daily bonding sessions starting tomorrow.

Bonding session #6 went better than I thought it would. I decided to use the blue bucket again. I kept it really short – less than 10 minutes (probably more like 5).

When I first put the bunnies together, Ms. Rabbit was very scared and decided to keep her distance from Mr. Bunny. Mr. Bunny had just gotten his medicine, so he was a mix of tired and pissed off:

I shook the bucket for a while to get them moving. Mr. Bunny slowly moved his nose close to Ms. Rabbit’s belly, but fortunately, I caught him in time and prevented a fight:

I shook the bucket a little more. Both bunnies tried to hop out at once, which was cute to watch. The bunnies settled down and snuggled together:

After petting them for a minute or so, I decided to end the session, figuring that was about as good as it would get.

They visited eachother’s rooms after the session. Mr. Bunny chinned some of Ms. Rabbit’s boxes, but besides that, the bunnies didn’t seem quite as territorial as they were last time.

Tonight, something very, very unexpected happened…

When I went down to feed the bunnies a little while ago, I noticed that Mr. Bunny didn’t rush up to see me. He had tufts of fur half-pulled out all over his body. While I was examining him, I noticed a little moving brown spot in the corner of my eye. Ms. Rabbit had gotten into Mr. Bunny’s room!

Ms. Rabbit was flopping. She had left a pile of pee and poop next to her. Mr. Bunny was keeping his distance from her. They seemed so peaceful, I fed them their veggies together in Mr. Bunny’s room. For a few minutes, they seemed almost like bonded bunnies.

There was bunny fur, pulled out if huge tufts, scattered around the room. It looks like they had an epic battle all over the room. Although Mr. Bunny has a few small bald spots (not unusual, he has a skin condition) and a couple of very small cuts from the ordeal, neither rabbit seems injured. Ms. Rabbit was limping slightly, but it doesn’t seem serious – I suspect that she just caught it on something while she made the 2.5 foot jump up onto her carrier and over the barrier.

The bunnies were still nipping at eachother a little, so I seperated them. Both bunnies seemed slightly shocked and exausted from the whole ordeal, so I figure it happened no more than 15-20 minutes before I fed them.

This encounter showed me two important things:

1. The bunnies might fight, but they won’t kill eachother

2. Mr. Bunny isn’t as territorial as he was for the first few days that she was here (if he was, she’d be seriously injured/dead)

Needless to say, I’ll never be putting her carrier next to the barrier between the rooms again.

What impact do you think this will have on their bonding? What should my next step be for their bonding?

For bonding session #7, all I can say is…

WOW!  And that’s in a good way!

Apparently, they settled all of their issues in their giant fight last night.

When I put them in the blue bucket, I was expecting them to fight again. Instead, they sniffed eachother and then laid down and snuggled. For the whole 15-minute session, all they did was snuggle. They seemed incredibly happy to see eachother. Every time one of them changed positions, the other one moved over and snuggled again. Mr. Bunny came close to grooming Ms. Rabbit.They both requested licks a few times, but they seemed to be satisfied with the other bunny just nuzzling their ears. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they’re long-time bonded bunnies!

After the session, when I put them in eachother’s room, the change in their behavior was amazing. There was no more scent marking, and both bunnies were relaxing and binkying.

I know that they still have a ways to go before they can live together, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the fight to cause this much progress! I didn’t even do anything to get them this far! They did so well today, I’m going to try putting them in the hallway tonight. Hopefully, they’ll be just as nice tonight as they were earlier.

These pics explain it all…

Bonding session #8 went fairly well. I put the bunnies in a blocked-off section of the hallway. Since my phone is charging, I can’t upload the pics I took right now, but I’ll edit them in tomorrow.

For the first few minutes, the bunnies had a staring contest. Eventually, both bunnies started exploring the space and ignoring eachother. Mr. Bunny put his ears back (body language for a tense, angry bunny) and tried attacking Ms. Rabbit a few times, but other than that, at least for the first 10 minutes or so, the bunnies weren’t fighting.

After a litlle while of that, Ms. Rabbit tried snuggling with Mr. Bunny. Every time that she settled down next to him, he’d play along just until she closed her eyes and then bite her on the face. Fortunately, Ms. Rabbit no longer seems to want to have fights, but Mr. Bunny did almost trigger a big fight at one point – which I broke up immediately.

Eventually, I seperated the bunnies after they had laid together for a minute to get head pets.

I did another bonding session about 6 or 7 hours later. They were in the blue bucket this time, and there was a loud TV nearby. Bonding session #9 showed me that the fight’s effects seem to have worn off for Mr. Bunny, but caused Ms. Rabbit to continue to really love him. The whole time they were together, Mr. Bunny was just waiting for Ms. Rabbit to snuggle next to her, and then as soon as she was vulnerable and had her eyes closed, he attacked her. I seperated them after about 10 minutes.

The bunnies have also been nipping each other through the bars of the cage all day (I found a few cuts on Ms. Rabbit’s face), so even though they wanted to sleep next to eachother yesterday, I had to mostly block them from touching noses today.

jersey, yes, I have tried water. Neither rabbit cares how much they get sprayed – they’ll bite anyway.

Unfortunately, all the pics I took today came out blurry.

Bonding session #10 went well. I decided to try something a little different today. I brought the two bunnies in carriers to a semi-neutral upstairs room that Mr. Bunny visits occasionally. I let them out on a small rug. The bunnies were too busy exploring to bother seeing eachother. After a while, they laid down for head pets a few inches away from eachother. Mr. Bunny tried to bite Ms. Rabbit a few times, but the last few minutes of the session were rather uneventful.

Sorry about the dark pics.

Bonding session #11 went quite well. This time, after a quick bucket session, I gave them most of the neutral hallway to hop around in. They seem to do pretty well in a slightly larger space.

When I first put them in the hallway together, they both just explored:

After a few minutes of that, they hopped next to eachother and had a staring contest:

I stopped Mr. Bunny from getting too close to her belly/paws/tail a few times. I think he’s starting to get the idea, since he didn’t keep coming back to try sniffing her belly again like he used to.

Ms. Rabbit kept requesting licks. Fortunately, she was satisfied by some petting from the human:

After a little while, Mr. Bunny hopped away and explored the room again:

Ms. Rabbit took advantage Mr. Bunny turning his back to her. She put her ears back and started charging at him full-speed. Fortunately, I was able to catch her before she could reach him. I put her back in the center of the room:

I pet Ms. Rabbit for a few minutes while Mr. Bunny hopped around the room. After a while, Mr. Bunny hopped over. The two bunnies started touching noses. I was worried Mr. Bunny would bite Ms. Rabbit , but they seemed to be happy just rubbing noses. They laid next to eachother and took a quick nap:

Both bunnies started grooming themselves, before laying down and taking another nap:

After a couple of minutes, I decided to end the session – on a positive note.

They’ve definitely made progress over the last few days. They used to have a huge fight any time I put them in a space any larger than the bucket.

Just realized that I never posted about yesterday’s session.

Bonding session #12 went well. It was about a 45 minute session. The bunnies were in the hallway. They spent the first few minutes exploring the room. After that, they approached eachother and relaxed with their noses touching. Eventually, they hopped away from eachother. Mr. Bunny seemed particularly interested in Ms. Rabbit’s butt, and I had to keep him from sniffing it a few times. Ms. Rabbit hid in the box for about 10 minutes. She wandered off into the bathroom a few times. The rest of the session was about the same. I eventually seperated them after they had been sleeping next to eachother for about 5 minutes.

Bonding session #13 went alright. The session lasted about 25 minutes. The bunnies were in the hallway.

As usual, they spent the first few minutes exploring the room:

After a few minutes, the bunnies put their heads down with their noses touching, as usual:

I gently pet Ms. Rabbit on the head and covered her eyes, while letting Mr. Bunny sniff her over. He carefully sniffed her nose, and then gave her some nibbly grooms on the forehead. He then hopped away.

Ms. Rabbit hopped off and started to wander into the bathroom:

Mr. Bunny chased her, and I barely managed to keep a fight from breaking out. Ms. Rabbit got scared and went in the bathroom, where she thumped like crazy.

After the bunnies calmed down a little, Ms. Rabbit hopped over to Mr. Bunny and they sat with noses almost touching again:

This time, I pet Mr. Bunny and covered his eyes to see what Ms. Rabbit would do. Ms. Rabbit decided that it would be a great opportunity to bite Mr. Bunny (hard!) on the nose. The bunnies both started freaking out and grunting. They had already started fighting before I could grab the broom. Fortunately, I managed to break it up before anybun got hurt.

Mr. Bunny groomed himself and looked pissed off for awhile before finally just giving up and eating pellets. Ms. Rabbit hid in her box and thumped:

Mr. Bunny stared at the box and waited for Ms. Rabbit to come out:

Eventually, he gave up and flopped:

Ms. Rabbit decided to take advantage of that. She hopped out of her box and tried to nip him on the butt. He ran away from her, and she chased after him, constantly trying to give him a nice, hard bite. Both bunnies seemed exausted and scared, so I decided to seperate them then.

They spent the afternoon in eachother’s rooms. They both coated their new rooms with pee and poop, but other than that, they did quite well.

Bonding has been put on hold for an unknown amount of time. The bunnies got into eachother’s rooms again, but this time, Ms. Rabbit got a serious bite wound. I don’t plan to have them together again for a couple weeks at least.

I’m just as disappointed that it turned out like this as you all are – as you two said, they seemed to be making progress.

I plan to just start fresh with bucket sessions once I start again. I don’t plan to do that until early net month, at least.

Today, I didn’t really do a bonding session (obviously), but I let the bunnies see eachother. It wasn’t quite what I expected.

I brought both bunnies in their carriers for a little visit to the living room. I let Ms. Rabbit hop around outside of her carrier while Mr. Bunny stayed inside of his carrier. Ms. Rabbit happily hopped around and sniffed the couch, which smelled a little like Mr. Bunny. After a minute, she noticed that Mr. Bunny was there too. She hopped over to his carrier and tried to sniff his nose. Mr. Bunny backed away from her. She got a little upset that he didn’t want to sniff her back, and she hopped back into her carrier.

After that, I let Mr. Bunny out of his carrier while Ms. Rabbit stayed inside of her carrier. He immediately searched for Ms. Rabbit. He very carefully crept over to her carrier. When she started biting at the bars and trying to sniff him, he jumped back. He got a little scared, and the bunnies had a staring contest for about 5 minutes. Ms. Rabbit got tired of it, and she comfortably did a half-flop in her carrier. That scared Mr. Bunny again, and he hopped in my lap (after giving me the “Human…please help me, I’m scared” look he always gives me when the vet is holding him) and hopped into my lap. He refused to get out of my lap after that. He stared at Ms. Rabbit with his eyes wide for a few more minutes before I put him back in his carrier and took the bunnies back to their rooms.

After the bunnies got back to their rooms, Mr. Bunny had a change of heart. He realized that maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see Ms. Rabbit. He decided to have a war with my foot while I tried to get in her room.

It seems that even though Ms. Rabbit is the one who got hurt in their fight, Mr. Bunny seems to be more afraid of her than she is of him. If that’s really the case, I’m actually grateful that it turned out that way; I know for a fact that Mr. Bunny is a very loving, forgiving rabbit. He’d probably lose his old baggage if they had 2 or 3 good sessions.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve frequently been doing sessions where the bunnies can sniff eachother through cage bars. The bunnies seem to be very relaxed when there’s bars between them.

A few days ago, I tried something a little different. I draped Ms. Rabbit’s butt around Mr. Bunny while firmly holding both bunnies around their chests. I’ve now done three sessions like that. Mr. Bunny seems to be very relaxed (he even toothpurrs) when he’s the one on the ground, but he gets slightly scared when he’s the one being held. Ms. Rabbit is very nervous both ways, but she relaxes more when she’s the one being held.

I’m going to do a “real” bonding session in the big bucket in about 10 minutes. Wish me luck!

Sorry about not updating!

Attempt #2 bonding session #1 went fairly well. Miraculously, there was no fighting! I kept it very short – it was no longer than 5 minutes. I put both bunnies in the blue bucket. Both bunnies were very scared, and all they could do was stare at eachother. After a few minutes, both of them started to relax. I decided to seperate them then.

Attempt #2 bonding session #2 went very well. It was probably about 10-15 minutes long. They were both in the blue bucket again.

For a first few minutes, they had a staring contest like the day before:

After a  few minutes, I decided to spice things up by shaking the bucket. Mr. Bunny laid his head on Ms. Rabbit’s back. Mr. Bunny seemed to enjoy it a lot; he closed his eyes and even toothpurred a little. Ms. Rabbit was a little scared at first, but eventually, she relaxed a bit too:

After a minute or two of that, Mr. Bunny got off Ms. Rabbit. The bunnies had another staring contest, but this time, Mr. Bunny was very relaxed:

Well, that was quite short-lived. Mr. Bunny started going crazy and trying to climb out of the bucket. He also tried to sniff Ms. Rabbit’s belly (which she hates, especially after getting a bad bite there in their fight), which made her terribly scared. I had to hold him still and keep both bunnies calm:

After another couple of minutes, the bunnies relaxed again. They slowly moved their noses closer and closer until they got to this position:

Ms. Rabbit was still keeping an eye on Mr. Bunny, but both bunnies were relatively relaxed at this point. I decided to end the session then, on a good note.

I’m incredibly happy that there hasn’t been any fighting! One of my fears after their fight was that they’d still have that old baggage, and would continue to be aggresive. It seems that they’re just a little wary of eachother, which I’m sure they’ll work through eventually (Mr. Bunny already partially has). Hopefully I’m not jynxing myself by saying all that!

I don’t plan to stop with the bucket this time for at least 5 or 6 more sessions. After that, I’m thinking that I might convince my parents to let me use the bathtub for a session or two before I try with the hallway again. I’m definitely going to take it very slowly this time around.

Attempt #2 session #3 went fantastic!  The session was about 15 minutes long, and they were in the blue bucket, as usual.

When I first put them together, they had their usual staring contest:

I shook the bucket a little. That made the bunnies comfortably snuggle with eachother:

They stayed like that for a few minutes. After that, Mr. Bunny got a little scared, so he hopped away from Ms. Rabbit:

I shook the bucket again. That made the bunnies snuggle with their noses together:

They both toothpurred and stayed like that for a few minutes. I decided to try “the raisin trick”. I smeared gooey raisins all over Ms. Rabbit’s head and encouraged Mr. Bunny to groom it off. He didn’t want to do it at first, but after a few seconds, he gave in and licked the raisin off Ms. Rabbit’s head and ears:

Obviously, Ms. Rabbit loved that! She put her head down and toothpurred very loudly. After Mr. Bunny licked off all of the raisin, he realized that maybe he actually liked grooming Ms. Rabbit. He gave her face, nose and ears a very thorough cleaning before laying his head next to hers. After a few minutes, I smeared some more raisin on her face, which he licked off eagerly. Both bunnies were very happy, so I decided to end the session.

Both rabbits were very happy after the session. Ms. Rabbit even did a few binkies! Both bunnies also seemed to be trying to find eachother again after the session. They seemed a little disappointed once it was time to seperate them.

Attempt #2 bonding session #4 (which I did yesterday evening)…

Well, I think these pictures describe it pretty well:

Attempt #2 bonding session #5 (done in the afternoon of 11/6) went great! There isn’t really all that much to say about it. It was pretty much 15 minutes of snuggling and licking. I took a really cute video of Mr. Bunny licking Ms. Rabbit, which I’ll edit in here later.

Attempt #2 bonding session #6 (done earlier today) went amazingly well! It was a very long session with about 15 minutes spent in the bucket and then about 25-30 minutes on a semi-neutral (to Mr. Bunny, at least) sofa. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of this session, since my phone was out of battery power.

As usual, after I put the bunnies in the bucket and shook it a little, they snuggled comfortably. I smeared some raisin on Ms. Rabbit’s head, and she got licks from Mr. Bunny.

I was getting a little bored (as were the bunnies), so I decided to try something new. I put both bunnies on a semi-neutral sofa. At first, I kept them seperate while snuggling with them. Mr. Bunny layed down and toothpurred. Ms. Rabbit was initially very scared, but she relaxed after seeing that Mr. Bunny wasn’t a threat.

After a few minutes, I smeared raisin all over Ms. Rabbit’s head. I kept doing that until Mr. Bunny had licked her for about 1 minute total. After that, Ms. Rabbit did something that really surprised me – she took a  long look at Mr. Bunny, and then hopped over and licked him!

She licked him for about 30 seconds straight. I hadn’t even smeared all that much raisin on his head! After she licked him, he seemed entirely comfortable around her – he didn’t even care when she sniffed his butt! After that, I decided to end the session on a good note.

Do you think that it would be alright to start bonding them in a larger space yet?

Attempt  #2 bonding session #7 (done this afternoon) went great! It was a very long session – about 2.5 hours. I had them in a blocked off part of the hallway that was about the same size as the sofa.

When I first put them together, they almost immediately went up to sniff eachother. I smeared some raisin on Ms. Rabbit’s head, and Mr. Bunny groomed her for a few seconds:

The bunnies snuggled for a few minutes. After licking her a few more times, Mr. Bunny put his head down for licks. After not getting any, Mr. Bunny gently nipped Ms. Rabbit on the belly:

Obvously, this spooked her pretty badly. Both bunnies started grunting. I pulled them apart and calmed them down before there was any more nipping.

After another couple of minutes, the bunnies decided to sniff eachother again. Both bunnies wanted to be licked, so they put their noses together. Eventually, Ms. Rabbit gave in and licked Mr. Bunny for a few seconds:

The bunnies hopped around and explored for a few minutes. Ms. Rabbit still seemed slightly tense, but Mr. Bunny acted like everything was normal. I poured some pellets on the floor, which the rabbits shared:

Both bunnies hopped around and explored for a while. Ms. Rabbit scent marked the whole area with poo. I brought in a litterbox, and both bunnies hopped in it to pee:

After a little while, Ms. Rabbit hopped into the cardboard box. Mr. Bunny did a dead bunny flop near the door:

They stayed like that for a long time. Occasionally, a rabbit would hop over to the other bunny to sniff them.

Eventually, I decided to take away the box, since Ms. Rabbit was getting very defensive of it. The bunnies licked eachother for a while before snuggling again:

They hopped around for a while. Mr. Bunny peed in the litterbox. Eventually, the bunnies went up to eachother again and took turns licking:

I decided to seperate the bunnies then, on a good note.

Attempt #2 bonding session #8 went fantastic! The session was about 1.5 hours long. I had the bunnies in a neutral bathroom. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of this session, since I forgot my phone until I already had the bunnies together.

I brought two salads down for the bunnies to share. Ms. Rabbit was a little scared at first, but Mr. Bunny dug right in. After a few minutes, Ms. Rabbit joined in and nibbled on parsley.

Both bunnies explored the room for a few minutes. After a while, they approached eachother. They took turns licking eachother (sometimes for a few minutes at a time!). After that, they snuggled for a few minutes.

They hopped around a little more before finishing the rest of the salad. They then hopped over to see eachother again. They continued taking turns licking eachother. They pretty much continued doing that for about 45 minutes. I had trouble seperating them – they wanted nothing more than to stay together!

I am incredibly happy for these little bunnies! They obviously love and trust eachother quite a bit. I’m so glad that they worked out their issues. At the rate they’re going, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re ready for bond cementing by the start of next week.

I’ve been putting off updating for no particular reason for the last 2 days, even though the sessions are going great. So, here’s probably the largest post I’ll ever post on this site!

Attempt #2 bonding session #9 (done in the afternoon of 11/9) went great! It was about 20 minutes long. The bunnies were in the neutral hallway.

When I first put them together, they just stared at eachother for a while:

But then they decided to explore:

As usual, Ms. Rabbit was a little more serious than Mr. Bunny. She followed him around and demanded head pets while he continued exploring:

The bunnies shared some pellets on the floor. Eventually, Mr. Bunny gave in and licked Ms. Rabbit for a while. He then went on to sit on her     ():

The bunnies exchanged licks for the last few minutes of the session. Unfortunately, I had to go somewhere, so I had to seperate them early.

Attempt #2 bonding session #10 (done in the evening of 11/9) went great! I had the bunnies in the neutral bathroom. It was about 45 minutes long.

When I first put the bunnies together, they immediately both put their heads down for licking. With a little encouragement (I’ve taught him a hand signal trick for this…lol), Mr. Bunny started licking Ms. Rabbit like crazy:

At first, when I put down the veggies, Ms. Rabbit didn’t feel like eating:

…so she started exploring. She hopped behind the toilet for a while. Mr. Bunny eventually got the courage to follow her:

The bunnies chewed on the broom together for a while:

While Ms. Rabbit ate the rest of the salad, Mr. Bunny slowly creeped up on her:

After sharing the rest of the veggies together, the bunnies had another lickfest. They continued licking and snuggling until the end of the session.

Attempt #2 bonding session #11 (done yesterday afternoon) went great! It was about 45-60 minutes long. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good pictures of this session. I had the bunnies in the neutral hallway, but this time, they had most of the hallway to hop around in.

Well, they did great in the larger space! They were a little scared when I first put them together, but within a few minutes, they were licking and snuggling. They shared some pellets together and then flopped next to eachother. I seperated them on a good note, after the bunnies licked eachother for a while.

Attempt #2 bonding session #12 (done yesterday evening) also went great! (although that seems to be how they usually go now   It was about 1 hour long. I had them in the neutral bathroom, as usual.

When I first put the bunnies together, they immediately dug into the veggies:

It was really silly, because they kept stealing veggies out of eachother’s mouths. Fights over who gets the lettuce are much better than tooth-and-nail fighting!

After they both finished eating, Mr. Bunny gave Ms. Rabbit’s butt and back a very thorough cleaning:

After a few minutes of that, the bunnies took a break for cecals and grooming:

….and then snuggled for a while:

Unfortunately, after a few minutes, I did just what I was trying to avoid and attracted Mr. Bunny’s attention:

I then fed the bunnies a few raisins. After the raisins, they snuggled right next to me:

Unfortunately, Mr. Bunny got a claw stuck in the rug while running over to get raisins. (Don’t worry, I checked him over, and he’s fine – just bent a claw.) He started holding it up and licking it. Ms. Rabbit got scared and gave him a small nip in just the wrong place – the paw that he had just hurt!

Mr. Bunny jumped away after giving her a small nip on the side in return. Fortunately, the bunnies didn’t have the fight I was expecting. Instead, they just hopped around and looked scared for a minute:

Fortunately, they were back together within about 2 minutes:

Ms. Rabbit was still a little too scared to lick Mr. Bunny, but that was OK with him. He licked her for about 5 or 6 minutes straight:

I decided to end the session then, on a good note.

I’m still planning to start doing cementing early next week. Do you think that I should do a session in non-neutral territory (aka one or both bunny rooms) before cementing? Neither rabbit is too territorial about the non-neutral territory, since I’ve been swiching them in their rooms daily for about a week now.

Ah @#!&! I typed out this whole post, and then accidentally deleted it.

Bonding session #13 (unlucky 13?) didn’t go too well. I had the bunnies in the neutral hallway. It was about 2 hours long.

The bunnies were a little scared at the beginning, but I thought they’d get over it. Mr. Bunny did, but Ms. Rabbit didn’t.

The bunnies licked eachother for a few minutes. After that, Ms. Rabbit ran into her box and started thumping like crazy. This scared Mr. Bunny pretty badly, and he started dashing around the room. I calmed them down, and then decided to snuggle with them for a minute. That was a bad, bad idea. Ms. Rabbit started feeling trapped between me and Mr. Bunny, so she started attacking him wildly. Mr. Bunny got scared, and he started biting her back. I broke up the fight immediately, but they started trying to fight again as soon as I took my hands off them.

I fed the bunnies a few raisins and calmed them down a little. It seemed to work; Mr. Bunny laid down by the cardboard box, and Ms. Rabbit took out her frustrations on a seagrass ball. I decided that the bunnies would be fine for 30 seconds while I grabbed a litterbox from the bunny room. That was also a bad, bad idea. The opportunistic bunnies had a quick fight while I was gone. I came back to see two very scared rabbits. I didn’t think anything was up until I saw the fur tufts scattered around.

I checked both bunnies for injuries. If they have any, they’re very small, since I didn’t find any blood or skin chunks.

Now here’s the weird part. I put Ms. Rabbit down next to Mr. Bunny after checking her for injuries. After nipping him, Ms. Rabbit put her head down for licks next to Mr. Bunny..and he licked her! He licked her for a few seconds before she hopped away. At this point, I was wondering what, exactly, was going through these rabbits’ heads. Ms. Rabbit also licked Mr. Bunny after a few minutes.

The bunnies spent most of the rest of the session laying down on opposite sides of the hallway. At the end of the session, the bunnies licked and snuggled for a few minutes. I decided to end the session on an…uh, good note?

Apparently, I never considered something: Both bunnies are extremely aggresive when they’re scared!  Is there anything that I can do to help prevent this from happening? I’m afraid to do cementing now, since I don’t want them together unsupervised if they’re going to fight every time something scares them.

(oh, and writing this post was turned from distressing to hilarious after I realized that I was listening to the song “Bad Romance”. )

I’ve actually figured out that it might have been because they were in the same space where they had a few fights. I think they have some bad memories associated with it. They don’t fight when they’re in any other neutral/semi-neutral space.

I didn’t do any bonding sessions in the evening of 11/11 or on 11/12.

During the day and a half that I wasn’t doing bonding sessions, Ms. Rabbit started behaving like a rabbit who just lost their bonded friend (depression, lethargy, not as interested in food, etc.). She was constantly searching for him, and it was obvious that she missed him very much. I decided to put them together again yesterday afternoon.

Attempt #2 bonding session #14 (done in the afternoon of 11/13) went great! It was about 1.5 hours long, and I had the bunnies in the neutral bathroom. There’s not much to say about it, really. The bunnies shared some pellets, and then played with eachother and some toys. There was a lot of grooming and a good amount of snuggling. I have some cute pictures I took from this session, which I’ll post once my phone is charged.

As soon as Ms. Rabbit was able to see Mr. Bunny again, she immediately went back to normal. That poor little bunny…I think she’s very sensitive about that kind of thing, since she lost her old bonded friend in a fire right before we adopted her.

Attempt #2 bonding session #15 (done in the evening of 11/13) also went great! It was about 45 minutes long, and I had the bunnies in the neutral bathroom. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of this session.

The bunnies spent the first 20 minutes of the session eating veggies together. The rest of the session was spent with the bunnies licking and snuggling with eachother.

Attempt #2 bonding session #16/Cementing day #1…where do I begin? It started with me planning a 3-4 hour session, and turned into the first day of cementing.

The bunnies were in a different part of the hallway – the part I’ve been planning to use for cementing. They’ve never been in that part of the hallway before. They weren’t scared at all – they spent the first 30 minutes exploring, occasionally taking a break to snuggle with eachother.

About an hour in, I decided that if the bunnies didn’t have any fights/biting after 4 hours, I’d start today with cementing.

Well, at about 2 hours in, I moved in some toys and a litterbox. At this point, the bunnies were still doing great – no fights/biting. They were taking turns licking eachother.

They eventually made it all the way to 4 hours. I stayed in the other room until they had been together for 5.5 hours. Still no fighting.

I decided that I’d just turn that into cementing. I’ve checked on them a few times in the 5 hours since then, and they’re doing great! There’s been no fights (as far as I can tell), and I even caught the bunnies flopping next to eachother at one point.

They’re still doing great. I’m about to go feed them, so I’ll post more about how they’re doing in a while.

I have a few questions…

First, how long should I keep them together for cementing? I’ve heard that 1-2 weeks will do it – is that enough/too much time?

Second, should I clean up the bunny rooms before moving them in there? If so, will a simple sweeping/vacuuming do or should I mop and spray the carpet with vinegar?

The rabbits are so naughty now! Don’t believe anyone who tells you that “two rabbits are half the trouble of one”. That’s a lie.

Cementing day #2 went well. There were no fights, and there was plenty of licking and snuggling. Unfortunately, Ms. Rabbit had gas for most of the afternoon, since the bunnies broke into the raisins overnight. They shared their veggies once Ms. Rabbit was feeling better, and then snuggled for a little while before I turned off the light.

Cementing day #3 (today) went very well – so far. There still haven’t been any fights…but the rabbits are still getting into lots of trouble! The bunnies shared their pellets today and snuggled for most of the afternoon. It’s so great to see them snuggling and licking. Unlike yesterday, they didn’t want any “alone time” in the boxes.

They’ve now broken into the rest of the hallway all 3 days that they’ve been together. Teamwork! (I’ve learned not to leave any cords uncovered, and especially not to leave the raisins outside of the foodbox! Thank God that I always remember to close the hallway door!)

Cementing day #4 and #5 went great! There isn’t really much to say about them. Every day, the bunnies would spend all afternoon snuggling and licking. There were no fights.

On Cementing day #6, I decided to move the bunnies into their new room. I sprayed the whole room with vinegar and then moved them in. They weren’t very pleased with the vinegar smell, but they were snuggling again within an hour.

Since they’re now in their permanent non-neutral space together, I officially pronounce them husbunn and wife.

The End

Posted By Petzy on 11/20/2010 04:25 PM
What a beautiful photo!!!!! I am so happy for you! Is Ms Rabbit all mended?

Yes, Ms. Rabbit has healed up very well. She still has a small lump on her ear, but that’s slowly going away. I can no longer find the scars on her back and belly.

I agree about the agoutis and REWs. They look great in photos.

Had a bad scare with the bunnies a little while ago.

As some of you may know, I’ve recently started volunteering at the local HRS shelter. I picked up a lot of bunnies there while I was volunteering earlier today, and I didn’t change out of my fur-coated shirt before visiting Mr. Bunny and Ms. Rabbit. Big mistake.

As soon as I sat down with Mr. Bunny, he immediately lunged at Ms. Rabbit. They suddenly started fighting viciously – the same way they fought when I had just started bonding them. Ms. Rabbit was running so fast, I was afraid that she’d break a foot. Fortunately, I was able to catch Mr. Bunny and separate them before anybun was seriously hurt. As far as I can tell, the only injuries are a minor (but bloody) scrape on Ms. Rabbit’s back and possibly a minor foot or belly injury on somebunny.

After calming down the bunnies and treating Ms. Rabbit’s wound, I put them down in my bathtub with some hay and their litterbox. They’ve been snuggling ever since. Mr. Bunny still seems very frightened, but neither bunny seems to be angry. I’m going to leave them in the bathtub until I give them their veggies in a few hours. If they’re still friends by then, I’ll move them back into the bunny room.

Moral of the Story: If you have a very territorial bunny like Mr. Bunny, always, ALWAYS change your clothes and wash your hands if you’ve been around other bunnies.

EDIT: I think I’ve figured out why they reacted so badly to the strange bunny smell on my shirt. The last two weeks that I’ve volunteered at the shelter, Mr. Bunny didn’t react to the bunny smell at all, and Ms. Rabbit jut chinned me a few times. We’re having some very strong (65 mph) winds at our new house, and my formerly-basement bunnies weren’t used to the sound of the strong wind or the cold draft coming from under the door. Now that I think of it, both bunnies seemed a little spooked even before I sat next to Mr. Bunny. I guess the strange bunny smell just sent him over the top.

I moved the bunnies back into the bunny room late Wednesday night. They haven’t had any fights since – and, hopefully, they never will again.