A bit of background: Butterscotch is a 51/2 month old male, neutered almost 2 months ago. Shadow is the same age, female, spayed about 3 weeks ago. They are litter mates who were housed together until Butterscotch was discovered to in fact be a boy, not a girl, prior to his neuter (oops!). Butterscotch was then quickly and easily bonded to his brother about one month ago. They lived happily together for 2 weeks until Tofu died suddenly 2 weeks ago. Shadow and Butterscotch have been housed next to each other for the past two months when they have not been living together. They have always gotten along and have never been aggressive towards each other. They flop side by side (between their pen bars) and lick each other a lot. I know it is not yet four weeks… But I started bonding my boys after three weeks too… So I decided to give them a go today.

I put them in a neutral space in a 4ft x 4ft x-pen. They seemed to be so familiar with each other that they just started walking around exploring. There was absolutely no aggression, no chasing, nipping etc. They groomed each other, as they have done through their pen, but no bunny demanded grooming. During the first 20 minutes there were 3-4 occasions when Butterscotch mounted Shadow. Shadow did not mind- but I did take Butterscotch off twice because he was mounting her face. After that, it was a LOVE FEST! They groomed each other, sometimes at the same time. After 2 hours, even though I know we are not normally supposed to add these things in the neutral stages, I added a litter box, a feeding station with pellets and water, gave them greens, and put down a blanket. They shared the greens, and food, and flopped next to each other in the blanket and fell asleep. They have been together for over three hours. I will have to put them in their own pens now, (I have company coming for supper)- but it breaks my heart to separate them again.

I think tomorrow I will move to semi neutral space, and if all goes well, will move to semi-permanent/cementing later this week when I can fit it in to my schedule.
Does it sound like a good plan?

I will post progress for anyone who is interested or who may have suggestions. I would love to post pictures, but despite my best efforts (and a lot of help from BB technical forum), I cannot seem to get it to work from my iPhone and my computer hates me right now.

I do have one question-when they are able to be put together- the pen I have planned will be 12ft x 8ft. I think this will be too big a space for cementing? If so, what is a reasonable size and how long do I keep them in a smaller pen before they can be put into their permanent pen?

Thanks in advance!