Yes, both of them are fixed and have been for long enough for the hormones to work their way out of their systems. I’m at a different house right now and will be for a few weeks, so it isn’t Lua’s territory here, but I guess she thinks it should be. =/ I’ve tried the bathtub thing and it didn’t work as they just both hopped right out (my bathtub is kinda small).

I also did the bathroom floor at one point. As long as I was petting both of them they were great and snuggly, but as soon as I stopped, fighting.

thanks for all the advice. I’ve got a blanket between them so they can’t see each other right now, and I’ll switch the litter soon too. I’ll try some of the other tricks soonish, but giving them a break for now.

I just had the biggest scare of my life. Lua figured out a way to jump over into Pucks side. I think she was trying to escape (her favorite pastime) and instead landed in the wrong spot. Thank god I was awake, in the same room, and have been leaving the lamp beside them on. I was lying in bed and I hear skirmishing, and I look up to see them in the same cage, granted I had to reach for my glasses first. It took me way to long to figure out what to do, but I managed to grab the squirt bottle I’d been using, except the top flew off when I grabbed it, so I just dumped it on them, and scooped Lua up with a pillow. I was shaking so bad it took a few minutes before I was composed enough to look her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt. She lost a decent chunk of butt fur and had a scratch on her, but otherwise not too bad. Nothing time won’t heal. Puck lost some fur too, but I’ve yet to figure out where it is from and he looks mostly okay too. They are definitely not going to meet face to face for many days until all of us (especially me) can calm back down. I’m still shaking and scared. The source of Lua’s escape has been taken away for the night. I’ll figure something better out tomorrow when I’m rested and not shaking.

Oh another question though. Puck is 8 months or so old, so he is still kind of in that teenager bunny stage, and Lua is probably 11 months, so she is probably still teenager-ish too. Does that make a difference?

At the risk of the break not being long enough, I wanted to see if I could do the same thing I did when I first introduced them to see if they’d get along for a little while. My time with completely untouched neutral rooms is limited, so I really want to take advantage of it while I can. My set up was to have them meet on my sisters bed (a place where neither of them have been before that is kind of bouncy) with a towel, a squirt bottle, and a pillow if I should need to stop a fight. The plan was to put them next to each other and keep them occupied with continuous pettings from us and an occasional treat, so they could associate good things with each other. Since Puck has been the most chill about all of this, we got him in place first, and then I had Lua in my lap until she seemed fairly relaxed. Then I scooted her up next to him.

There was no fight this time, but I think part of the reason is because I didn’t let Lua nip Puck (goodness knows she did try a couple of times). Puck seems to really like Lua and has no problem snuggling up to her, and she was almost good with it but I think she expects him to groom her too, so every so often she would reach over to nip him, but I’d just push her head back some so she couldn’t, and tell her no biting (my hand stayed between her head and him anytime she positioned herself for easy biting and she knew it, so she didn’t bite me). The rest of the time, she just kind of curled around his head that was snuggled under her and seemed fairly content (picture below). They were like this probably about 10 minutes. We did not stop petting them the entire time as I’m still afraid of letting them just hang out. I’m really worried about the part where they are going to have to sort out the hierarchy, as this seems to be the big source of their fighting (more specifically they pretty much always started with Lua’s bossy nips).

I think as long as this keeps going on like it has, I’m going to try some more dates like this one so they continue to associate good things with each other. Maybe I can iron out what might be a grudge on Lua’s part.

All of your thoughts and comments are super appreciated! Knowing there is support and understanding here has probably been the biggest reason I haven’t given up on this working out. 

So I’ve reached an interesting position. I’ve removed the blanket between them, and as far as I know, they have not fought through the bars since then, and they’ll both lay next to each other through the bars, so I took it as a good sign. I bought a small mesh dog playpen/carrier for their dates. It’s fairly small, so I can monitor it very easily, and it opens both from the top and the sides, so I’ve just closed up the side and kept the top open. I’ve only had it a short while, but I haven’t had a single intense fight since I started using, just a couple of start ups that I was able to reach in and stop right away (I also got some heavy-duty gloves after being bitten a second time). I put some hay in there, and occasionally put in some romaine and parsley just to give them something to munch on if they feel like ignoring each other.

Mostly I’ve gotten lots of both rabbits presenting to each other by pressing their faces up against one another, one presenting to the other by putting their face under the others belly while the other doesn’t pay attention, or both not paying attention. I do occasionally get a little bit of snuggling. Today however, I am super happy to say that Puck actually started grooming Lua! Did it a couple of different times, and then threw in lots of presenting, telling her to do the same. All he got was Lua biting his butt a couple of times and her continued stubbornness.

So now my question (which may or may not actually have an answer):

Why do they bury their faces under the others bellies?

I feel like they are having a hard time deciding top bun, and they are both being incredibly stubborn. I keep constantly telling them, “Look, we’re going to be one big happy family in the end, so just kiss and make up. Puck you have to woo Lua. Lua you have to be nice to Puck.” and then my mom walks in the room and tells me I’ve lost it. :p

EDIT: I forgot to add that Puck grunted at Lua a couple of times when he was just laying down. Was it because she was annoying him??

Warning Long Post 

January 3rd:  

Okay, tonight’s date has shown the most promise. It’s the least I’ve had to interfere physically (had to say no biting out loud a few times), and I only had to interfere when Lua was getting too bossy with Puck and nipping him too much and he retaliates. Most of the date they either faced off trying to get the other to groom, or ignored each other, but at one point I was petting Lua because she was getting restless, and Puck came over to snuggle with her (the picture below). He got as close to her as he could, and just made himself comfy. It was soooo darn cute. He’s completely comfortable with her around, and will do his dead bunny flop even with her there. She’s still a little more antsy, but I think it’s just her being bossy and wanting him to acknowledge her as top bunny. Mostly she’s perfectly fine with him too. The laying beside each other on either side of the bars of the combined cage is increasing too. Also I think she groomed him today, but it looked more like nibbling on his head, but he didn’t seem to mind.

What I’ve been doing up til Now:

So it’s all well and good to say “Yup they’re getting along” but I can tell you what I’ve been doing. I’ve not had a single stress date. It may be making my bonding time longer, but I just can’t bring myself to do that to the bunnies and things are progressing anyway. Most of what I’ve been doing is in the previous posts, but this will be a little more detailed. Also, one thing I haven’t mentioned is that my “dates” have been moving around, and I’ve only been doing one date a day (I’ll up it to two+ really soon).

After the last semi bad fight where I had to separate them for a little while (and the last time I got bit) I decided to amp up my game. The next dates consisted of the mini dog playpen/carrier that I’d found with the open top and my heavy duty gloves. The playpen was little, allowing them to have no more than a foot of space between them.  The first couple of dates with that, it was just the two of them and my gloves. I discovered water does not bother either of them enough to break up a fight, so the squirt bottle is gone.  I put both of them in there and forced snuggles for awhile petting both of them. Then I just let them run around a bit on their own. If they started getting antsy, I forced snuggles with petting again. I probably let the first dates last about 20 minutes. 

Third and fourth date was again in the playpen, with hay and some lettuce or parsley. I didn’t force any snuggles, and I let the run around. If someone was getting antsy, I just pet that rabbit until they had calmed down. This was the 31st when Puck groomed Lua (the post above). All of the dates in the playpen, I was able to stop any fighting before it started. These dates probably lasted closer to 45 minutes

The fifth day I decided to switch it up and had the date on a twin sized bed in my sister’s room. Most of the date was ignoring each other. Lua nipped me because I was sitting on the bed with them and she either wanted my attention or wanted me to move, and Puck nipped my gloves because he was curious about them. So no bunnies were harmed in the nights date, but one bunny mama has a little whelp. No grooming happened on this night. Lua tried to sneakily bite Puck a few times, but between my telling her no, and just putting my hand between her mouth and him, she did not succeed. There was no hay or food this time. This date lasted over an hour.

Tonight’s date was yet on another twin sized bed in my brother’s room. I tried to make sure I was messing with them less, so less petting and less interfering with nips. There was a couple of instances of Lua trying to egg him on, but a quick No from me stopped it.  There was an instance of circling that resulted from some butt biting, but I stopped it, held both of their heads down and told them No, then forced snuggles for a bit. And then another small tussle because Lua nipped him while he was in the corner that resulted in a tuft of fur pulled, but once again I held their heads down, told them no and forced snuggles. There was some voluntary snuggles in this date and most of the date went really well. I forgot to time it, but I’d say it lasted over half an hour.

Every so often I switch the litter boxes, and I tend to give them their pellets right after the dates. The biggest key really seems to be showing them that I’m the boss (mostly Lua, since Puck isn’t really the one causing problems).  Lua now knows that when I tell her no, she better stop or I’m going to stop her, and she’s gotten much better about listening to me. I think once I get over the Lua being stubborn hurdle, it’ll all go downhill. I’ll also slip them a couple of oats while they are snuggling to say “Yes, good, do that.”

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I thought it might be useful.

They’ve Bonded!!!! Or at least are friends enough to share and not fight or argue.

Real quick catch up: I posted the last update on the 4th.

On the 5th, I had cleaned and de-scented my room as best as I could. I had a larger area for them to share, so I put in a litter box (actually just a plastic box for holding stuff to serve until I could super clean their actual litter boxes), the play pen I’d used for dates with the doors open, a tunnel they like to run through, some things to chew on and hay. The room has a big rug in the center, and then hard woods on the outsides. Since hardwood doesn’t bother Lua, it served as a place for her to run off to if Puck annoyed her since he wouldn’t follow. They were together in the room for 3 and half hours, and with the exception of Puck trying to hump her face and my having to intervene, there were no skirmishes or threats of biting. They were binkying all over the place, even when Puck was chasing Lua to try to mount her. They both seemed very happy, but that was probably because this is the biggest area they’ve been in for many days.

In the afternoon of 6th, I brought both of them back to my room to see how long we could keep the peace, and they haven’t left yet! I had planned on just having a four or five hour date, but they were getting along fairly well, granted there was a lot of Puck chasing Lua, Lua hopping away just enough to get out of mounting reach, and Lua ignoring Puck otherwise. It became quite obvious very quickly that Lua no long minded Puck and was just playing hard to get. I gave them their dinner together, and that went well, so I decided to let them stay together overnight. I left a lamp on just in case I’d have to break up a fight, but the fight never happened. They’ve been together a full three days, and I’ve seen a little bit of snuggling, mutual grooming (mostly Lua grooming Puck though), and willingness to share things. There has not been one disagreement between them. I can even leave the room for a little bit at a time, and they are perfectly fine when I get back.

I’m so happy that everything finally just fell in place. I guess they finally got over whatever hurdle it was between them. Lua has become even more social with humans as a result (was not really expecting that). It’s really great watching them get along.  Unfortunately my room has awful lighting, so no good pictures.