Thanks NBO! I had read that if they ignore each other they weren’t interacting and I should try and get them to interact but maybe that was only if it seemed that they weren’t progressing. Hmm… I’ll let them ignore each other the next few times.

Also forgot to mention I did a swap yesterday as soon as I got home from work. Nessie went to Ollie’s cage and Ollie went to Nessie’s. I did some chores with them like that and then let Ollie have some playtime. Then Bonding, then Nessie got some playtime. They slept in each others’ cages last night and I swapped them back to their usual cages this morning. It was really funny to see them in the other rabbit’s cage, sniffing everything and exploring. Ollie hadn’t been in Nessie’s big cage before either so it was funny to see him try to find his way around the shelves.

Well that makes way more sense! And it makes me feel better because I hate when they fight. I feel bad for Nessie when she gets picked on by Ollie because she was the first bun and I don’t want her to think I’ve brought Ollie in to ruin her life

I will definitely update this until they are bonded, I need all the help I can get

So the last bonding session went a bit better, only one or two scuffles I had to work to break up, tons of stomping. Nessie has turned into the aggressor, lunging at Ollie. I put some lettuce in for them to munch on. Nessie munched but Ollie didn’t. Nessie was pretty chill, even flopped once or twice but Ollie was scared out of his wits. Every time Nessie would go over he would run away. Nessie also doesn’t like being in the box at all and will keep standing up and trying to get out. Lots of ignoring going on.

Yesterday I had them both out at the same time and Nessie would chase Ollie but I was able to stop her each time. At one point Ollie’s cage was open and she hopped in and then he also hopped in. I was standing guard waiting for problems but they sniffed each other and went opposite directions. Hooray!

I’m going to try the banana trick tonight.
I really hope they stop pooping everywhere once they’re bonded. I know Nessie is doing it on purpose but I’m not 100% sure about Ollie. The rescue said he was great with his litterbox but I haven’t found that to be 100% true.
Also I’ve been peed on twice now during this process and it is not cool man.

Continuing progress! We had a box session with no major fights, just tons of nips (all from Nessie) Basically it goes like this.
I put them in the box. Nessie stands on her hind legs and tries to see out of the box. Ollie huddles against the wall. Nessie notices Ollie and lunges at him. Ollie scrambles around to the other side of the box and huddles against the wall. Nessie does lots of standing on her hind legs, tries to get out of the box, scratches at the walls. Eventually she notices Ollie and lunges and he scrambles to the other side of the box. This goes on and on. I have tried petting one or both of them which calms them down (Ollie doesn’t need this since he sits motionless anyway) Nessie will hold still for a while after I stop petting her and eventually she kind of “wakes up” and either lunges at or ignores Ollie.

I got banana but it isn’t quite ripe so I got some applesauce too. Nessie normally goes crazy for applesauce but seemed to not care about it when it was on Ollie.

I suppose this is progress since they haven’t had a major fight that I had to break up but I sooooo want to see them be nice to each other. Or even just for Ollie to be anything but terrified.

On a happier note, Ollie seems to be settling in very well. He’s doing binkies in his playtime and he’s started to get more excited about his greens and enjoying his pellets.

Oh I do pet Ollie, poor guy, he’s not doing anything wrong and mean ol’ Ness keeps nipping him. I concentrate on Ness a bit since she needs to chill out but I do give Ollie some pets and tell him he’s doing a good job. I have sat them both in my lap and pet them together and they hold still for as long as I am petting. I don’t know if that is helping at all since they don’t seem to even know the other one is there. I try to end all my sessions like that so they have a good unfighting calm end.
Any suggestions on keeping Nessie from nipping Ollie? I can sometimes see that she’s thinking about it right before she lunges. Should I pet her to calm her down or hold something in front of her to block her? Maybe just talk to her? I have tried talking to them when they’re getting tense. “Nice bunny… niiiiice bunny…. be good Nessie” seems to actually help a bit. Should I do that more? I know I’m not supposed to interfere too much but I do want Ollie to quit getting picked on so much for doing nothing.
I don’t know what I can do to stress them. Nessie doesn’t mind the vacuum cleaner (she’s actually friends with the roomba) and when I’ve tried putting the box on the dryer or gently shaking it, she just gets more aggressive as if it’s Ollie’s fault the box is shaking. I’ll see if I can try the car but that seems like it could go badly. I’d have to get them in the carrier not fighting long enough to walk to the car and of course have my boyfriend drive.

I’ll try doing more intervening tonight. At the very least, Ollie will appreciate the break

Had a bit of a rest this weekend and will try more bonding today, hopefully a bathtub session. I feel like we aren’t making progress. I can pet them and have them sit still for quite a long time unless I stop petting. I’ve tried to prevent Nessie from nipping by petting her when she gets close but hasn’t lunged yet. A few times Ollie got spooked by something and stomped and ran and Nessie would be startled by it and lunge at him. *sigh* I can get them to eat some lettuce in the box but not at the same time. Nessie is sometimes ok with flopping but Ollie hasn’t done that yet. Both of them (mostly Nessie) are primarily concerned with getting out of the box (or bathtub) and will just stand up on their hind legs over and over trying to see out.
gaaah

I found a source of stress! The hair dryer! Aimed at the rabbits, they are quite distressed by the blowing air (I have a cool setting on mine so I’m not toasting them or anything, don’t worry) I got them to huddle together without physically placing them side by side. This is probably more of a breakthrough for me than for them but hey, at least I finally have something I can run with.

Sorry for the lack of updates, there have been a lot of boringly similar sessions and I didn’t know how much you guys wanted to hear about how they sat in the box and did the same things they usually do or how they sat in the bathtub and did the same stuff. Anyway, the real-fighting dwindled down pretty quickly and Nessie slowly stopped lunging/nipping Ollie as much. I took a more active intervention approach and used a spray bottle to tell Nessie to quit biting him. That actually worked pretty well, she hates the water and it makes her stop and wash her face for a few minutes.

Yesterday we had a real breakthrough though! I decided since it was the weekend and I had the most spare time, I’d try extending the bonding for as long as I could. It went great. They ate lettuce together in the box, then sat around. I got a flop from Nessie and some grooming from both of them. Very little nipping. This went on for a couple hours, mostly ignoring, some stomping, only minor nips and even some groom-demanding! Then after leaving them there a little while longer, something magical happened… Ollie started grooming Nessie! I was so excited! For some reason, he was grooming her face, specifically her eye, which was ok until he got too close to her actual eye and she jumped. No bites though! He went back to grooming shortly after that and there was quite a bit of grooming and omg was it cute.

Then a weird thing happened. Ollie mounted Nessie. Nessie did nothing at first and I pushed him off after a few seconds. He settled down for a bit and then mounted her again. He did it several times and I pushed him off if it went on for more than a few seconds. Eventually Nessie got tired of this crap and ran or nipped at him, resulting in minor scuffles. I felt it was ok for me to let her defend herself a bit as long as nobody was getting hurt. They did a great job, I am so happy.

Where do I go from here? I don’t know how to introduce them to areas that are not neutral. Tonight I’m going to spend some time in the bathroom with them, which is a larger but still fairly neutral area. I’m going to do some more reading up on this but I would greatly appreciate anyone’s advice!