Hi Everyone,

Im hoping I can get some advice on how to proceed with my two buns. Sorry in advance for the long post.

Back story:  I have had my first bun Alfie ( 1yr old Neutered male), since last January and decided after much deliberation that he needs a friend as I am a full time student with a part time job.  About 3 weeks ago I took him to the local shelter to go on some bunny dates and came home with a beautiful albino, 2.5 year old (neutered) girly named Lily.  I kept them separate for 1 week with their cages next to one another and within a couple days they were grooming each other flopping next to one another through the bars.  So I started bonding face to face.

Bonding: I bonded them in the bathroom for about a week, starting with a 30 minute date (because it was going so well) and by the end of the week it progressed to a couple hours in which they would groom, relax and eat together.  The I rashly decided it was time for them to have a date in semi neutral territory (in my room where they live but with the cage doors closed).  I know this was a big mistake now, but at the time I thought they were ready.  Well out of nowhere one of them (i forget which one) went to mount the other and fur went flying).  So from there i put them in the bathtub and stopped fights for a couple mins and ended it when they were sitting quietly beside each other.  I since they started fighting thought their cages i didn’t bond them for a couple days and eventually moved them to different parts of the house.  About 3 days ago (about 5 days after the fight) i did a date in a different bathtub with no mat or blanket and they snuggled and groomed each other like old time.   The next day i put a mat down and even gave them some food once they started grooming each other, and they groomed each other more equally (usually Lily grooms Alfie more) then they have ever before.  So yesterday I put a mat and a blanket down and did the same, put some food down once they started to groom.  There was some mounting by Alfie but Lily was too busy eating to care and then one of them got a little too close to the others butt for their liking (happened so fast i don’t remember who, i may have also blocked it from my memory) and before i could bang a pot to stop them they were at it again so i banged a pot but they didn’t acknowledge it at all so i had to physically separate them with oven mitted hands.  I held them apart for a bit and let them go back to each other but usually Lily would go straight in for Alfies butt so i settled for squishing them together and eventually i had them grooming each other so i gave them treats and checked for wounds (none thankfully) and put them back.  I didn’t want to end on a bad note so they were in the bathtub for about 40 mins.

So my question is; am I going about this the right way? Do you have any recommendations?  From your experience is there hope that they will get over this?  Really any info or suggestions you can give me is welcome.

My plan is to keep them on bathtub dates until they are lying together with no aggression etc. then move them to a neutral pen and do the 48 hour bonding (since the mini dates before they fight did not progress from session to session) session and if all goes well to a semi neutral and then to their cleaned and reorganized home.