Hello fellow bunny enthusiasts,

We have a wonderful quirky bunny girl Viola who is a little over two years old. We attempted to find a mate for her, but it never worked out (we never even got to the point of meeting bunnies). I hated having her alone so much and when we met a baby bunny we all fell in love with, we brought him home. He was supposed to be a Lysander (our pets get Shakespeare names) but he just behaved like a Jackson and so that is his name. I remembered all the things I read about bonding – or so I thought – and so we started the process. I did NOT remember that he should be neutered, because we had always looked to get a rescue bunny who would have been neutered already. So we started with 15 minutes a day in neutral territory and gradually increase the time. Then I placed their x-pens next to each other and opened them to each other for periods of time. They got to the point of displaying the typical behaviour of dominant (Viola mounting Jackson) and submissive (Jackson putting his head down in front of her and also putting his head under her (“Hey, mark me as yours “)). And then I reread some of the articles and oh my – discovered that we did it all wrong. But I don’t want to completely break what we already have and wait to start it again in 2 months or so when Jackson is neutered and healed.

Who has some advice or ideas? The only thing I came up with is to have Viola in the playpen next to Jackson’s playpen for a few hours a day and reward her good behavior… or is this a bad idea?

 I am really lost, but it seems counter intuitive to have them in separate rooms for months.

Please don’t give me flack for getting a baby bunny who was not a rescue or adopted, as that is not helping me in this situation at all. Everybody’s situation is different and without knowing everything, we should not judge, but try to show compassion.

Best,  ~ Barb