Hello,
We are currently trying to bond a 2 and a half year old holland lop with another dwarf of the same age. We’ve had Sawyer, our holland lop, since he was a baby and the other dwarf since July. She was a rescue and when we brought sawyer to meet her they seemed to get along well enough. They didn’t fight and all was well except that they BOTH wanted to be groomed at the same time. They’re both neutered/spayed.
When we got Muffin, the netherland dwarf, she was nervous of her new surroundings, so we built her cage next to sawyer and they both got let out to play separately, but we didn’t want to start the bonding process until it got colder which puts us to today.
Two days ago we started the bonding process again. They didn’t fight and both seemed excited to see each other. They will both sit patiently side by side, waiting to be groomed, and are fine when we are petting them. Neither of them seem to want to be the one to groom. If we stop petting them they either just sit there or Muffin starts to nip at Sawyer. It gets pretty uncomfortable watching when Muffin starts getting a little to close to the eyes. Sawyer seems to have a poker face going and Muffin seems to get annoyed that he isn’t grooming her.
We have been letting them out at night after they both have played for an hour as to get their energy out so they may be more calmer with the process. We always feed them their pellets and treats afterwards, maybe it’d be better if they did this on a full stomach? I don’t know but I’d like to have other people’s opinions before continuing.
Thanks!