Try stress bonding. I’ve put them in the car seat next to me while the car is moving and the stress usually brings them closer together. You also could use the vacuum and the stress of the situation sometimes makes them rely more on each other for comfort rather than focusing on hurting one another. You could also try positive reinforcement. Feeding them treats whenever they’re around each other and praising them.

Herbert needs much more time to recover from his neuter!

6 weeks is recommended for hormones to settle, follow this up with about a month of pre-bonding (cage swaps, etc.).

Being able to sniff and see each other during play time is fine, but make absolutely certain they cannot nip each other through the bars or get into each other’s area. You would be surprised how high bunnies can jump when they want to….

In terms of hair pulling (for once you actually start bonding)… a bit of hair pulling during mounting is OK, but just be sure that no “reverse” mounting is attempted because they can get a dangerous bite to their genitals if this happens. If one rabbit mounts and the other tries to leave, prevent the other from chasing.

Chasing, circling, boxing can all lead to fights, and should be stopped. Stop all chases lasting more than 2-3 seconds. Mounting (assuming the other bunny is tolerating it), lunging, light nipping, thumping, grunting, are all OK.

That said, once hormones settle more, and you do more prebonding, you should see less mounting.

Again, please wait until Herbert’s hormones are settled to do any more sessions.

Yes, humping and a little bit of fur pulling won’t hurt anything. If the bunny being humped tolerates it, I’ve found that it’s sometimes better to just let them “hump it out”. Only intervene if it’s upsetting the bunny being humped. If they are showing signs of agitation or stress, you can redirect the humper over to a “stand-in”, like a stuffed animal.